A few months ago, we purchased a new Ruckus Wireless managed wireless solution via The Mirazon Group and with the help of Greg Kamer.

Previously, we used Cisco Aironets at all of our campuses and managed them individually.  I’m not going to delve too far into it’s setup as it’s not fully relevant.

Why Ruckus

Originally, we had planned on continuing using Cisco gear. My boss, as some people know, is a Cisco zealot at times.  We got a quote for N-radios, two controllers and whatever Cisco licensing was needed (depending on their day of the month).

First thing was price, overall price was attractive, not the only reason but it did help. The biggest win of Ruckus is their features.  We looked at Ruckus’ 7962 APs and ZoneDirector 1050s.  Some of the features include

• Dynamic beam forming
• SmartMesh
• Dual-band support
• Lots of antennas inside each radio
• AD/Radius support
• Multiple VLAN support

The list goes on.

The third reason for Ruckus is the ease of use.  Their interface is easy to use. Setup is simple.  Literally to unbox and setup one AP and controller was somewhere near 30 minutes.

What’s the Setup?

Ruckus install was set for our Central/Edmond facility and our Oklahoma City Campus where we do most of our broadcasts. The goal was to provide stable, secure and smart WiFi that covered every inch of our facilities.

Layout: We purchased 25 7962s and 2 ZoneDirectors.  We ended up with 16 APs and 1 ZoneDirector at Central offices and 9 APs and 1 ZoneDirector at the Oklahoma City Campus. I’m almost positive we could do with less, but I’d rather be sure.

SSIDs: We currently have 3 SSIDs setup for use.  We created a public SSID, Staff SSID, and Voice SSID for wireless Cisco phones.

Authentication: Public WiFi has no authentication, but you are taken to a Legal page before you are allowed to view anything. The ZD handles this for us. The new Staff WiFi uses 802.1x RADIUS Authentication to local Windows AD Domain Controller.  This allows secure connection and easy revocation of access via certs and Active Directory users. Our Voice is hidden and mac address based.

Network: At LifeChurch.tv, we VLAN everything. So without much detail yet, the ZoneDirectors sit in a subnet and VLAN with the APs for management.  The data traffic VLAN is dependent on physical location, i.e. OKC or Central offices, and which SSID. That is one feature that is very handy and easy to set up.  Each AP has a direct home run to a PoE switch in most cases.  On older Cisco 3550 switches, we had to pull out power supplies or PoE injectors.  Cisco 3524 switches we had nothing but issues, so beware if you have them still in use.

Next post we’ll start talking about initial setup and configurations.

What questions do you have or would like to see answered?