Aruba Switches Reviews

We are business partners for various small and medium enterprises. We get requests from customers for an existing network upgrade or a new field requirement. Based on the customer's requirement, we provide solutions from Aruba or whichever the customer wants.

Aruba has a good switching solution. It has some basic security features and full switching features for the company. It’s not used as a security device, but it has some basic features like configuring ACL. However, it cannot be used as a complete security solution.

The primary thing our clients look for in Aruba, or HPE now since HP acquired Aruba, is cost-effectiveness. Aruba is a good choice if the customer has budget limitations. We recommend Aruba switches because they are less expensive than Cisco but still provide the same features.

Aruba should be made more user-friendly.

We have been using Aruba Switches for a long time. 

The stability is good since I haven’t experienced any major critical issues.

It is a scalable solution. 

HPE provides good support for Switches.

Neutral

The deployment of Aruba Switches is not tricky.

Managing Aruba switches isn’t very difficult. It should be easy to handle if you have hands-on experience with Cisco switches.

The cost depends on the requirement. An extensive network will expand the budget. The price will be lower if there is a small requirement of one to ten switches. In comparison, Aruba is less costly than Cisco by about 10-20%.

I haven't used any AI analytics features with it yet, but the latest switches include cloud AI features.

In comparison to Aruba, Cisco is very user-friendly. Aruba could be more user-friendly since I am accustomed to working with Cisco.

I would recommend Aruba Switches to others and rate it seven out of ten.

Aruba switches are divided into many categories: core, distribution, access, and small switches called Instant On. Small businesses and home users use those. We use 6400 Aruba switches, which are core switches that support the new CX operating system. We also use distribution switches such as the 8300 and category access layers such as the 6100, 6200, and 6300. There are many Aruba category switches in access layers and Instant On switches for small offices, such as Aruba Instant On 1930 and 1960.

We have set up Aruba switches for customers in Egypt's hospitality, and oil and gas industries.

With Aruba, I like its stability and lifetime warranty. I haven't seen any other vendors provide a lifetime warranty, which is the most preferred benefit with Aruba switches. Moreover, Aruba gives all its features from day one without any extra license.

Aruba offers VSX with its core switch. It is a redundancy. A call configured between two core switches or two distribution switches makes the two switches active for working. We can connect servers with the two core switches, and the connectivity between the server and the core switch is 20 gigabits with active forwarding. Other vendors provide this feature, but for data center switches, not LAN switches. This is a big feature with Aruba at layer code and distribution. At access, Aruba provides logically stacking switches. Especially the new 6000 series, which has the CX operating system. The CX operating system has logical stacking. Logical stacking does not require any modules.

If we compare Aruba and Cisco at the data center layer, Cisco has its Nexus switch. Aruba provides the new 10000 series, but it does not compare with the Nexus switch. Aruba is in networks but still not in data centers since their data center switches are not as good as Cisco's.

Aruba should enhance its performance and management solution to manage Aruba and non-Aruba switches. Aruba needs better layer management or a software management solution. When we talk about Aruba Central, the integration with the management software is not good enough. When we need to push a configuration in a switch, Aruba Central can manage Aruba access switches only. We work with the Aruba OS for normal management, but the CX switches are for monitoring only. Aruba'a management solution is a weak point. Management solutions are a weak point for other vendors, too, but we need to enhance Aruba to be better than other vendors.

I've worked with Aruba switches for around five years.

Aruba is very stable now but was not very stable seven years ago. I haven't seen anyone suffering from Aruba's stability.

Aruba switches are very easy to scale.

If the customer doesn't buy an SLA, support may arrive after two weeks or one month. It also depends on the stock availability.

Regarding tech support, levels one and two are not skilled enough. They can support normal issues, but not if we have abnormal or new issues. We have engineers with more experience.

The product is easy to set up. A single engineer with a certificate for Cisco switches can work with Aruba switches because it is the same thing. They can manage Aruba using the CLI or the GUI.

The time taken to deploy Aruba switches depends on the number of switches, such as if the customer has one or two core switches. It also depends on the distribution of the switches, whether they are distributed around the network in the company or at the same center as the customer. It also depends on whether the customer has more than one data center or more than one rack.

If the customer needs only one core switch, deploying it takes two to four hours. But that also depends on the number of the LANs and the number of points connected to the core switch.

