I use Aruba switches to provide a stable and comfortable industrial environment.
Assistant Manager IT at Suzuki Motor Gujtarat
Flexible and easy-to-use
Pros and Cons
- "We didn't experience any stability or scalability issues until now with Aruba Switches"
- "If you work for a small business, then Cisco would be best."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Aruba switches are more flexible, easy to use, have a good topology and are self-managing.
What needs improvement?
I have an opinion about Aruba controllers. Aruba access points do not require any controllers. Aruba controllers have different VLANS and there is no need to configure the access points, rather only the controller. You can put different VLANs on the same controllers. You don’t need to reconfigure it. This is a good feature that would be a good vehicle to use in the next release.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have four years of experience using Aruba Switches.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We didn't experience any stability or scalability issues until now with Aruba Switches
How are customer service and support?
We actually are the technical support because we are from HP. We give Aruba support and LT support to Aruba customers and users.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
So, because my basic profile is network only, I have experience with wifi solutions like Aruba, Cisco, Ruckus and switches also dealing with Cisco and Aruba Switches and HPE switches also— 3Com. I also work with voice environments like Siemens IP PBX, HiPath, Siemens data and Jira. I also worked with Avaya PBX and Nortel PBX.
I was in HP for more than four years where I was the team leader, managing 14 locations and area network and voice leader.
What other advice do I have?
I have four years of experience working with Aruba but I have more than 10 years of experience with Cisco. If you are working in the manufacturing industry or in an environment with high heat and high temperatures, then I would recommend Aruba Switches, but if you work for a small business, then Cisco would be best.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Aruba Switches a nine. We do not give out ratings of 100% quality on any products.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Assistant Manager, Information Technology Network& Voice Operations at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
A stable solution with faster deployment and better support
Pros and Cons
- "Aruba is more stable than Netgear."
- "Replacement could be automated."
What needs improvement?
Replacement could be automated.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is providing better stability to the users.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale up with your needs.
If your company grows, you can add a number of hardware or switches to support your network.
How are customer service and support?
Aruba support is much better than Netgear's.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and quick.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is 20-30% costlier than Netgear.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Aruba is more stable than Netgear.
What other advice do I have?
Aruba has helped to improve network efficiency in some ways.
I recommend the solution.
Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 16, 2024
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Aruba Switches
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Aruba Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Deputy IT Manager at ICAPP (Americana Group)
Reliable, easy deployment, with proven scalability
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the switches are reliable and replaced for free if anything goes wrong."
- "I would like to see something like a Cisco Prime, an application controlling the entire system, switches, and access points."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case is in the manufacturing area in our factory and the other places like our warehouses for the stores.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the switches are reliable and replaced for free if anything goes wrong.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see something like a Cisco Prime, an application controlling the entire system, switches, and access points.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Aruba Switches for the past ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Aruba Switches are highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is excellent. We have around three hundred users currently.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service takes around a month to replace a switch and they bring it from the USA. We are not under an SLA or maintenance contract. Their responses take a lot of time, but the quality is very good. I think we need another level of support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward and has a GUI interface.
What about the implementation team?
The installation took some time and is not as good as CISCO. We used both in-house and vendor teams to assist us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is very cheap when you compare it to CISCO.
What other advice do I have?
I would strongly recommend Aruba Switches and rate them an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Assistant Manager, Infrastructure And Helpdesk at American Water Works Association
6000 series switches are stable and reasonably scalable
Pros and Cons
- "It's stable."
- "I'm not sure if they have the core switch series as well."
What is our primary use case?
We are using the 6000 and 2005 series.
What needs improvement?
I'm not sure if they have the core switch series as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Systems Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Great support, intuitive CLI, and configurable through a Bluetooth connection
Pros and Cons
- "There is a feature where you can use Bluetooth. You can set up a Bluetooth pairing connection and do the configuration through your phone."
- "There is an issue with Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), but it is escaping me. We aren't using this feature yet, but it is something we are considering."
What is our primary use case?
We are using these switches for our office network and site-to-site connectivity.
What is most valuable?
Their technical support is great. I have used Cisco products, and as compared to Cisco, Aruba's command-line syntax is not as complex. The command-line interface of Aruba switches is quite intuitive. It also has a graphical user interface. With Cisco, using the graphical user interface for configuration can be complex, whereas Aruba simplifies it, and you can easily use the graphical user interface. The configuration is secured. Their graphical user interface is quite robust.
There is a feature where you can use Bluetooth. You can set up a Bluetooth pairing connection and do the configuration through your phone.
What needs improvement?
There is an issue with Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), but it is escaping me. We aren't using this feature yet, but it is something we are considering.
