Aruba Airwave Reviews

Working with Airwave, I want a management solution to manage and monitor everything from a single dashboard. This is not there with Airwave. It would also be good if Aruba could enhance the simplicity of adding configurations. I must make configurations in many steps when configuring Airwave to add any switch.

Aruba Airwave is stable. If a device is added, it's stable.

If we need to scale Airwave, we must extend the server resources.

The solution is easy to set up. When deploying the solution, we download the VM or the Airwave software from Aruba software support. We then check the server's prerequisite memory, RAM, hardware, CPU, and so on. After that, we upload the VM as an ISO on the server. After uploading the VM, we perform initial setups such as management ID and gateway and enable the HTTP to enter the server's UI. After that, we can open the Airwave GUI and configure it to version two or three. We then add or collect any devices after configuring the protocol and add switches, wireless controllers, or access points.

The initial setup takes 30 minutes. The time taken to add devices depends on the number of devices. It takes five to ten minutes to configure one device.

I deploy the solution by myself. If the site is big, we can get another engineer. But the configuration is very simple. If we have a lot of switches, the configuration can be made into a template and pushed to all the switches. After that, we can add the devices.

Maintaining the solution is only required in an SMB. If an engineer has configured the solution for an SMB and, for example, used an incorrect password, the device will not appear in Airwave. The engineer will then modify the configuration or remove and add the configuration to check or see what the gap in the configuration is. But this is only for SMB configurations.

We must buy a new license to connect more devices to scale up the solution. If we have ten switches, we'll need ten licenses. If we have one wireless controller and ten switches, we'll need 11 licenses. The licensing price for Airwave is less than Cisco. None of our customers have complained about the cost of this license. Since it's a virtual license, it has a low cost.

If a customer has a solution from any other vendor and needs to change, we recommend Aruba Switches, such as 2930F or 2930M. We recommend Airwave because Airwave can be a physical appliance on-prem and manage all network devices, switches, and access points. It can be a wired or a wireless solution. If the switches or access points are Aruba, the solution can read it. But if they are from any other vendor, Airwave can only monitor them.

Compared with competitors, Airwave can work with vendors other than Aruba, such as Cisco. But the solution will be for monitoring only. Aruba switches can be managed from Airwave. Cisco DNA, however, is only for Cisco and not third-party solutions. Airwave is already a third-party management solution, which is a big issue since its cost is less than Cisco's. The Airwave license is not required from the switch side, only the Airwave side. Other vendors require the license from the management solution and switch sides.

We recommend Airwave when the customer has a lot of different vendors in switching or wireless. We can recommend Aruba Airwave to manage the whole network. We can manage your network, wired or wireless. I rate Aruba Airwave a six out of ten.

We use the solution for network and access points.

The solution's pricing and support could be better.

We have been using the solution for a few months.

It is a stable solution.

We have 140 users and two administrators for the solution in our organization. It is a scalable solution.

The solution's technical support is good. Although, we encountered issues while raising the tickets with errors related to integration with other products. The team should cooperate more to help us integrate different solutions.

Positive

The solution's initial setup process is straightforward.

The solution is expensive, but it is cheaper than Cisco.

I evaluated Fortinet before.

It is a good solution. I rate it a ten out of ten.

I'm a network architect, so I usually propose Aruba Airwave to my clients. I configure it regularly. 

I use Aruba Airwave for the management and monitoring of Aruba products. Aruba offers two solutions for management: Aruba Airwave and Aruba Central. They both provide configuration and management capabilities. However, Aruba Airwave is specifically designed for Wi-Fi solutions. Aruba Airwave is more powerful compared to Aruba Central.

The best feature of Aruba Airwave, in my opinion, is its ability to work with multiple vendors. It supports a wide range of products, including those from other brands like Cisco. However, compatibility should be checked before configuring non-Aruba devices. Additionally, Aruba Airwave provides a robust solution for monitoring and configuring Wi-Fi networks.

There is room for improvement in the monitoring capabilities. Aruba can offer to monitor the product; it can offer a better solution for my network.

In future releases, I would try to integrate more products from different vendors. Because that's really good features that Aruba Airway has, but it's so limited. 

I have been using Aruba Airwave for about six to seven years.

I also prefer using Aruba Central.

Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten. 

We develop Aruba Airwave solutions for our clients, which they use for ZTP, mailing access points, and network switches.

What I like best about Aruba Airwave is its orchestration feature because it saves configuration time, for example, when adding access points and access lists on switches.

I also like that Aruba Airwave allows you to do ZTP installations for new Aruba equipment.

Pricing for Aruba Airwave could be cheaper, which is an area for improvement in the solution.

I've been using Aruba Airwave for five years.

Aruba Airwave is a stable solution. I'm rating its stability as ten out of ten.

Aruba Airwave is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, it's an eight.

The technical support for Aruba Airwave is good. Sometimes, my team creates cases where the support answers and solves the problems.

The initial setup for Aruba Airwave is easy because it has a virtual machine template, and Aruba has documentation, including an installation guide that my company follows. Aruba Airwave also has a ZTP setup, making it extremely easy.

Deploying Aruba Airwave took one to two days. You need to download, install, deploy, and configure it, and it'll work.

The licensing cost for Aruba Airwave increased from $72 to $210 within a few months. It would be better if the pricing for the solution were cheaper.

My company uses the monitoring software Aruba Airwave.

I'm using Aruba Airwave version 8.5.

My company currently has ten customers using Aruba Airwave.

One to two network engineers take care of the deployment and maintenance of the solution.

I'm recommending Aruba Airwave to other people looking into implementing it.

My rating for Aruba Airwave is ten out of ten.

We use the product to provide a wireless network experience for transforming secure and high-quality data.

We encounter delayed ETAs in the manufacturing of hardware.

We have been using Aruba Airwave for four and a half years.

I rate the product’s stability a six out of ten. It is hosted on the AWS cloud; sometimes, we receive a notification that the platform is down.

The product scales efficiently after enabling the IPAPI feature. It is suitable for medium to enterprise businesses. I rate its scalability a ten out of ten.

The technical support services are good. They respond to any technical case for assistance.

Positive

I rate the initial setup process a seven out of ten. We deploy it on-premises and on the cloud as well. It takes a lot of time to build the controller license. The implementation time depends on the complexity of the customer’s environment.

I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten.

I rate Aruba Airwave an eight out of ten. They are continuously improving the product. It integrates well with Aruba Central, giving full visibility and control of the environment. We can troubleshoot complex site issues using it. It also offers security elements for intrusion detection, intrusion prevention, firewalls, controllers, and gateways.

We use this solution as our monitoring tool. 

The overall monitoring of this solution could be improved. 

This is a stable solution. I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability. 

It's scalable because it's licensed per device and we bought licenses with each device. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.

The deployment was done by a vendor team. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten for pricing. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten. 

The main use case for this solution is reporting.

This solution gives you a lot of reporting capabilities and it has a very good interface.

I would like to see an integration of services into one system, rather than having multiple systems to do multiple things. For example, ClearPass has everything in one.

In terms of stability, I have zero issues with it.

I cannot comment on the scalability because the solution is within my building, and the number of users doesn't change.

Currently, it is used by thirty to sixty people at the maximum.

I have not dealt with the technical support for AirWave. We have dealt with them for the ClearPass product and Aruba, but not for this solution.

Prior to this, we were using a solution from Juniper Networks, but it was outdated and really old. We did a review of all the products and Aruba AirWave came out high, which is why we switched. 

There are two staff members who maintain everything.

The initial setup was done by a contractor, who was very good. It was with a company named MDS.

The cost is perfect because the devices have a lifetime warranty, and the licensing is good as well. I have no complaints.

This is a straightforward solution but I would suggest that somebody implement it for you. Also, make sure that they have a really good background in it.

I would rate this product a nine out of ten.

It is a monitoring service. It is being used in a big financial institute, and we are now also designing it for a college. 

It can do many things. It is useful for managing wireless, wired, and remote access networks. It is also useful for monitoring the performance of the switches and reporting.

It can interact with other vendors better than Cisco, which is a good point of AirWave. It is easy to use, and its reporting is good.

They should make it cheaper. By doing that, they can replace Cisco, which is also very expensive. If it is equivalent to Cisco in the features, with a reduced price, they can sell it more than Cisco.

It should also support HPE servers, and their support could also be faster.

We were a partner of HPE before HPE bought Aruba. It has probably been four or five years.

In a monitoring solution, instead of stability, we look for accuracy. It must be accurate in the reporting and alerting, which is important. It must integrate well with all other vendors, and it should be accurate in the reporting. Stability is not a big issue in the case of monitoring solutions. 

Support is good, but it is not as good as Cisco. Cisco's support is faster. We are also a partner of Cisco. Cisco's escalation step is easier than Aruba's. Cisco also follows up more than Aruba. I would rate Aruba's support a two or three out of five.

It is easy. All Aruba solutions are easy to set up. Cisco solutions can be complicated in terms of configuration and pre-sales activity. They are becoming a little bit easier, but AirWave is still the easiest one.

AirWave is a very expensive solution. If you implement it in a wide range network, it will cost a lot. There is no option to sell it outside that price segment, which is a problem.

It depends on the kind of products you have. If you have multiple vendors, Aruba is easier to use than Cisco. With Cisco, you will face some problems while dealing with a lot of vendors. There is another solution, probably called WireShark, that is compatible with all vendors. It has a lot of features, and it also supports servers and other applications.

I would rate Aruba Airwave a seven out of 10.