Wireless Access

One of our customers is upgrading their network from AP-225's to AP-515's. The new 500 series AP's use new brackets which is slightly annoying, but what is worse is that the holes of the new solid surface brackets do not line up with the old brackets so every AP needs new holes to be drilled. 

Aruba - Please can you ask your product management team to create a bracket with holes that align with the AP-220-MNT-W1?

It might not help your situation right now, but for future reference you can always review the mounting bracket Template Guides to give you an idea of the hole alignment.

 

https://support.arubanetworks.com/Documentation/tabid/77/DMXModule/512/Default.aspx?EntryId=31544

Hello Craig,

Yes, I looked at the alignment guides that's how I found out that the hold don't line up. I thought that the holes in the AP-MNT-E may have lined up with the holes of the AP-220-MNT-W1 but they don't. 

 

Actually they do. The original hole pattern was made to match that of the W2 and W3 mount brackets/boxes, but we later added holes to match the W1 ones as well. You may be looking at an old version of the template and/or we may not have updated it..

The bracket update was completed about a year ago, so current shipping units should have the additional holes.

 

Thanks Onno,

 The template guide I used was this one here 

https://support.arubanetworks.com/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?TabId=77&DMXModule=512&Command=Core_Download&EntryId=36140&PortalId=0

I downloaded the templates, imported it into AutoCAD and scaled it realised that holes didn’t match but if there are more holes now then all is well! 

Yeah, I just confirmed that we did not update the template. It will be taken care of soon, since we're actually adding even more holes just now..

Onno, what about the D mounts do these have new holes too? 

No, they do not. You'll need type E.

Attaching the updated template

Excellent, thanks Onno.

Just food for thought, but why not just make a bar bracket for the new AP's that has the nubs that just snaps into the existing W1 mount vs having to unscrew the old one, and risking that when I go to screw it back in that either the drywall cheaters or whatever I screwed into won't sufficiently hold the screws anymore?

------------------------------
Michael Overholser
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 23, 2020 07:33 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Attaching the updated template

This is not just an isolated incident -- there are all sorts of examples of apparently pointless bracket redesigns! Aruba maps out a whole upgrade path for what newer device should replace which older device, and it would save us gigantic amounts of hassle and money if we could just mount the successor device to the previous device's bracket unless there is some actual reason for them to be incompatible.

It would save Aruba money, too, as they could just reuse the old bracket engineering and manufacturing specs, the engineers who are engineering new devices will already have the brackets on hand, etc.

Not to mention the bad karma you guys accumulate as network managers the world over are rolling their eyes and muttering sarcastic comments about you guys being idiots!

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 09, 2022 11:36 PM
From: Michael Overholser
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Just food for thought, but why not just make a bar bracket for the new AP's that has the nubs that just snaps into the existing W1 mount vs having to unscrew the old one, and risking that when I go to screw it back in that either the drywall cheaters or whatever I screwed into won't sufficiently hold the screws anymore?

------------------------------
Michael Overholser

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 23, 2020 07:33 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Attaching the updated template

As the idiot who's ultimately responsible for the decision to change the Aruba AP mount brackets, I'd like to add a few comments:
- We do not change these systems often or randomly, but when we introduced the AP-5xx products we felt we had no choice to change the previous mount system we had used for years and multiple AP generations (for various reasons). Part of that was a desire to change from plastic brackets to metal. Unfortunately we could not do that with a compatible solution.
- We offer an adapter bracket that fits some of the previous generation mounts (the "box style" secure ones), but have avoided doing that for the more basic ones, to ensure we're not compromising strength and reliability of the combined mount solutions (especially when the original plastic mount may have been first installed 10+ years ago).
- When using mounts that attach to a solid surface (wall/ceiling) the new mounts can reuse existing mount holes. Admittedly not ideal, but it should help a bit.
Happy to discuss more in detail.

------------------------------
Onno Harms
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 02:29 PM
From: Cathy Fasano
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

This is not just an isolated incident -- there are all sorts of examples of apparently pointless bracket redesigns! Aruba maps out a whole upgrade path for what newer device should replace which older device, and it would save us gigantic amounts of hassle and money if we could just mount the successor device to the previous device's bracket unless there is some actual reason for them to be incompatible.