You can divide the tool's maintenance into two parts: whether maintenance requires hardware, spare parts, hardware RMA, or if it requires configuration. Configuration depends on the engineers' skill, while spare parts depend on the vendor and if the customer buys an SLA.

Aruba switches work without a license. A license is needed when working with a management solution, but not for enabling switch features. This is a big feature of Aruba, making it better than other vendors. For example, we need to buy a license to enable features with Cisco. Aruba's features exist in a datasheet of any switch, available from day one without a license.

SLAs are available for 24 hours or four hours.

If a customer doesn't have experience with Aruba switches, they can work with Aruba after limited job training. We provide on-the-job training for customers, after which they can work in an environment with Aruba switches.

I recommend the product to enterprise and small business customers. I recommend it to hospitality and oil and gas customers. We can recommend Aruba to any customer with a LAN or enterprise network. Aruba has features such as a lifetime warranty. In Egypt, a lifetime warranty is a very effective feature. Other competitors do not provide the same.

Along with a lifetime warranty, we get scalability and stability, and we can enable any feature without a license. Aruba switches integrate with other vendors. Aruba can work with Cisco or other vendors. For example, if we have Cisco or any other platform to run ciphers, they can work in Aruba switches. I can integrate it with any management solution, which is a valuable feature. If any customer has switches from Cisco, for example, they need to buy a management solution. The customer is forced to get the software. But if the customer has Cisco switches and is asking about integration between the old and the new network, it won't be an issue to integrate it with Aruba's solution.

I rate Aruba switches a nine out of ten.

The most valuable Aruba switch feature is the lifetime warranty. It is a plus point in the budget. Aruba some switches have a menu, so we can configure them without CLI. In addition, configuring is easier when using the menu.

In my opinion, Aruba's new features, like the new firmware, the Operating System CX, some of the security profiles and the security protocol, need to be improved. When we want to gather some information from the switches, we should be able to use Aruba. We need more options in the outsourcing and open source environments. We often struggle to connect with Aruba.

In the next release, I'd like to see more security protocols.

I have been working with Aruba Switches for around two years.

I would rate the stability of this solution a seven, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best. Sometimes my switches get struck by lightning through the electricity and this is where the lifetime warranty comes in and helps fix and replace them.

I would rate the scalability of this solution an eight, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best. There are around 70 or 80 users of this solution in our company right now.

I would rate their technical support an eight, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.

Positive

My impression was that the initial setup was quite simple.

I would rate the pricing of this solution a five, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.

Overall, I would rate this solution an eight, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.

We are really just using Aruba Switches for ourselves. We're not like a service provider, but if you ask me, I will recommend it to my colleagues or friends.

It allows us to manage the switches through the cloud, which is good.

I mentioned earlier that managing the switches through the cloud is very beneficial.

Maybe the licensing model could be improved. It's a bit of a pain because it depends on when we activated the purchase.

I've been using Aruba Switches for about three to four years now.

The product has been quite stable. I don't have a lot of experience with technical support because we haven't really required engagement.

I think Aruba Switches are scalable and support our organization's growth.

Technical support has been all right. We may have engaged once or twice, and it was satisfactory.

Positive

The deployment was quite easy and straightforward. It took us maybe 30 to 45 minutes to set it up.

We deployed some of the setup ourselves.

It's very hard to justify return on investment because it's something required for the network to function. I'm not sure how to address that.

We don't have a regular payment system because it's a one-off project that lasts for a few years until a refresh is needed. We pay for each Aruba product separately.

I would recommend Aruba Switches; it's a very stable product.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

We primarily use the solution in a hospital setting for switching. 

The newest switches are pretty decent. 

It is slightly more price effective than Juniper and it has a slightly larger range.

The solution could always be a bit cheaper. 

My experience with Aruba's account manager hasn't been the greatest.

Dealing with the server is very complicated. We'd like it to be simplified. 

The setup is complex. 

We've used the solution for three to four months. 

I'm pretty new to the solution. It is hard to gauge stability at this time. 

The solution is scalable. It comes in a range of options. 

The account managers are not the best. They make you do a lot of running around. A lot of the time, they don't even pick up calls. We don't like the way the business side is handled.

The dealers, however, are very responsive. That said, there are just too many rules and regulations when dealing with Aruba. 

As a systems integrator, we work with Aruba, Juniper, and Cisco switches. Aruba has more of a range than Juniper, which is more fixed. 

