Aruba Wireless Reviews

We're using Aruba Wireless as a wireless access point, particularly Aruba AP-505.

We're also using Aruba Wireless for guest management purposes.

For my organization, the most critical feature of Aruba Wireless is guest management.

An area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is creating a DMZ. Without Aruba ClearPass, you need to allow guess access directly via the internet, which means you need to implement the security in between, so this is what I'd like Aruba to improve in the product.

Another area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is delivery because right now, in the COVID-19 pandemic, the product doesn't have much availability. There's a limited supply of semiconductors, so I want Ariba to increase Aruba Wireless production. The product needs to be available and delivered to customers faster.

I've been working with Aruba Wireless since 2016.

I would rate the stability of Aruba Wireless as nine out of ten.

From a scalability point of view, I don't see any challenges with scaling Aruba Wireless. After all, my organization only has one office and only needs approximately fifty APs.

Aruba Wireless has good technical support.

We used Cisco, the older technology, before using Aruba Wireless. We were not getting guest management as a feature on Cisco, while Aruba Wireless came up with guest management via Aruba ClearPass, so we started using Aruba Wireless.

The initial setup for Aruba Wireless was easy. It was so simple. My organization used it as a standalone solution.

Deploying the product took approximately six months.

We implemented Aruba Wireless through a consultant. Our experience with the consultant was good. He provided good support without the need for any intervention. The product was implemented well and working per our requirements.

The commercial department handles the Aruba Wireless license for my organization, so I cannot comment on the product's pricing.

I have experience with Aruba Wireless.

My organization is an Aruba Wireless customer.

My organization has three administrators of the product. Currently, there is no plan to increase Aruba Wireless usage.

I'd tell anyone looking to implement the product that Aruba Wireless works well in my environment. I have no complaints about it, so I can only say this.

Overall, I'd rate Aruba Wireless as eight out of ten.

We currently have 500 access points deployed and operated by two controllers. Recently, all of the AP-125 models were replaced as part of a three year site wide upgrade, using AP-205H, AP-215, AP-225, and AP-325 models. 

Our wireless overhaul has reduced the number of wireless related help desk tickets by nearly 90%.

I work in a concrete fortress built 70 years ago. It obviously was not designed with wireless internet in mind. The software available allows me to make very specific changes to individual access points when throttling power/settings, which are critical to good working wireless signals. 

The ARM functionality does not always seem to perform how I would like. In some cases, I have had to manually assign channels to avoid channel confusion. Overall, it is a small task to worry about. 

HPE Aruba technical support is a nine out of 10. 

Quality of the product and the OS interface are a nine out 10.

Aruba Wireless does not have too many distinguishing feature sets. However, tunneling is more flexible in this solution than other solutions, such as Ruckus.

Aruba Wireless could improve the dashboard. It is not straightforward or intuitive to use and could be more user-friendly. For IT employees the dashboards are fine but when it comes to the end-user it is difficult. The Mobility Controller dashboard is not meant for non-IT employees.

I have been using Aruba Wireless for approximately 12 years.

Aruba Wireless is a stable solution. The controllers have been working well for over four years, but I have replaced a few APs.

I rate the stability of Aruba Wireless an eight out of ten.

Aruba Wireless is scalable. However, you need to purchase certain models of the solution to have high limits. For example, the 7210 model has hard-coded limits that I cannot increase.

We primarily support hotels and I have completed 500 rooms. The system can handle approximately 500 to 1000 users.

When we need to escalate to a priority one case it is difficult.

I rate the support of Aruba Wireless a two out of five.

Neutral

I have used Ruckus previously and when I compare this solution to Ruckus, they are both very similar. I implement both of them.

The initial setup of Aruba Wireless is a lot easier to do than on other solutions.

The price of Aruba Wireless could improve. It is expensive. However, I am able to reduce my costs because I do not use all the features in the controller, such as the AD integration and other enterprise features.

I prefer Ruckus over Aruba Wireless.

I rate Aruba Wireless an eight out of ten.

The primary use we have for the product is for users' corporate mobile access.  