It would save Aruba money, too, as they could just reuse the old bracket engineering and manufacturing specs, the engineers who are engineering new devices will already have the brackets on hand, etc.

Not to mention the bad karma you guys accumulate as network managers the world over are rolling their eyes and muttering sarcastic comments about you guys being idiots!

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 09, 2022 11:36 PM
From: Michael Overholser
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Just food for thought, but why not just make a bar bracket for the new AP's that has the nubs that just snaps into the existing W1 mount vs having to unscrew the old one, and risking that when I go to screw it back in that either the drywall cheaters or whatever I screwed into won't sufficiently hold the screws anymore?

------------------------------
Michael Overholser

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 23, 2020 07:33 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Attaching the updated template

Touche... 

I'm personally grumpy about having to replace the 30% of my APs that are 103Hs in order to get off of 8.3, and having to delay the update of the 50% of my APs that are 105s & 135s and are much older than the APs that I have to replace first. So the totally different bracket on the 2xxH, followed by the slightly different (but "close" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades slightly) 3xxH. I do see that the 5xxH mount looks interchangeable with the 3xxH, so that's certainly good.

I do think that the little key dohickey on the 103H is very clever, as opposed to the going-to-be-lost-instantly tiny torx screw on the later mounts. But you guys probably had a good reason for changing it. The difference between the 2xxH configuration and the 3xxH configuration is a harder sell.

(Of course we can't actually buy any 5xxH because after we finish paying to get out of the 8.3 prison by replacing the 103Hs it will be awhile before we can afford to buy our way out of the 8.6 jail by refreshing the 105s and 135s!)

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 03:42 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

As the idiot who's ultimately responsible for the decision to change the Aruba AP mount brackets, I'd like to add a few comments:
- We do not change these systems often or randomly, but when we introduced the AP-5xx products we felt we had no choice to change the previous mount system we had used for years and multiple AP generations (for various reasons). Part of that was a desire to change from plastic brackets to metal. Unfortunately we could not do that with a compatible solution.
- We offer an adapter bracket that fits some of the previous generation mounts (the "box style" secure ones), but have avoided doing that for the more basic ones, to ensure we're not compromising strength and reliability of the combined mount solutions (especially when the original plastic mount may have been first installed 10+ years ago).
- When using mounts that attach to a solid surface (wall/ceiling) the new mounts can reuse existing mount holes. Admittedly not ideal, but it should help a bit.
Happy to discuss more in detail.

------------------------------
Onno Harms

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 02:29 PM
From: Cathy Fasano
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

This is not just an isolated incident -- there are all sorts of examples of apparently pointless bracket redesigns! Aruba maps out a whole upgrade path for what newer device should replace which older device, and it would save us gigantic amounts of hassle and money if we could just mount the successor device to the previous device's bracket unless there is some actual reason for them to be incompatible.

It would save Aruba money, too, as they could just reuse the old bracket engineering and manufacturing specs, the engineers who are engineering new devices will already have the brackets on hand, etc.

Not to mention the bad karma you guys accumulate as network managers the world over are rolling their eyes and muttering sarcastic comments about you guys being idiots!

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 09, 2022 11:36 PM
From: Michael Overholser
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Just food for thought, but why not just make a bar bracket for the new AP's that has the nubs that just snaps into the existing W1 mount vs having to unscrew the old one, and risking that when I go to screw it back in that either the drywall cheaters or whatever I screwed into won't sufficiently hold the screws anymore?

------------------------------
Michael Overholser

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 23, 2020 07:33 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Attaching the updated template

Ah ok, you're referring to the hospitality (wall-jack) APs, while I assumed this was about the campus ones.
The story there is admittedly less "upgrading-customer-friendly", but the brackets all fit the same set of wall-boxes..
303H and 503H/505H use the same brackets, but 205H to later is indeed not a match. Long story (for Atmosphere?)
103H is quite limited in memory footprint, and we could simply not support it beyond 8.3. We're not happy about that either, but given the much larger installed base of the 105 and 135 I'm at least happy it was not the other way around.
I must say I'm happy to hear you're still using the AP-105s. It was my first product at Aruba, which we launched in 2009 ;-)

------------------------------
Onno Harms
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 05:13 PM
From: Cathy Fasano
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Touche... 

