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Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

This thread has been viewed 26 times
  • 1.  Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

    Posted Nov 07, 2023 11:25 AM

    Hi,

    We're currently using 2930M switches with smartrate ports connected to our 535 APs in our offices. We've recently found out the 2930M's are EOS Q1-2024. The newer CX series 6200F/M models seem to lack the smartrate ports. We're trying to lower the cost of our branch deployments and we're considering linking the standard 1G ports to the 535 APs. Are the smartrate ports really required for performance on the APs ? Any tips on looking at utilization and performance on the existing deployments? We're considering moving to the 6xx series APs as well and are considered with the performance without the smartrate ports. I'm assuming we could use the two ports on the APs and bind 1G is we needed the extra bandwidth to the APs?



  • 2.  RE: Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

    Posted Nov 07, 2023 12:20 PM

    If you have your APs in an management platform like Aruba Central or Airwave, you can probably collect the interface statistics and traffic trending from there.

    I would say that in practice it may be unlikely that you really experience performance limitations when an AP is connected to a 1Gbps switch port. With tri-band radios, like in the AP6xx series, and the higher bandwidths on 6GHz, it's more likely that you may hit 1 Gbps in one direction (note that WLAN is half-duplex, ethernet is full duplex so could be considered '2 Gbps') but then still it depends on your applications if there is really a noticeable bottleneck on the wired switch port. And if you really have such high-bandwidth clients/applications, having a 10G uplink may be another bottleneck.

    But without knowing more about your environment, clients, AP density, applications, it's hard to tell if you need 2.5/5G ports. For the sake of future-proofing, it makes sense to at least consider SmartRate. BTW, there is a 6200M model with Smart Rate ports: HPE Aruba Networking 6200M 36G 12SR5 Class6 PoE 4SFP+ Switch (R8Q71A)



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    Herman Robers
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    If you have urgent issues, always contact your Aruba partner, distributor, or Aruba TAC Support. Check https://www.arubanetworks.com/support-services/contact-support/ for how to contact Aruba TAC. Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

    In case your problem is solved, please invest the time to post a follow-up with the information on how you solved it. Others can benefit from that.
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  • 3.  RE: Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

    EMPLOYEE
    Posted Nov 07, 2023 10:00 PM

    Something further to consider, if you plan to continue forward with the higher end of the APs available and their corresponding higher power requirements.  A PoE Class 6 switch will make deploying those APs easier. 



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    Carson Hulcher, ACEX#110
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  • 4.  RE: Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

    Posted Nov 08, 2023 05:52 AM

    Look at this post:

    how to verify 5GhZ network speed increase | Wireless Access (arubanetworks.com)



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    Steinar
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  • 5.  RE: Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

    Posted Nov 08, 2023 05:58 AM

    ps,

    Please elaborate some more on your EOS findings 



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    Steinar
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  • 6.  RE: Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

    Posted Nov 08, 2023 02:02 PM

    You could go with affordable Ap-615s which don't require smart rate. 

    Else it is cx-6300m switches for you




  • 7.  RE: Smart Rate Ports and 5xx vs 6xx APs

    EMPLOYEE
    Posted Nov 08, 2023 02:20 PM



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    Carson Hulcher, ACEX#110
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