Wired Intelligent Edge

When I set up my wireless LAN this past summer, NEVER, in my wildest dreams did I realize I would have to become a wireless network engineer in order to run this thing.

 

I came from a background of about a dozen Apple Airport Extreme WAPs so you can imagine the culture shock of moving to what I have now.

 

Background:  I'm an IDIOT. ANYONE would be more qualified for this job than I am. I just happen to know more about computers than anyone else around here, so I'm it.

 

My network was "configured" by a sales guy who was on the phone with someone (hopefully from Aruba Tech Support, but I don't know). I have had problems with this network from day one. Well, let me put it this way, it doesn't work like it used to. I got sold AirWave but in a recent conversation with Tech Support I was given to believe that AW is really designed for large organizations with multiple controllers and thousands of WAPs. (I have ONE controller and 33 WAPs.)

 

I even got sold the wrong type of APs for many of the locations in my school (which might account for the spotty coverage in those areas).

 

I don't even know where to start looking for answers but realize that I'm on my own.

 

I don't need to know how to build the watch, I just need to know how to tell the time.

 

I have an Aruba 3400 controller and two (2) Aruba 3500 POE switches, and, as mentioned, 33 WAPs (AP135).

 

Thank God everything seems to be working now - but when I have problems I go into panic mode because I have no freaking idea what to do. Other, that is, call Tech Support. But 1/2 the time I can't understand what they are saying to me.

 

Are there any manuals NOT written in Klingon that a newbie like me can understand? And is there a particular order in which I need to read them? I've got a couple of weeks of summer vacation coming up, so I guess I'll be reading that stuff on the beach.

 

Thanks for any ideas.

 

John

#3400

John,

 

Please send me a Private message and we can perhaps chat a bit about your challenges and some ideas for next-steps to help you out.

Please take a look at the VRD page http://www.arubanetworks.com/vrd  and look at the 802.11n VRD, Controllers and Delpoyments VRD and the Aruba Campus Networks VRD (for configuration details). These VRDs will give a good intro to the Aruba sysytem and how it should be configured. Once your are familiar with these you can go ahead and read the more advanced VRDs such as the roaming guide and  High density deployments VRD.

Aha cool, thanks for the link, those guides are just the thing that I was looking for but couldn't seem to find. Been struggling a bit myself to find a simple place to start when looking at how the Aruba kit fits together, and how it should be deployed correctly. Cheers