The most valuable feature is the fact that it can work with many devices. It supports everything that we need it to. Whatever features are required from an enterprise standard, it supports all of them. The main advantage is broad device support.  

The area that has the most room for improvement is upgrades. What we have seen many times now is that new releases tend to have bugs. Sometimes the bugs are a little bad and cause some undesirable issues. The new code in the upgrades or something leads to conflicts. I would say testing releases before making them available is one of the areas which Aruba needs to improve most with the wireless product. More comprehensive testing is required for a better, more reliable end-user experience.  

It is not necessarily testing more often, it is just for new releases. The testing they need to do is to work more closely with different environments and take notice of where issues tend to occur. They should have some idea of what environments are experiencing issues more often by now because of which companies are reporting the issues. They can make compensations for testing in those environments.  

I do not have any new features that the product requires off the top of my head. I think that more than improving the product, there are management portfolios and other peripheral things that could be better integrated. But just doing better testing is the main improvement that they need to make.  

We have been using Aruba Wireless for between seven and eight years now.  

Aruba Wireless has been a stable solution for us. Once it was set up correctly it was fine. We had some initial hiccups. We still have issues with upgrades sometimes. Except for mostly minor issues, it has been a good solution.  

Aruba Wireless is easily scaled between a lot of devices and a lot of endpoints. When we decided to use it as our solution we had planned to use it exactly for its ability to scale. We went through a massive scaling and did not have issues with devices and endpoints.  

Right now we have 30,000 users and around 45,000 devices between those users. It does not seem that there are many limitations for scaling the product's use.  

Technical support is good. The only issue we have had with them is that we often have to be referred to their engineering response team. That situation actually happens most of the time. On the other hand, we do not need to use support very often.  

So, yes, we get support for the product and we eventually get the solution we need, but most of the time it gets referred to their engineering team to get the complete solution. Overall, the support is pretty good.  

The initial setup was a little bit complex because our environment is complex. Because of that, I would say the initial setup was complex. It may not be as complex for other companies.  

It took almost a year for deployment. But there are two sides to the setup. One is the product is good and it can be configured to do what we need. But our environment was complex because it involves some legacy devices and some really advanced new devices and technologies as well. It is good that the product is able to support both of those needs.  

We have a couple of IT specialists, one architect, and a development operations engineer for deploying the updates and maintaining the solution. In total, it is around four or five people who maintain the product. Not everyone needs to be dedicated to it full-time.  

The advice that I would give to others who are looking into implementing Aruba starts with that it is a good product. It has some really good features. But the other reality is that you might need to be prepared to face some hiccups with any upgrades and with the setup.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate the Aruba Wireless solution as a seven-point-five out of ten. Because of the upgrade issues and the persistence of those, I would rate it a seven.  

Our primary product is the Aruba Instant IAP-205-US Wireless Network AP, JW213A. We have 16 locations. Currently, 12 locations have Aruba wireless APs.  Within the next 4-6 weeks, all locations will have Aruba wireless APs. All locations except our main location use Aruba Central. Cloud Central gives us one management console where we can configure the same wireless networks for all locations.

Many of the devices (laptops, tablets, phones, inventory devices) throughout our organization require wireless capability. Our Aruba configuration gives us the flexibility to be wireless, keeping the same three wireless networks at all locations.

With our Aruba configuration, we have a robust, rock-solid, enterprise wireless environment, that is literally maintenance free.

Overall, the wireless networks that we have configured are the most valuable.

We have three wireless networks: One for employee use, one for guest use, and one for our warehouse use, which uses MAC authentication. These wireless networks just simply work, they do not fail.

The IAP-205 devices are very strong with great range. Very durable equipment; it always works.

The Aruba Central cloud portal needs a lot of work. It is complicated to navigate.

We have used this product for over six years. We have transitioned from a physical controller (model 620) for wireless, to the "instant" (virtual) controller, eliminating the physical controller.

Overall, I would rate our experience with Aruba Wireless products an eight out of 10.

The product is very durable, does not go down or fail. It rates a 10. The Aruba Central cloud portal needs work. Compared to the Cisco Meraki dashboard portal, the Meraki dashboard portal is a nine out of 10, while the Aruba Central cloud portal is a five at best.

We use wireless for all testing (on Apple, Chrome, and even tablets). We moved our school over to having a managed wireless network. This was my first time doing something like this and my colleague nor myself had any issues with the software or hardware. 

We have a large investment in Aruba Networks WiFi technology. We have recently deployed a mix of Aruba 225 and Aruba 335 units to provide complete and full coverage over multiple floors. We like the automatic hand-off of a connection to the access point with the strongest connection. We have had no issues deploying the access points, and look forward to years of service from these products, which is a strength that we are seeing. 

It has great equipment for wireless AP needs. We purchased 1000 units for each floor of our schools. They have a ton of useful business-related features and security features, but the biggest selling point was the ability to create two different SSIDs to control public versus private wireless networks. 

AirWave (monitoring tool)

If there is a network issue, there are so many ways to access the monitoring application. Also there are maps and labels to tell you exactly where an issue may be. The TAC Service is very responsive and persistent.

There is so much licensing, you literally pay for every solution, add-on, or cool feature. Compared to others, we were in the middle with pricing, but as you start to invest more into features it will get very pricey.

Stability and its ability to handle more devices has been an improvement for our organization.

Installation is relatively easy.

Configuration was not all that complicated, but there were some forums online that helped us just in case. They shed light on the deep config options.

We only had a summer to deploy.

We will be buying the ClearPass solution, which will be pricey. However, in the trial version, it has even more tools to manage a busy network.

We primarily use the solution for access points. 

The solution is very complete. 

The portal has been very helpful for us. 

It's easy to set up the solution. 

We have found the product to be stable. 

It's scalable. 

They need to increase the number of routers on the controller. The VSSIP needs to have at least 25 access points. I just need them to increase the access points without the controller.

Other than that, it has everything we need, and we do not need any new features. 

The downside is right now there is a shortage of hardware. It's hard to acquire switches and access points. 

I started using the solution one year ago.

The stability has been good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The solution is scalable. 

We have ten people using the solution right now. 

I've never called technical support. I haven't needed any assistance so far. 

I've also used Juniper.

The product has been very easy to set up. It's straightforward to implement. It did not become overly complex. Under ten access points only takes about five minutes to set up. 

We only need one person to manage the solution. 

It is free to use. It is open source. We do not have to pay for a license. 

We're an Aruba partner. 

We are using version 11. In 2022, it might be now version 12. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Our team handles the Aruba controller. We have four senior and two junior engineers.

AirWave is a valuable feature.

We're using the Aruba Sensor, but sometimes the sensor isn't talking to AirWave or the AP. If something happens, we need to receive an email directly from the sensor, but the controller doesn't know. If there's something like the high channel utilization from the sensor we send to the controller, the controller can change the channel because they're all in the same environment.

Also, the controller can not do active/standby mode. It only works in active/active. I haven't seen any option for active/standby because we want to put one in the backup center. However, with the active/active mode, the traffic must go to the primary and the backup center.

I would like it if Aruba had a mobile app so I wouldn't need to log in on my laptop. They should also simplify the solution, so there aren't so many layers. It would be nice if the solution double-checked your configurations. For example, it could warn you if a configuration change in one layer conflicts with your current settings. 

I have been using Aruba Wireless since 2018.

Aruba is stable. 

Aruba is pretty scalable. 

I've called Aruba support directly for several tickets. It is quite good most of the time.

I work with Cisco and Aruba. We are more familiar with Cisco because we've been using it for more than 15 years. It is stable and available in active/standby. We can put one in the backup dial center and one in the primary dial center.

Cisco's controller is also stable, and they're using DNA to monitor. It sends us an alert if something happens and tells us what caused the problem. It can identify the root cause and solution. 

Deploying Aruba is somewhat complex. There are many layers. It's easy to make mistakes because the same setting will appear in different layers. Various parts of large buildings can have different settings.

We don't like the subscription model. We need to adjust our budget every time we renew the license.

I rate Aruba Wireless eight out of 10. I would recommend it to a small or medium-sized company. It depends on your budget because Aruba is slightly cheaper than Cisco.