I'm personally grumpy about having to replace the 30% of my APs that are 103Hs in order to get off of 8.3, and having to delay the update of the 50% of my APs that are 105s & 135s and are much older than the APs that I have to replace first. So the totally different bracket on the 2xxH, followed by the slightly different (but "close" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades slightly) 3xxH. I do see that the 5xxH mount looks interchangeable with the 3xxH, so that's certainly good.

I do think that the little key dohickey on the 103H is very clever, as opposed to the going-to-be-lost-instantly tiny torx screw on the later mounts. But you guys probably had a good reason for changing it. The difference between the 2xxH configuration and the 3xxH configuration is a harder sell.

(Of course we can't actually buy any 5xxH because after we finish paying to get out of the 8.3 prison by replacing the 103Hs it will be awhile before we can afford to buy our way out of the 8.6 jail by refreshing the 105s and 135s!)

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 03:42 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

As the idiot who's ultimately responsible for the decision to change the Aruba AP mount brackets, I'd like to add a few comments:
- We do not change these systems often or randomly, but when we introduced the AP-5xx products we felt we had no choice to change the previous mount system we had used for years and multiple AP generations (for various reasons). Part of that was a desire to change from plastic brackets to metal. Unfortunately we could not do that with a compatible solution.
- We offer an adapter bracket that fits some of the previous generation mounts (the "box style" secure ones), but have avoided doing that for the more basic ones, to ensure we're not compromising strength and reliability of the combined mount solutions (especially when the original plastic mount may have been first installed 10+ years ago).
- When using mounts that attach to a solid surface (wall/ceiling) the new mounts can reuse existing mount holes. Admittedly not ideal, but it should help a bit.
Happy to discuss more in detail.

------------------------------
Onno Harms

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 02:29 PM
From: Cathy Fasano
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

This is not just an isolated incident -- there are all sorts of examples of apparently pointless bracket redesigns! Aruba maps out a whole upgrade path for what newer device should replace which older device, and it would save us gigantic amounts of hassle and money if we could just mount the successor device to the previous device's bracket unless there is some actual reason for them to be incompatible.

It would save Aruba money, too, as they could just reuse the old bracket engineering and manufacturing specs, the engineers who are engineering new devices will already have the brackets on hand, etc.

Not to mention the bad karma you guys accumulate as network managers the world over are rolling their eyes and muttering sarcastic comments about you guys being idiots!

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 09, 2022 11:36 PM
From: Michael Overholser
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Just food for thought, but why not just make a bar bracket for the new AP's that has the nubs that just snaps into the existing W1 mount vs having to unscrew the old one, and risking that when I go to screw it back in that either the drywall cheaters or whatever I screwed into won't sufficiently hold the screws anymore?

------------------------------
Michael Overholser

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 23, 2020 07:33 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Attaching the updated template

Onno, thank you for your response! While I don't particularly agree with it, I do understand where you are coming from, especially wanting to get away from the plastic mounts and into a more solid metal bracket. From a comment below that you made, just to clarify what I am talking about, I am referring to the AP-220-MNT-W1, where I still think you could easily make an adapter that has the "pin style" on the upper part of the adapter, and the upper portion of the new "bar style" on the bottom part for the new AP brackets to connect to (I hope this makes sense, in my head it does, but I also have the "design" in my head to help with that).  

------------------------------
Michael Overholser
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 03:42 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

As the idiot who's ultimately responsible for the decision to change the Aruba AP mount brackets, I'd like to add a few comments:
- We do not change these systems often or randomly, but when we introduced the AP-5xx products we felt we had no choice to change the previous mount system we had used for years and multiple AP generations (for various reasons). Part of that was a desire to change from plastic brackets to metal. Unfortunately we could not do that with a compatible solution.
- We offer an adapter bracket that fits some of the previous generation mounts (the "box style" secure ones), but have avoided doing that for the more basic ones, to ensure we're not compromising strength and reliability of the combined mount solutions (especially when the original plastic mount may have been first installed 10+ years ago).
- When using mounts that attach to a solid surface (wall/ceiling) the new mounts can reuse existing mount holes. Admittedly not ideal, but it should help a bit.
Happy to discuss more in detail.