The initial setup is very complex. 

Typically, the solution is paid for annually.

The price could always be improved upon. 

We are a system integrator. 

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. 

We've got switches on-premises, and they're managed by central management.

We primarily use the solution for normal office use. It is for normal networking, including wireless. 

I like that I can cloud-manage my network. This is useful due to the fact that I have multiple offices. 

It's a stable product.

We can scale as needed. 

The initial setup is relatively complex.

There is nothing to improve on in an enterprise environment, however, if you're wanting various  functionalities, you need to know how to do these things. It's not straightforward per se. Some training would be ideal for getting the most out of the solution. I had to learn a lot on the job by myself. 

I've been using the solution for three years. 

The solution is very solid, and very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The product is scalable. We can expand usage if we need to. 

We have 300 people on average using the solution.

In terms of expanding usage, as a solution, at this point in time, I don't need to. With its wifi capabilities, it can handle a little bit more load, so that's fine.

Since I have the solution through a partner, I use the partner services. It's up to them to get me in touch with support if needed.

We had very low-end build switches or old Cisco switches previously, however, they were relatively minor since we had moved to a new office and the company was relatively young at that point in time. Afterward, we made an investment in Aruba.

The initial setup is not necessarily straightforward. It is complex. 

A service partner did the implementation. It took about a month and a half.

We had a service provider assist us with the setup. 

We pay an annual license for the solution. 

It is an enterprise product, so it's not the cheapest, definitely. I'd rate the affordability between a three and four out of five.

I'd recommend the solution if a company wants an alternative to a Cisco environment. It's a very reliable solution.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

They do have partnerships, and users can get training and insights on how to manage it from a partnership perspective. 

The Aruba switch is supporting a doctor's office, so it's an on-premise switch. These particular switches provide the fundamental network for the entire office, including power over ethernet for the security cameras and wireless access points. The solution also provides network switching between databases and clients. I manage the switches using the Aruba Central public cloud. 

Aruba gives me greater network visibility compared to an unmanaged solution. I mostly use unmanaged switches at other locations and offices.

I like the Aruba Central platform. It makes a lot of sense. The switches have a lot of great capabilities. Central can lockdown VLANs and control the apps and protocols. 

There are several built-in security features that I'm not utilizing. However, those capabilities are part of the reason I'm using enterprise switches in a small office. I like knowing that I can do these things when necessary. 

There are some growing pains with Aruba Central. When you first launch the wireless access points or switches, a lot of updates are needed to get Aruba Central ready, especially on the access points, so the initial deployment time could improve. 

I would hope that I could just turn it on and leave the updates until later on. The switches themselves probably did okay. I'm primarily referring to the wireless access points. There was a lot of back and forth before everything was in sync. It took hours. 

I can't think of any missing features, but it would be nice if there were a free version of Aruba Central for my small business clients that doesn't have as many features. 

I got one switch a while back and was using it in a lab situation to play around with it a little bit. I wasn't utilizing it a whole lot. It was more like, "Hey, how do you configure this? How does it work?" In the last couple of weeks, I added a second 6200 S switch and threw it into an actual production environment where it's being utilized.

The scalability is fine. I've got two 6200 24-port switches, so 48 ports total. I Aruba switches are capable of putting trunk groups in between. It's a chiropractic office, so we've got 32 network tables all plugged in between servers and all of the devices, and then there are all the computers hanging on the walls and stuff like that. 

However, in reality, it's typically only four people working at the office at any given time, but they run around from room to room using x-rays, computers, and all that other stuff, so there are a lot of different devices. In total, there are 32 ethernet cables plugged into these two switches.

Some people define a user as a person typing on the keyboard, but In a chiropractic office, you have customers who walk into the adjusting room and scan their little cards. Meanwhile, the doctor kind of walks from room to room. It's really only one doctor.

We'll be bringing additional computers online over the next couple of years as they ramp up that office, so there will be increased utilization of the switches even inside that office. I will also be adding switches for each of my clients. I mean as I'm going in and taking over managed service provider relationships with these clients, I'll be looking at putting those same switches, so I have complete visibility.

I rate Aruba support six out of 10. Like many vendors, Aruba is dealing with staffing shortages or other things. Once you get somebody on the line, they're usually pretty good. It's just a matter of getting to the correct person and the time it takes to respond. 

