Wireless Access

We have several large auditorium spaces that we need to manage.  Traditionally we have grouped AP by location, but now we are needing to more tightly control which radios are broadcasting G and which are only N and above.  For example, in a space where we have 8 APs (135s) we want only 3 to broadcast on G.

How do people usually do this?  We have considered creating two group for each location and have the radios that broadcast G in one group, and those that have it turned off in another group.

I'm guessing that there may be a much easier way to accomplish this, but not sure how.  Any pointers?

Yes, you can do that.  I was hoping to stay out of lots of AP specific rules because that can get messy really quickly, especially when you are dealing with lots of auditorium spaces. 

I guess you could default ALL radios in the group to turn off G, and then use AP specific to only turn it on where needed. 

I still would think that could get messy, but might be the best way to do it.

Watermarkgeek,

Manually disabling access points in a dense environment could potentially drive you crazy, and is prone to user error. Realistically, you should just disable the lower rates on your SSID profile so that your rf utilization for that space on 2.4ghz is lower.  Please see the thread here:  http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Unified-Wired-Wireless-Access/High-density-disable-low-data-rates-or-not/m-p/150890/highlight/true#M31991 on how to disable lower rates and lower the power.

In a crowded space, on the 2.4ghz you are battling high utilization due to management traffic from the access points, more than anything.  Removing the lower rates deals with that issue.  Some locations go as far as removing all the rates below 24 and 36 with good results and better roaming.  In addition, if you have a space like an auditorium, the RF goes much further in open space, so if you typically deploy every 60 feet in an office environment, you should consider deploying up to 100 feet apart, because with no obstructions, RF goes pretty far, provided that you are ceiling mounting at about 20 feet.  You can easily be covered by mounting access points every 100 feet.  You can monitor the current RF utilization on the controller's dashboard for those access points.

Again, this deployment idea is NOT for everyone, and you should survey coverage, and test for client connectivity in the empty space to be sure your coverage, performance and roaming are good.  Check your utilization to make sure it is under 20% for that environment when the place is empty.