------------------------------
Onno Harms

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 02:29 PM
From: Cathy Fasano
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

This is not just an isolated incident -- there are all sorts of examples of apparently pointless bracket redesigns! Aruba maps out a whole upgrade path for what newer device should replace which older device, and it would save us gigantic amounts of hassle and money if we could just mount the successor device to the previous device's bracket unless there is some actual reason for them to be incompatible.

It would save Aruba money, too, as they could just reuse the old bracket engineering and manufacturing specs, the engineers who are engineering new devices will already have the brackets on hand, etc.

Not to mention the bad karma you guys accumulate as network managers the world over are rolling their eyes and muttering sarcastic comments about you guys being idiots!

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 09, 2022 11:36 PM
From: Michael Overholser
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Just food for thought, but why not just make a bar bracket for the new AP's that has the nubs that just snaps into the existing W1 mount vs having to unscrew the old one, and risking that when I go to screw it back in that either the drywall cheaters or whatever I screwed into won't sufficiently hold the screws anymore?

------------------------------
Michael Overholser

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 23, 2020 07:33 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Attaching the updated template

Understood. The issue is that if we offer an adapter allowing new APs to be attached to existing mounts that may have been there for 10 years, we need to ensure that new AP can remain securely attached for another 5 years at least (preferably 10). With increasing AP weight, aging plastics, and very demanding environmental test requirements (simulated earthquake tests are no joke!), we do not feel we should go that route.
While it may fit and look fine, we do not want to end up in a situation where the AP drops from the ceiling 5+ years from now.

------------------------------
Onno Harms
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 11, 2022 01:32 PM
From: Michael Overholser
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Onno, thank you for your response! While I don't particularly agree with it, I do understand where you are coming from, especially wanting to get away from the plastic mounts and into a more solid metal bracket. From a comment below that you made, just to clarify what I am talking about, I am referring to the AP-220-MNT-W1, where I still think you could easily make an adapter that has the "pin style" on the upper part of the adapter, and the upper portion of the new "bar style" on the bottom part for the new AP brackets to connect to (I hope this makes sense, in my head it does, but I also have the "design" in my head to help with that).  

------------------------------
Michael Overholser

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 03:42 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

As the idiot who's ultimately responsible for the decision to change the Aruba AP mount brackets, I'd like to add a few comments:
- We do not change these systems often or randomly, but when we introduced the AP-5xx products we felt we had no choice to change the previous mount system we had used for years and multiple AP generations (for various reasons). Part of that was a desire to change from plastic brackets to metal. Unfortunately we could not do that with a compatible solution.
- We offer an adapter bracket that fits some of the previous generation mounts (the "box style" secure ones), but have avoided doing that for the more basic ones, to ensure we're not compromising strength and reliability of the combined mount solutions (especially when the original plastic mount may have been first installed 10+ years ago).
- When using mounts that attach to a solid surface (wall/ceiling) the new mounts can reuse existing mount holes. Admittedly not ideal, but it should help a bit.
Happy to discuss more in detail.

------------------------------
Onno Harms

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 10, 2022 02:29 PM
From: Cathy Fasano
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

This is not just an isolated incident -- there are all sorts of examples of apparently pointless bracket redesigns! Aruba maps out a whole upgrade path for what newer device should replace which older device, and it would save us gigantic amounts of hassle and money if we could just mount the successor device to the previous device's bracket unless there is some actual reason for them to be incompatible.

It would save Aruba money, too, as they could just reuse the old bracket engineering and manufacturing specs, the engineers who are engineering new devices will already have the brackets on hand, etc.

Not to mention the bad karma you guys accumulate as network managers the world over are rolling their eyes and muttering sarcastic comments about you guys being idiots!

------------------------------
Cathy Fasano

Original Message:
Sent: Feb 09, 2022 11:36 PM
From: Michael Overholser
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Just food for thought, but why not just make a bar bracket for the new AP's that has the nubs that just snaps into the existing W1 mount vs having to unscrew the old one, and risking that when I go to screw it back in that either the drywall cheaters or whatever I screwed into won't sufficiently hold the screws anymore?

------------------------------
Michael Overholser

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 23, 2020 07:33 PM
From: Onno Harms
Subject: Aruba 500 Series Access Point Brackets

Attaching the updated template