Wireless Access

Ive been asked whether another dept can install their own wifi network which would not be connected in any way to our lan. 

My main concern would obviously be interference due to both sets of APs competing for channels. 

I suppose this could also depend upon which frquency they would be using.  We dont use 5ghz at the mo, so if they were to use this, more channels would be available, and when we did start to utilie this band, ARM should be able to manage our APs to avoid or minimise interference.

Could this be a feesible option?

• Yes you can achieve nice bandwidth and air control with ARM enabled + band steering.
• You should know that your AP units should be dual radio dual band | and also the other dept.
• You should also check you devices - to make sure that they can work well in 5Ghz.

more info you may get in the following links:

http://community.arubanetworks.com/aruba/attachments/aruba/70/1204/1/ARM+Doc+Supplement.pdf

http://www.arubanetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/dg_highdensity_vrd.pdf

http://community.arubanetworks.com/aruba/attachments/aruba/arubaos-and-mobility-controllers/2432/1/ARM_Doc_Supplement_Rev2.pdf

http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/whitepapers/wp_ARM_EnterpriseWLAN.pdf

hope it will give you some idea.

have a nice day.

me

---

@Sk3l3tor wrote:

Ive been asked whether another dept can install their own wifi network which would not be connected in any way to our lan. 

 

My main concern would obviously be interference due to both sets of APs competing for channels. 

 

I suppose this could also depend upon which frquency they would be using.  We dont use 5ghz at the mo, so if they were to use this, more channels would be available, and when we did start to utilie this band, ARM should be able to manage our APs to avoid or minimise interference.

 

Could this be a feesible option?

 

 

---

Technically, you can certainly do this.

Why you would NOT want to do it, is because of interference.  When deploying wireless in cities, there is always the possibility for interference, because everyone has wireless.  The reason why it can be done successfully is because alot of times their access points are hundreds of feet away, minimizing the effect.  If another department (mis) configures wireless access points and they are not far away, the effects of interference are multipled and cause issues that you have to troubleshoot later.  If you have a system and you simply want that department to contribute for access points, that is the better plan, because the same system will run both sets of access points and work out some plan to minimize interference.  If that department is not filled with wireless experts, they could create more trouble by degrading your performance.

I've seen competing systems . They say it won't be on our LAN now but wait until they need something on your LAN and go up to the "C" level saying that we have already invested money in this system and now you are refusing to let them connect it to the LAN. 

You will also want to make sure that if it does go ahead you configure the other departments aps in your WIP policies if you have them and make sure they do the same if their ap's support it, otherwise the two wireless networks may have a battle to the death. My money is on Aruba winning. :smileylol:

Although it may be good to enable the WIP policy so that you can ensure that they don't connect their AP's to your LAN, or just to mess with them and say well hey you did not want our support or our ap's not my problem.

Good luck.