HPE Networking AirWave with RAPIDS and VisualRF - license - 1 device

What is our primary use case? In Aruba Airwave, it depends on the customers. For example, if you're managing a huge hospital or university, you can use VisualRF. VisualRF is a valuable feature. If you install the floor plan or field plan in Aruba Airwave, you can find or view which access point is in that place. Sometimes customers want to know how many users did use the Wi-Fi, how many gigabytes, and how long they were connected. What is most valuable? We don't use Aruba Airwave too much nowadays because the population is reducing, as almost all customers are trying to move to Aruba Central. Aruba or HPE doesn't want to invest too much in Airwave. It is useful, especially if customers create reports. We only use it to create reports because we also use the Mobility Master, which functions similarly to Airwave. We can monitor all wireless and wired clients. The powerful features we can put forward in Aruba Airwave are clarity, report creation, and VisualRF. These are three good abilities I can state about Aruba Airwave. What needs improvement? The biggest problem for not using Aruba Airwave extensively now is that HP is not upgrading this tool. They're not investing money and time into it, which is why we're not using it. I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive. Customers start to complain and get annoyed about the license price. For example, when customers have 500 access points and features about access point licenses, moving to Central requires purchasing new licenses. This makes customers annoyed and complaining about this situation. It's hard to move from on-premises to Central because they always compare costs. If Aruba gave free licenses, they could move. But going to cloud and Central means more investment, and their budget doesn't cover the new investment. This creates problems for local partner companies. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with Aruba Airwave for almost nine or 10 years, but honestly, we don't use it too much now. What was my experience with deployment of the solution? We didn't purchase Aruba Airwave independently. We always buy Aruba features license; we always offer the enterprise license. The enterprise license covers Aruba Airwave. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? For scalability, we use Mobility Master scalability. I don't use Aruba Airwave much for scalability. Aruba Airwave gives good information about SNR value, signal value, and you can get extensive information. How are customer service and support? In my opinion, Aruba can no longer provide good support for Aruba Airwave. Technical support, knowledge about TAC team, and the engineer support team are average. I would give them a rating of six out of ten or seven out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral How was the initial setup? I find deploying Aruba Airwave to be easy. It's completely straightforward. Sometimes, updating causes problems. The deployment time depends on the customers. The base Airwave install takes about half a day or one day to integrate their customer's active directory infrastructure. The next day, you can add the controller and access point. It takes approximately two or three days on average. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We used to offer Aruba Central, which Aruba pushes for Wi-Fi 7. Wi-Fi 7 doesn't work on-premises. Aruba Central is an on-premises solution. I'm not sure if HP Aruba integrated Airwave in Central. In Turkey, there's a regulation about banking and finance departments where only bank customers must use on-premises solutions. Other customers try to move to Central. I would recommend using Aruba Central over Aruba Airwave if they don't care about regulation, cloud, or the budget. What other advice do I have? The deployment time depends on the customers. The base Airwave install takes about half a day or one day to integrate their customer's active directory infrastructure. The next day, you can add the controller and access point. It takes approximately two or three days on average. In the current time, discussing Wi-Fi 7, I would rate Aruba Airwave a six or seven. I cannot rate it nine or ten because Aruba Central is pushing too much. Aruba Airwave appears to be solely an on-premises solution. My overall rating for this solution is 6 out of 10. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use? Other Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.partner

What is our primary use case? I haven't worked with Aruba Airwave much because most of our Wi-Fi is Cisco. We only use it with minor impact, as maybe 5% of Wi-Fi is Aruba. We just use Aruba Airwave in one small building as a proof of concept. We use Aruba Airwave for our operations. What is most valuable? The feature that proved most beneficial for our organization's network monitoring is the virtual four, which we use frequently when working with Aruba. What needs improvement? My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco. We didn't use Aruba much, but once you set it up, you probably don't need to worry about it too much. The version we are using is quite old now, probably around version four. I can't remember the version exactly because a lot of the products require Aruba Central, but we haven't used Aruba Central yet. I face challenges with Aruba Airwave, particularly with troubleshooting. When someone has a problem, we try troubleshooting, but the end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website. If Aruba Airwave can apply AI capabilities, that would be even more perfect. I'd appreciate integration with Aruba Central; it would be great if they could incorporate it into Airwave. How are customer service and support? The technical support for Aruba Airwave is good. Once you log tickets, their technicians are quite good. I would rate their technical support as a nine or ten, as it's quite good. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive What was our ROI? I haven't seen the return on investment with Aruba Airwave, as we only use Airwave version 8.2.2. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing for Aruba Airwave is acceptable because compared to Cisco, it's slightly cheaper, but not significantly - maybe 5% or 7% less expensive. What other advice do I have? Cisco has advantages over Aruba Airwave because we are used to Cisco, and their hardware is more classified into different zones, different areas, and various models. I would recommend Aruba Airwave to others depending on the company. If they are small and don't need many features, it might be suitable. For a bigger company, I wouldn't recommend it, as they might need more features and on-premise updates. Aruba Airwave is still capable and scalable enough for a bigger business. On a scale of 1-10, I rate Aruba Airwave a 7. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use? Other Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

