Wireless Access

I have been an aruba customer for 10+ years.  Admittedly, over the years I have upgraded hardware (controllers/AP's) but have rarely needed to look at my config.

My current setup is 
(2) 7210 Controllers 8.5.0.2
Mobility Master 8.5.0.2
Mostly 515/535 AP's - still have a few 205/225 while waiting for new replacement AP's to ship
ClearPass for authentication

This is a small campus deployment (~120 AP's) in a BYOD environment.  I am starting to see/feel like i'm not getting the performance I should be and my guess is it's because i've never tweaked radios, played with ARM, and im sure there's features now i should be using but im not...........all because i've never really had to.

Does anyone have some quick tips or some easy read resources of performance tweaks / settings I should implement to maximize performance?  

FWIW - as soon as AP's ship my entire environment will be 515/535 AP's.  

Thx

------------------------------
Mike Robertson
------------------------------

The high density validated reference design guide here:  https://community.arubanetworks.com/browse/articles/blogviewer?blogkey=7bc8710b-bc01-4229-a170-41f8f5a5e6f8 presents theories of what to look for.

Have you spoken to your Aruba Sales Engineer?  If for some reason you cannot, please message me and we will get someone to look at your setup.

------------------------------
Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 10, 2021 09:17 PM
From: Mike Robertson
Subject: Performance Tweaks

I have been an aruba customer for 10+ years.  Admittedly, over the years I have upgraded hardware (controllers/AP's) but have rarely needed to look at my config.

My current setup is 
(2) 7210 Controllers 8.5.0.2
Mobility Master 8.5.0.2
Mostly 515/535 AP's - still have a few 205/225 while waiting for new replacement AP's to ship
ClearPass for authentication

This is a small campus deployment (~120 AP's) in a BYOD environment.  I am starting to see/feel like i'm not getting the performance I should be and my guess is it's because i've never tweaked radios, played with ARM, and im sure there's features now i should be using but im not...........all because i've never really had to.

Does anyone have some quick tips or some easy read resources of performance tweaks / settings I should implement to maximize performance?  

FWIW - as soon as AP's ship my entire environment will be 515/535 AP's.  

Thx

------------------------------
Mike Robertson
------------------------------

What kind of performance do you have and what do you want suspect/need? Please note that IEEE 802.11 have a lot of overhead and you will never suspect much more than around 50% of the modulation rates in MCS Index as real throughput. http://mcsindex.com/

Some tips:

• Start with set the max tx-power to the same level as your weakest endpoint to get equal power. Normal a mobile devices will be around 30mW (15dBm).
• By this 30mW tx-power on any location you need around -65dBm signal strength from client perspective.
• Choose the right channel bandwidth, wider channels for more throughput but smaller channels to avoid co-channel interference. Most likely 40Mhz or smaller for office environments, depends on when co-channel interference kick in.
• Don't changes any arm or airmatch settings, the defaults are best practice, play with this settings only when you known what your doing ;).

Do not focus on higher speeds but determine what your clients need for the applications. Most applications don't require 200Mbps ;). And for a professional site survey, measuring is knowing.

------------------------------
Marcel Koedijk | MVP Guru 2021 | ACEP | ACMP | ACCP | ACDP | Ekahau ECSE | Not an HPE Employee | Opionions are my own
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 11, 2021 07:32 AM
From: Colin Joseph
Subject: Performance Tweaks

The high density validated reference design guide here:  https://community.arubanetworks.com/browse/articles/blogviewer?blogkey=7bc8710b-bc01-4229-a170-41f8f5a5e6f8 presents theories of what to look for.

Have you spoken to your Aruba Sales Engineer?  If for some reason you cannot, please message me and we will get someone to look at your setup.

------------------------------
Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 10, 2021 09:17 PM
From: Mike Robertson
Subject: Performance Tweaks

I have been an aruba customer for 10+ years.  Admittedly, over the years I have upgraded hardware (controllers/AP's) but have rarely needed to look at my config.

My current setup is 
(2) 7210 Controllers 8.5.0.2
Mobility Master 8.5.0.2
Mostly 515/535 AP's - still have a few 205/225 while waiting for new replacement AP's to ship
ClearPass for authentication

This is a small campus deployment (~120 AP's) in a BYOD environment.  I am starting to see/feel like i'm not getting the performance I should be and my guess is it's because i've never tweaked radios, played with ARM, and im sure there's features now i should be using but im not...........all because i've never really had to.

Does anyone have some quick tips or some easy read resources of performance tweaks / settings I should implement to maximize performance?  

FWIW - as soon as AP's ship my entire environment will be 515/535 AP's.  

Thx

------------------------------
Mike Robertson
------------------------------

Hello Airheads, 

Interested to know your opinion around following approach. 

Split 5ghz Radios in 4 Groups so neighbours APs within the same floor on an office space get allocated x4 channels of non overlapping channels. Max Channel Bandwidth would be 20Mhz.



Apart from above recommendation from Marcel K, to leave AirMatch defaults that we plan to do. Obviously to an extend if we implement this we'd somehow interfering with AirMatch to manage the whole spectrum as a "whole" by breaking it up in Groups. 

Has anyone had real life experience with this Radio Profile channel approach ? Any potential side effects with roaming or the like with this approach we should be aware ?

