Hey everyone! I'm just finishing my degree in Telecommunications Management, studying for the CCNA, and beginning my career as a Network Admin for a retailer supporting nearly 500 stores nationwide. So a lot going on in my life!
My main point in registering and posting tonight is to give a HUGE shoutout and a massive THANK YOU to Aruba. I started my networking career as a student worker in the Network office at my school, who uses Aruba. In the year I spent in this position, I aided in the transition from AP65 and AP70s to AP 105s and 135s. After my internship, I secured my current position and am again working with Aruba.
This is my last semester in school, and I am required to complete a "capstone" project of my choosing. I decided to explore dynamic VLAN assignment through 802.1x authentication - with AD groups determining the VLAN - for wireless, wired, and VPN clients. I have the wired down easy, the VPN is a work in progress, but I was stuck with the Wireless. Keep in mind I am building this project in my basement using personally-bought products, namely a HP 3400cl switch, a Dell PE2950 III running a few VMs, and a whitebox firewall. After digging into the WLAN portion, didn't know how I would accomplish this without blowing my budget, since the AP I have will only do one VLAN per SSID. This is where Aruba stepped in.
I sent a casual message to Aruba over Twitter, asking if I could put down a deposit to rent or borrow an evaluation AP and controller. I didn't expect much, but I thought it would be worth a shot. Not only did Aruba respond to me, but they put me in contact with someone who is going to let me borrow the gear I need to make my project a success. I can't possibly begin to express how awesome this is for Aruba to hook me up like this - if anyone has a spare Aruba sticker I can put on the back of my SUV, let me know...otherwise I might be getting a new tattoo after I graduate.