What is our primary use case? We use Aruba Airwave to manage the Wi-Fi network. I monitor the wireless access points and the controller as part of the system. We supply the Wi-Fi and monitor the network. We have a lot of tenants and around six thousand end users on the network. What is most valuable? One of the main advantages is its ability to draw building floor plans and analyze Wi-Fi signal behavior in real-time. Aruba Airwave provides good visibility, offering extensive data on network dynamics, such as access point connections, usage, signal strengths, and potential interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks. What needs improvement? When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls. It's somewhat annoying since other Wi-Fi design software we use is easier for drawing walls and including floor plans. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using it for a few years, definitely more than four years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I have found Aruba Airwave to be stable. I have not encountered any glitches aside from the issue with copying the walls. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Aruba Airwave is fully scalable, as we have a large number of tenants using the network with approximately six thousand end users. How are customer service and support? I haven't dealt with the support or heard anything about it from my colleagues. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I am not involved in the pricing or setup cost. What other advice do I have? The visibility of our Wi-Fi network is good. Having live visibility of what's actually happening on our network is a valuable feature. Based on my experience, I would rate Aruba Airwave seven out of ten. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:MSP

What is our primary use case? I use Aruba Sense version 2.5 and migrated through versions until 8.10. I manage Aruba products and implement solutions involving Aruba's wireless controllers with AccessPoints when the version was 2.4. I have over 12 years of experience managing these solutions. What is most valuable? The monitoring and administration allow configurations for checking the association of the user to the network, then to the AP, then to the switch, and back to the controller. It has troubleshooting and history capabilities. The monitoring and reporting capabilities help with network management, including planning and addressing VLAN or switch issues. These are beneficial features of Airwave. It provides near real-time monitoring using AIMON and AURO protocols, which is robust with multiple models and brand support. What needs improvement? I submitted some requests for improvement or ideas through support, though I am unsure if they were accepted. When upgrading hardware, there were technical issues with network interfaces and Red Hat, which required escalation to developers. For how long have I used the solution? I've used the solution since 2004. How are customer service and support? The customer service is good. Angie was very kind and communicated well in both Spanish and English, making it pleasant to connect with her. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We used SolarWinds for network management alongside Airwave. SolarWinds supports SNMP version three, similar to Airwave. How was the initial setup? For me, it was very easy due to my extensive experience. However, it could be complex for new users and it might require some time to understand the product thoroughly. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing is comparable to the competition, such as SolarWinds. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We evaluated and used SolarWinds for network management together with Airwave. What other advice do I have? I would rate the overall solution nine out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

What is our primary use case? We are using Aruba, specifically ClearPass. It was provided to us with some licenses. We are using it mainly for troubleshooting, and we do not experience many problems. We are wireless, and we utilize it extensively to troubleshoot. What is most valuable? The most helpful feature I noticed, yet did not utilize, allowed us to add our Cisco switches for monitoring. We also created templates for configurations. Additionally, it facilitated creating floor maps. I need to open it for more extended periods. It is more about troubleshooting and checking the coverage problems of wireless. What needs improvement? We cannot identify any problems. I am not deeply familiar with the solution, so if I mention a feature, it might already exist, yet I may be unaware of it. For how long have I used the solution? I think it came up here as ClearPass at the same time. What do I think about the stability of the solution? We have a contractor handling JobStack, so we are mostly using it. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? We have reached the maximum device count in our HQ. We may extend to our regional offices or small offices we have in Aruba, but for now, it suffices. How are customer service and support? All the technical support goes through our contractor. It is a local support, and it is perfect. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral How was the initial setup? The initial setup took a couple of days. What about the implementation team? Our contracted Aruba service did the implementation for us. What other advice do I have? Since I am not using it frequently, I would rate the product nine out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