For how long have I used the solution?
It has been a little over a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. One time, I had a VSF problem, but that was in the hardware, and they replaced it. We have so many devices, and that was the only one with which we had an issue.
How are customer service and support?
Their technical support is great.
What about the implementation team?
There are just two of us for its deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cost-wise, you get some good savings as compared to Cisco.
What other advice do I have?
Aruba switches are pretty good. They are robust, and they do pretty much everything that Cisco is doing.
I would rate these switches a nine out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager IT at Hormann Legnica Sp. z o.o.
Great monitoring, an easy setup and capable of scaling
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's most valuable aspect is its monitoring capabilities."
- "The element of security always can be improved. If the solution continues to improve its security functionality, it will continue to be a great product."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for our company, in the office. We use it for its monitoring capabilities.
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable aspect is its monitoring capabilities. It works great for our organization.
What needs improvement?
Overall, it's a very good product. There isn't really a feature that needs to be simplified or improved.
The element of security always can be improved. If the solution continues to improve its security functionality, it will continue to be a great product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for around five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. We haven't had any issues with the reliability at all. It doesn't crash. There aren't bugs and glitches that affect the way it works.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. If an organization needs to expand it out, they should be able to do so easily. The saying is quite good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Although we've heard of Cisco, we never use it. We wouldn't recommend the solution above Aruba.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not complex at all. It was fairly straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
We're only an Aruba customer. We don't have any special relationship with Aruba.
I recommend the product. It's very good. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. If the security was just a little bit better, I would give it full marks. As it is right now, the security could always be improved upon.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Technical Specialist at TCM
Easy and quick to setup, smooth sailing
Pros and Cons
- "Very easy and quick to setup and provide a nice dashboard providing a view of everything."
What is our primary use case?
As a company many of our deployments are focused at the medical industry, we install Aruba network switches to facilitate interconnectivity and network connectivity. This is our primary use case.
We have also installed and deployed into the banking and pharmaceutical sectors.
What is most valuable?
One of the features I like most is the intuitive GUI dashboards the Aruba product provides. Having worked with various switches from different vendors, most of the focus is around the command line interface (CLI). Aruba also has a CLI, but their GUI is better than other manufacturers. You can easily log on to the GUI, you can see a nice visual dashboard presented, where you can check the status of switches, fans and power levels. At a glance you get a good overall view of what is happening.
What needs improvement?
There are no areas for improvement I can think of, the product supports all the latest features, security is quite good and doesn't bring forward any requirements. Aruba has a single management AirWave and the Aruba Central. It also integrates nicely with ClearPass and Palo Alto firewalls.
From my perspective there is not much missing with what is offered.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Aruba switches for approximately 9 years
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
With the amount of switches we have out in the field and what we manage, the number of call backs are very few. The product is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is very easy to scale. When you have a modular chassis, it's just a matter of installing an extra module and then the setup is quite quick.
Stacking between switches is also very easily done.
How are customer service and support?
The maintenance service support offered is pretty good. You usually have to buy additional support if you would like extended warranties and that kind of offering, in general the support is very good.
The turnaround times for returns of faulty hardware is very quick, and you can either phone in or process this online to get your replacements done.
The technical support from Aruba is very interactive also.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup out of the box is very straightforward. It prompts you right away to get the initial setup going and from there it's smooth sailing. It has the usual familiar HP interfaces and it's very quick and easy.
After racking and stacking the network switch, it's usually about 5-10 minutes of setup.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy and implement IT services ourselves for clients, including Aruba network switches.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The advice I would provide others is if you are a customer running Aruba for your switching infrastructure, consider taking the basic switching training offered. They cover everything from out of the box setup, everything you need including GUI's and CLI interfaces.
The product pricing is competitive and approximately 10% cheaper than the likes of Nexus. Professional services and training can also be provided by the vendor.
What other advice do I have?
The performance of the product is very good, no problem there. You can either purchase a gigabyte or 10 gigabyte switch.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Solution Architect at ISH Tecnologia
Easy configuration, fast technical support, with simple scalability
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the access point, fire control for clients, majority control, platform control in SSIGF, WiFi networking, and area monitoring."
- "I would like to see them integrate a monitoring solution."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use is for client access and corporate use.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the access point, fire control for clients, majority control, platform control in SSIGF, WiFi networking, and area monitoring.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see them integrate a monitoring solution. In addition, continue to develop features for easy configuration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Aruba Switches for years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Aruba Switches have good stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Aruba Switches is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I have found that technical support is easy and fast for troubleshooting.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The setup was straightforward and the configuration was not hard.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Aruba Switches a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
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