A compilation of the webinar Q&A is now available. Thanks to all who joined the webinar. For a copy of the presentation, please see our knowledge base. Here is a recording of the presentation on Aruba's website. If you have any questions, please post them here in the comments section or to the Wireless LAN discussion forums.
Q: How does Airwave accomplish real-time analysis of coverage?
A: Aruba and other 3rd party APs under management share real-time transmit radio statistics of mobile devices and real-time transmit + receive statistics of APs back to AirWave. Data seen by multiple APs are also correlated and used to adjust the patterns on the live RF heatmap. Pre-definitions of RF obstructions in the environment also help paint the most realistic views of the RF coverage at any particular point in time.
Q: What ratio does Aruba recommend clients per AP on bgn radio vs an radio?
A: This really depends on the amount of bandwidth per mobile device expected in a specific environment. For instance, iPads (and iPhone5s) have a total traffic rate (for real-world TCP) of 30Mbps max and laptops (assume 3x3:3 802.11n) have around 250Mbps for 5GHz. And this is only when the mobile devices are close enough to the AP that they are associated to so that the top 802.11n speeds can be utilized for communication. If the desired bandwidth reservation for each iPad is 5Mbps, we are looking at a maximum of 6 iPads per any 5GHz radio. For laptops only, the number goes up to maximum of 50 per any 5GHz radio. Mobile device capability, access point type, amount of bandwidth required per mobile device are all factors to take into consideration. For many more details on this topic, please see Aruba's high-density VRD.
Q: Is there an article that describes the proper fingerprinting/QoS setup for Lync apps?
A: Yes. Please refer to the following Aruba whitepaper for details.
Q: If there is an existing wireless network, can Aruba override that network?
A: In general there are a fixed number of wireless channels available for the wireless network. If you need to have wireless networks from two different vendors coexist within the same location it would be ideal to have them operate in different bands, one vendor on 2.4 GHz and the other on 5.0GHz so that they don’t interfere with each other.
Q: For failover, do you use vrrp? If one of the controller is standby/idle, is there any way to stack/virtualize both controllers to make it as one (like Cisco VSS or HP IRF) to maximize its usage?
A: No stacking / virtualization is supported, but Aruba Mobility Controllers use VRRP. 1:1, N:1, N+1, 1+1 deployment models for redundancy are supported.
Q: Does this same high-avalibility design exist in the IAP product line?
A: Yes. When an Aruba Instant AP fails, other nearby APs help mobile devices and applications recover connectivity. If the AP responsible for Instant WLAN management fails, another AP within the WLAN assumes the role of management immediately.
Q: Is ARM a built-in automatic utility or does it require configuring and management?
A: ARM is completely automatic and requires no configuration. Here is more information about Adaptive Radio Management.
Q: Many of the new vendors are moving to "controllerless" APs, is Aruba palnning to offer something similar and how does the Aruba solution compete with these new cloud base APs?
A: Aruba offers a controllerless WLAN solution as well. It is known as Aruba Instant.