Regards, 

DSP 


------------------------------
David Sanchez
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 12, 2021 05:59 PM
From: marcel koedijk
Subject: Performance Tweaks

What kind of performance do you have and what do you want suspect/need? Please note that IEEE 802.11 have a lot of overhead and you will never suspect much more than around 50% of the modulation rates in MCS Index as real throughput. http://mcsindex.com/

Some tips:

• Start with set the max tx-power to the same level as your weakest endpoint to get equal power. Normal a mobile devices will be around 30mW (15dBm).
• By this 30mW tx-power on any location you need around -65dBm signal strength from client perspective.
• Choose the right channel bandwidth, wider channels for more throughput but smaller channels to avoid co-channel interference. Most likely 40Mhz or smaller for office environments, depends on when co-channel interference kick in.
• Don't changes any arm or airmatch settings, the defaults are best practice, play with this settings only when you known what your doing ;).

Do not focus on higher speeds but determine what your clients need for the applications. Most applications don't require 200Mbps ;). And for a professional site survey, measuring is knowing.

------------------------------
Marcel Koedijk | MVP Guru 2021 | ACEP | ACMP | ACCP | ACDP | Ekahau ECSE | Not an HPE Employee | Opionions are my own

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 11, 2021 07:32 AM
From: Colin Joseph
Subject: Performance Tweaks

The high density validated reference design guide here:  https://community.arubanetworks.com/browse/articles/blogviewer?blogkey=7bc8710b-bc01-4229-a170-41f8f5a5e6f8 presents theories of what to look for.

Have you spoken to your Aruba Sales Engineer?  If for some reason you cannot, please message me and we will get someone to look at your setup.

------------------------------
Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 10, 2021 09:17 PM
From: Mike Robertson
Subject: Performance Tweaks

I have been an aruba customer for 10+ years.  Admittedly, over the years I have upgraded hardware (controllers/AP's) but have rarely needed to look at my config.

My current setup is 
(2) 7210 Controllers 8.5.0.2
Mobility Master 8.5.0.2
Mostly 515/535 AP's - still have a few 205/225 while waiting for new replacement AP's to ship
ClearPass for authentication

This is a small campus deployment (~120 AP's) in a BYOD environment.  I am starting to see/feel like i'm not getting the performance I should be and my guess is it's because i've never tweaked radios, played with ARM, and im sure there's features now i should be using but im not...........all because i've never really had to.

Does anyone have some quick tips or some easy read resources of performance tweaks / settings I should implement to maximize performance?  

FWIW - as soon as AP's ship my entire environment will be 515/535 AP's.  

Thx

------------------------------
Mike Robertson
------------------------------

David, 

Please open your own new thread for this question.

------------------------------
Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 13, 2021 05:14 AM
From: David Sanchez
Subject: Performance Tweaks

Hello Airheads, 

Interested to know your opinion around following approach. 

Split 5ghz Radios in 4 Groups so neighbours APs within the same floor on an office space get allocated x4 channels of non overlapping channels. Max Channel Bandwidth would be 20Mhz.



Apart from above recommendation from Marcel K, to leave AirMatch defaults that we plan to do. Obviously to an extend if we implement this we'd somehow interfering with AirMatch to manage the whole spectrum as a "whole" by breaking it up in Groups. 

Has anyone had real life experience with this Radio Profile channel approach ? Any potential side effects with roaming or the like with this approach we should be aware ?

Regards, 

DSP 


------------------------------
David Sanchez

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 12, 2021 05:59 PM
From: marcel koedijk
Subject: Performance Tweaks

What kind of performance do you have and what do you want suspect/need? Please note that IEEE 802.11 have a lot of overhead and you will never suspect much more than around 50% of the modulation rates in MCS Index as real throughput. http://mcsindex.com/

Some tips:

• Start with set the max tx-power to the same level as your weakest endpoint to get equal power. Normal a mobile devices will be around 30mW (15dBm).
• By this 30mW tx-power on any location you need around -65dBm signal strength from client perspective.
• Choose the right channel bandwidth, wider channels for more throughput but smaller channels to avoid co-channel interference. Most likely 40Mhz or smaller for office environments, depends on when co-channel interference kick in.
• Don't changes any arm or airmatch settings, the defaults are best practice, play with this settings only when you known what your doing ;).

Do not focus on higher speeds but determine what your clients need for the applications. Most applications don't require 200Mbps ;). And for a professional site survey, measuring is knowing.

------------------------------
Marcel Koedijk | MVP Guru 2021 | ACEP | ACMP | ACCP | ACDP | Ekahau ECSE | Not an HPE Employee | Opionions are my own

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 11, 2021 07:32 AM
From: Colin Joseph
Subject: Performance Tweaks

The high density validated reference design guide here:  https://community.arubanetworks.com/browse/articles/blogviewer?blogkey=7bc8710b-bc01-4229-a170-41f8f5a5e6f8 presents theories of what to look for.

Have you spoken to your Aruba Sales Engineer?  If for some reason you cannot, please message me and we will get someone to look at your setup.

------------------------------
Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

Original Message:
Sent: Sep 10, 2021 09:17 PM
From: Mike Robertson
Subject: Performance Tweaks

I have been an aruba customer for 10+ years.  Admittedly, over the years I have upgraded hardware (controllers/AP's) but have rarely needed to look at my config.

My current setup is 
(2) 7210 Controllers 8.5.0.2
Mobility Master 8.5.0.2
Mostly 515/535 AP's - still have a few 205/225 while waiting for new replacement AP's to ship
ClearPass for authentication

This is a small campus deployment (~120 AP's) in a BYOD environment.  I am starting to see/feel like i'm not getting the performance I should be and my guess is it's because i've never tweaked radios, played with ARM, and im sure there's features now i should be using but im not...........all because i've never really had to.

Does anyone have some quick tips or some easy read resources of performance tweaks / settings I should implement to maximize performance?  

FWIW - as soon as AP's ship my entire environment will be 515/535 AP's.  

Thx

------------------------------
Mike Robertson
------------------------------