Wireless Access

Hi guys,

 

I know this topic has been discused many times and there are many posts about that. What is the recommended number of users an AP can support? I know it depends of the users' application, the model of AP and so on. Many times customers and the pre-sales team ask me that question for a particular AP model, and I answer them that it depends, and they always told me "I know, but tell me an average more or less". I would like to know some recommendation or average taking into account the users will not use high BW applications, just as Jerrod said at this post:

 

Recommendations (which are fluid depending on use case) could be:

AP-103 = 30

AP-20x = 50

AP-21x = 75

AP-22x = 100

 

https://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Wireless-Access/how-many-clients-on-aruba-s-AP/td-p/262353

 

That recommendation is for old AP models. Is there any similar for newer AP models (207 series, 300 series, 310 series, etc.)?

 

With that being said, another related doubt I have is there are people who says the default max clients per radio of 64 is a good value, while others say is too much and it would be better to set it to around 30.

 

Any thoughts about these doubts?

 

Regards,

Julián

Hi guys,

 

Any idea?

 

Regards,

Julián

Hi,

 

maybe you can ask your Aruba SE/Partner SE and ask them to contact a TME wireless or a PLM to answer the question.

 

 

---

@fjulianom wrote:

Hi guys,

 

Any idea?

 

Regards,

Julián

---

Take a look at the High Density VRD here:  https://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/vrd/DG_HighDensity_VRD.pdf

What ALL access points are limited by is RF performance.  The chart below was done with a AP-125, but the "ceiling" should be the same if you have 30 clients running on a 20mhz channel on the best access point, all trying to send traffic at the same time:

 

The chart above says if all clients were to try to send traffic at the same time, 30 clients would on average be able to send/receive 1.8 Mbps.  This would reflect a test-taking scenario when all clients would be on the AP and sending traffic at the same time.  In a regular scenario, all clients would not be sending and receiving traffic at the same time (like in a library), and you would want more users to be able to get on an access point.

 

Long story short, regardless of access point, I would plan for 30 users for each access point for the worst-case scenario (taking tests), so that users would be able to obtain 1.8 Mbps each.  Better access points like the AP-325 and AP-335 can certainly accept and handle more associations from clients due to higher CPU and Memory, but when subjected to the test-taking scenario, their RF throughput is limited to the numbers in the chart above.  Your chart might then look like this:

 

AP-207 = AP-103 = 30

AP-20x = 50

AP-31x = AP-21x = 75

AP-32x = AP-22x = 100

 

 

 

 

Hi Colin,

 

Good VRD, many thanks! When you say

 

I would plan for 30 users for each access point for the worst-case scenario (taking tests), so that users would be able to obtain 1.8 Mbps each.

 

1. Do you mean setting max-clients-threshold to 30 so this is for each radio and the AP would support 60 clients?

 

2. In this case, what would happen when the 31th client tries to connect to the AP? Would this client receive a deauth from the IAP and try more luck with another near AP? 

 

Regards,

Julián

Max number of client devices is a complex subject. It depends on many factors. Types, mix and distribution (including location, distance) of client devices, environmental conditions, performance criteria, traffic type, application, to name a few.

On the AP, critical parameters are wi-fi chipset, cpu type and speed, memory size, forwarding mode, etc.

Therefore, any number provided is really more of a position number, illustrating the relatuve capabilituies of the AP platform, rather than an absolute or guaranteed number.

With that in mind, we typically use the following numbers (max active clients per AP):

- AP-207: 30

- AP-303: 30

- AP-304/305: 50

- AP-314/315: 75 

- AP-324/325: 100

- AP-334/335: 100

- AP-344/345: 100

Note that the hard limit on most current Aruba APs is 256 client associations per radio.

 

Hi Onno

Thank you. And Thank you @cjospeh too

I reached out to @onno and he come through!

Hope it helps

Hi Onno and Colin,

 

Some days ago browsing through the Aruba website and reviewing AP capabilities for a project, I realized the comparison website chart now shows a new row for recommended or practical maximum client per radio. And it matches the Onno's chart, but the Onno's chart means max clients per AP, while the Aruba comparision chart says max clients per radio, which means the double than the Onno's chart. Just an example:

 

Which chart should I follow then?

 

Regards,

Julián

I would go with Onnos Chart

 

Cheers

Carlos

Hello Onno, Joseph and contributors, 

 

if you can provide insight (number of users per AP) for the 500 series that will be awesome! 

 

thank you guys ! 

No, I don't mean to set a hard limit. When you are going through the planning stages, if your requirement is simultaneous bandwidth, don't plan for more than 30 users per access point.

Onno's chart above is what you should be following.

Hi Onno and Colin,

Thanks for the explanation. Ok, clear about follow those guidelines when going through the planning stage. But then, when does it make sense to lower or change the max-client-threshold?

Regards,
Julián

Hi

Stick to the defaults. Most times they are fine.

Hi Frank,

 

I know they are fine and I didn't change those defaults in my implementations so far. But I would like to know where make sense or useful to change it to completely understand.

 

Regards,

Julián

Hi Julian,

 

I have learned to stick to the defaults, and for some cases follow the VRD's. I never had to lower the max clients. Aruba AP's just rock, no need to limit them!

 

 

I've been Wi-fi admin on a college campus for about, 5 years now.  My experience is these number are not real life numbers.  We have AP's of all models, but the larges deployment is probably the AP-215's.

 

My experience has been once the AP starts to get more 20-25 users.  The Controller reports the AP as being stressed. 

 

Starte recieveing reports that service is slow.

thank you for your feedback, 

based on above answers, it looks right, up to 30 users the 215 may get stressed, of course within specific circumstances. 

 

my question was about the 500 series, for instance, the Aruba AP-525. 

what is the number of users that can support in general? 

 

Hi,

 

@MandP

You can go to the Aruba website and compare APs. Here you are the comparison of APs 500, 515 and 530, including the recommended number of users for each:

 

@Lardwag

The number of recommended client count means the AP can support with this number of users with no problem. For instance, in the case of the 510 series, the AP can support 100 users per radio and will not crash. What do you mean exactly with "The Controller reports the AP as being stressed."?

You are right, and maybe the recommended number of users is around 30, and with more the users can experience the service is slow. But here the limitation is the channel capacity/airtime/channel utilization (especially 2.4GHz channels), and not the AP.

 

Regards,

Julián

For example.. stressed. See Pic
[cid:image001.png@01D5960E.D96F3470]

Hi Lardawg,

 

I can't see the picture. Maybe problems when attaching?

 

Regards,

Julian