What is our primary use case? It becomes a virtual controller and is very easy to manage along with the Airwave. It's an NMS thing, which is very easy and convenient. What is most valuable? The solution's most valuable features are its usage, bandwidth existence, device capacity, and utilization. What needs improvement? The solution’s pricing could be improved. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Aruba Airwave for ten years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution's stability is good. If connected, the system can work with the existing things for the next 48 hours. It is a reliable tool that has failover configurations. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Our clients for Aruba Airwave are usually small businesses. I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten. How are customer service and support? The solution provides good technical support. I rate the solution’s technical support eight and a half out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive How was the initial setup? The solution's initial setup is not complex, but it's not easy. Since we are installing the solution on a VM instance, the installer should have knowledge about VMs and servers. The solution can be deployed in a day or two. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Aruba Airwave is an expensive solution. Aruba charges more money for small things, which could be reduced. What other advice do I have? Aruba Airwave supports our network troubleshooting activities well because we have the entire monitoring on that. If we face big issues, we have the technical expertise to handle the situation. Aruba Airwave is really helpful because it shows everything, like the utilization, feasibility, and particular laptop or wireless node connectivity. I would recommend the solution to other users. Other services include Virtual Controller, Aruba Central, and Aruba Airwave. You will get more visibility if you spend more. We even work with Aruba Controller. Aruba Airwave is a better solution if you have multiple branches. Overall, I rate the solution eight and a half out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Integrator

What is our primary use case? I use the solution in my company for network management and monitoring. What is most valuable? The most valuable features of the solution are its dashboard and simplicity. What needs improvement? The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required. The product's scalability can be improved. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Aruba Airwave for four years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. In the future, I may plan to increase the number of users of the tool. The scalability of Aruba Airwave supports our network growth since my company uses Cisco tools with it. Cisco is more scalable than Aruba. Around nine people in my company use the tool. How are customer service and support? The technical support for the solution is very good. I rate the support a nine out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I work with Cisco, Extreme Networks, and Juniper. I chose Aruba over Cisco because it offers cheaply priced products. How was the initial setup? The product's initial setup phase is really easy to use. The product's deployment phase can be completed in a few hours. The solution is deployed with the help of private cloud services on the Google Cloud Platform. One person can deploy the solution. What about the implementation team? I deployed the tool in my company. What was our ROI? I have seen some cost-saving benefits of up to 50 percent after using Aruba Airwave in my company. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The tool is expensive. If one is bad or expensive, and ten is very good or cheap, I rate the product's price as a six. What other advice do I have? Aruba Airwave's real-time monitoring impacted our company's operations as it can be done quickly. My company does not use any AI features associated with the product. I recommend the product to others who plan to use it since it offers a good dashboard and simplicity, and after considering the time needed to deploy it. My company doesn't need to do any maintenance of the tool. I rate the tool 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? Google Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:

What is our primary use case? Aruba Airwave provides a comprehensive overview of the network's overall health. However, if you need to configure settings, it's best to do so directly on the device. Airwave is more focused on providing statistics and generating reports rather than assisting with configuration tasks. What is most valuable? The most valuable features are the error log and intrusion log. It also provides an overview of your assets. It gives a good database for wireless coverage. What needs improvement? The tool should keep up with upgrades once or twice a year. Some security issues are coming. For added protection, it does not interact with the Internet. You can use it with the controller Infiniti, which may provide some AE solutions. The licensing fees are also quite expensive, as enterprise licensing is required for every AP used. Configuring options for better integration with configuration management would be beneficial. This becomes particularly annoying when assisting customers, as direct access to the controller—whether physical or virtual—is essential for troubleshooting and examining settings. However, it's cumbersome, especially when you lack direct access to the network. If it's your infrastructure, it's manageable, but providing services for a third party becomes challenging due to limited network access. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Aruba Airwave as a partner for five years. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The solution's scalability depends on the hardware. If you need to expand, you should have more processors available. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The solution has a one-time price you need to pay for every device you want to monitor. It depends on the customer because we offer various pricing options. The price ranges from around one hundred euros per device for a personal license, but there may be variations depending on the features and requirements. In many countries, it is expensive for smaller schools looking to upgrade. However, larger institutions may find it more manageable, and it competes favorably with Cisco, offering a more cost-effective solution. What other advice do I have? Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner