Suggestions for new APs and Firewall
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Hello!
So currently we have around 150 Meraki MR32 and a few MR66 APs on our campus. Initially they were nice to have because they were incredibly simple to setup and install on our network. But after looking at the costs of licensing them for three years (around $200 for 3 years) I can't justify them. I'm not really sure how the school even afforded them to start off with...anyways. The licences expire next November and I was looking at suggesting another product to the boss man. I was looking at UniFi AP-AC-Pro and at $140 each (with no licences needed, right?) it seems like an no brainer. What do you guys think? Is there anything else we would need to purchase besides the APs?Also, the on the same date our firewall (Meraki MX400) will expire as well. As mentioned previously, its really nice because it was nice to maintain from a person with my little experience. But at $11,000 for a 3 year license?? I don't know much about enterprise level prices, but that feels much. Anyone have suggestions for a firewall that would be easy to maintain for a newby like me?
Just some background data the school has the potential for 1GB uplink, but we only pay for 500mb with about 700-1000 devices per day. We have a client VPN with the Meraki, but I don't think that it's an issue with any enterprise firewall. -
You are correct, Meraki is insane, Ubiquiti is a no brainer. A tiny fraction of the cost, higher quality gear.
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@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
But at $11,000 for a 3 year license?? I don't know much about enterprise level prices, but that feels much. Anyone have suggestions for a firewall that would be easy to maintain for a newby like me?
Meraki is not enterprise, it's SMB.
Ubiquiti for this as well. Same as the APs, low cost, better gear.
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@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
We have a client VPN with the Meraki, but I don't think that it's an issue with any enterprise firewall.
Any business firewall. VPNs are standard even on hobby gear.
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Meraki has priced itself out of the market, it wasn't a great product to begin with and then Cisco bought them. You could easily do a drop in replacement with all Ubiquiti gear and not see any changes.
EdgeRouter or EdgeRouter Pro should be more then enough to take over what the MX400 was doing.
Do you have any of the additional Meraki features enabled that are requirements?
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@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Do you have any of the additional Meraki features enabled that are requirements?
I don't believe so. I'm pretty sure we weren't using it to it fullest potential anyways.
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Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
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The main thing to know - Unifi APs won't give you the reports you're accustomed to with Meraki. So if you were printing out nice neat reports, you might be in for a rude awaking.
Now the next question would be - do you even need those?
If you're a fairly light weight user of features, then UBNT solution (Unifi APs and an EdgeRouter - for firewall) shouldn't be hard for a noobie to manage. It can do some advanced stuff, just takes a bit more effort.
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@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Do you have any of the additional Meraki features enabled that are requirements?
I don't believe so. I'm pretty sure we weren't using it to it fullest potential anyways.
Then you should be good to just drop an ER in place.
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@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
Good point - I was actually going to mention the possibility of going the other way - to the Unifi AC Lite. It's less overall bandwidth at the AP (800 Mb vs 1.2 Gb) but still above your internet connection.
The AC-HDs are good for places that have high density of devices, say a lunch room.
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@dashrender said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
Good point - I was actually going to mention the possibility of going the other way - to the Unifi AC Lite. It's less overall bandwidth at the AP (800 Mb vs 1.2 Gb) but still above your internet connection.
The AC-HDs are good for places that have high density of devices, say a lunch room.
Yep... just thought i would mention the options.
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@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
I think we'd be okay with just the Pro version. But I have to ask, anyone know why there are two ports?
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@dashrender said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
Good point - I was actually going to mention the possibility of going the other way - to the Unifi AC Lite. It's less overall bandwidth at the AP (800 Mb vs 1.2 Gb) but still above your internet connection.
The AC-HDs are good for places that have high density of devices, say a lunch room.
Good idea.
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@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
I think we'd be okay with just the Pro version. But I have to ask, anyone know why there are two ports?
backup link.
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@dashrender Meraki doesn't have that and it's like 3x as much just for hardware
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@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
I think we'd be okay with just the Pro version.
This is where business understanding really comes in. Perhaps you need the Pro version. But considering the options, possibly saving $80 per AP by using Lites might be acceptable for your situation.
i.e. Don't buy Pro just because it's called Pro.
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@dashrender said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
I think we'd be okay with just the Pro version.
This is where business understanding really comes in. Perhaps you need the Pro version. But considering the options, possibly saving $80 per AP by using Lites might be acceptable for your situation.
i.e. Don't buy Pro just because it's called Pro.
But....pro?
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I buy pro because they are 48V POE.
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@brianlittlejohn said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
I buy pro because they are 48V POE.
The current production run of AC Lite also support standard POE.
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@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@dashrender said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@markferron said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
@coliver said in Suggestions for new APs and Firewall:
Not sure if you will need it but I think the Unifi AP AC-HD is the newest version. Slightly more expensive but has ~double the bandwidth available per AP then the AC-Pro does.
I think we'd be okay with just the Pro version.
This is where business understanding really comes in. Perhaps you need the Pro version. But considering the options, possibly saving $80 per AP by using Lites might be acceptable for your situation.
i.e. Don't buy Pro just because it's called Pro.
But....pro?
I'm not sure if you're joking or not.
