There is one primary access point that serves all the wireless needs in the company. If we want to change to a more long-range access point, what are the steps to take and remember/know to do all the change and not have any wireless service down or left out, and do it in a timely fashion.
There are lots of print servers, range entenders connected to the Access Point now.
thanks
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The main AP is WAP54G Linksys and is doing ok with the many walls it has to cover and cross, but thinking though about changing the AP, but wondering how involved it is, so I can be prepared to do it in a weekend. There is secondary AP which broadcasts to Range Expanders. So all of them have to be changed/programmed.
Thanks
I would personally go for something like te 3Com managed wireless switch. This allows you to sry your configuration on a central switch and manage all your access points centrally. It's a bit pricey but you end up with an efficient centrally managed wireless network.
Something like this: http://www.3com.com/produc
I have the bigger version running 54 access points in a school, it's reliable, you have a single wireless network and the reporting tools are also pretty good.
They are all access points broadcastung the same wireless network any oneof them can be taken down without effecting the others.
The only thing that gets effected is wireless in the area covered. And because there are so many access points the ones in the surrounding areas can often have the signal power increased to minimise this.
Hi Anushahanna,
I agree with demazter, the way you have the wireless set us is ideal for a business. What he sugested is ideal solution when you want to have many access points and have them managed in one place but that comes with a price. In Uk that switch cost around £1500 and that is the cheapest i could see. I had a similar situation like you where the company wanted wireless coverage but wasn't too keen on spending money. So I got 3/4 access points and some rj45 cable and set them up at several locations. Although this was painstaking as i had to run the wires to all the APs but its was a cheaper option.....
If you went down the managed switch route you would still need to run the cables for the access points.
There are other options there is an HP product. I cannot vouch for it as I have not personally used it but I have heard very good things about it: http://www.procurve.com/pr
the main problem with the way you have it configured at present is what you have already discovered is that you cannot take 1 part of the wireless down without effecting the rest of the wireless network.
Using individual access points is an option but they will be seperate wireless network which means if you go out of range of one unit you loose your wireless network untill you system reconnects to the next preferred network. All the AP's would have different SSID's.
With a managed system the transition from 1 access point to the other is seemless.
I also happen to know the 3Com ramgr will be changing shortly to what I understand will be a cheaper product manufactured directly by 3Com rather than a 3rd party so it may be worth holding out for that change.
OK, I have done a bit of digging around and there are a few other options as well. I need to tell you I do not have any personal experience with these products, the only one I have had experience with is the 3Com product (which even looking at the other brands seems to be the cheapest):
Netgear: http://www.netgear.com/Pro
Aruba: http://www.arubanetworks.c
Cisco: http://www.cisco.com/en/US
Dlink: http://www.dlink.com/categ
Also here is the new 3Com managed Switch I mentioned in my previous post: http://www.3com.com/prod/e
Just doing a quick search it comes out at $725 but it only supports 4 Access Points.
This one supports 12: http://www.3com.com/prod/e
Which comes out around $1300 but the Access Points are cheaper than the previous version I posted.
The school has 13 buildings and 300 staff all that have their own laptops along with VoIP on the WIFI (not completely but a reasonable number of users) along with around 200 laptops that students use and wireless printing.
The coverage is complete (we are installing some external antennas now so that the playing field is covered) and maintenance is very minimal, as it's all controlled centrally as long as the switch is monitored and any alarms that are generated are resolved it seems to work well.
It's been in for nearly 4 years and only went down once (and that was my fault)
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by: AswadGaziPosted on 2009-10-31 at 21:01:51ID: 25712557
Hi,
Inorder to have a long range access point you might have to change your existing 1 completely and get more proffessional one. What is the make of the one you are using now? Also how much area do you want to cover, what kind of building i.e. concrete, metal all this needs to be looked into.
Netstumbler is a good wireless auditing software, it will allow you to find the dead spots and many more. It might be cheaper and easier option to have few access points spread round so that if one drops, signal can be picked up from another.
When you say there are lots of print server, do you want them to be on wireless as well? Let me know a bit more about the setup. Thanks.