I'm not trying to bash Aruba because they're not the only ones having this problem with tiered support. It's crucial to learn the equipment, so you can hopefully do most of the maintenance and troubleshooting yourself.

Neutral

My other clients have unmanaged Netgear switches, but it's apples to oranges. They may be switches, but they're not in the same class. It's a home network switch versus an enterprise network switch.

Deploying the switches itself wasn't that complex. You can make it complex depending on what you want to do. You can implement VLANs and do all sorts of wonderful things, but for this particular implementation, I didn't really need that level of complexity.

It took about an hour to take the switches out of the box and onboard the devices on Aruba Central. They work out of the box even without Aruba Central. You can take them out, turn them on, plug them in, and they will function as a basic unmanaged switch. There's not a whole lot that you have to do for it.

I do all of my own stuff. I'm a solo managed service provider. 

The return on investment for me in these switches will come when we start facing network challenges. Some of the applications at this doctor's office rely on old file-based databases. When they start having problems with the application, and the vendor starts saying that's a network problem, that's when I'll get my real return on investment. 

I can pull up the Aruba Central platform and say, "Nope, it's not a network problem, and here's why. You're getting no gig speed. There are no errors on any of the ports or failed packets." Having all that visibility is where the true return on investment is going to come. It's preparing for those types of debates. I'm tired of people blaming the networks. It may be. It could be a configuration or something else, but it's something else most of the time.

I am paying for the hardware and Aruba Central licenses, but I would like a version of Aruba Central to come out with a light version with a few features turned off. Ubiquiti and other vendors have free tools.

I believe they're looking at that, but it's not out yet. I hope they will release that to make it competitive because I'm using an enterprise-class switch for small businesses. We're looking for some of those capabilities, but not all of them. 

Aruba has its Soho class switches, which are instant-on platforms. However, with the instant-on platform, you need to manage everything with individual clouds instead of bringing all of them under one console. 

There's an annual license fee for the Aruba Central cloud management platform for each Aruba device. You don't need licenses for the hardware and other support, but if you don't pay for the Aruba Central license, you will not get firmware updates or technical support. You have to have those at least for probably several years.

When you reach a point where you're managing 100-150 devices in a small business, you suddenly need multiple layers of switches, and then you have to get into campus networks, trunk groups, VLANs, etc. Then, you need segmentation between different levels. 

You have to utilize those additional capabilities and features more than you would for a dozen or so computers. You typically aren't going to create a bunch of VLANs, trunk groups, and multiple switches for a dozen computers. It doesn't make sense.

I think under 250 people would technically be classified as a small business. However, when I say "small business," I mean 10-20 people physically working at a building. Still, the price is reasonable. I'd rate Aruba eight out of 10 for affordability.

As a managed service provider,  I also have access to discounts that help me manage costs better. As I own all the switches, so I keep adding people to the switches I own. Aruba has been good about providing a managed service provider discount to make it competitive. If they didn't, it would be kind of hard to justify spending $4,000 on these switches for a tiny business like a doctor's office.

I looked at Ubiquiti, Cisco, and some other solutions, but I have a friend who works for Aruba. I opted to go with Aruba after chatting with him about where it's positioned in the market. Aruba seems to be a leader, especially in wireless access points and some of the newer capabilities and features. 

I was looking for network switches that could be managed with the same wireless access points in one console, so that gave it to me with Aruba. Some people are fine with having one console for switches and another for wireless access points. As a solo managed service provider, I'm all about simplicity, so I was really looking for one solution that would handle both. 

I rate Aruba Switches nine out of 10. If you're deploying these types of switches, I encourage people to utilize some type of cloud-based management console. If you don't use Aruba, make sure whatever you use has cloud management to give you visibility into what's going on in terms of configuration, errors, etc. 

We are using Aruba Switches as a distribution switch everywhere in our business for Wi-Fi.

We only have access points connected to the Aruba switches. Aruba Switches are connected to our main infrastructure, but everything else is still on the old infrastructure.

The most valuable features of Aruba Switches are the use of use and user-friendliness.

The main issue we had with the Aruba Switches was that they would heat up easily when placed outside. We have two locations with no cover in the corridor and it's a historical building. We experienced outages on the first batch of Aruba Switches we received, which we never had with the Dell Switches, for example, even though Dell Switches are not as well-known. However, the Dell Switches had been outside for a few years and we never had any issues with them. In contrast, we encountered an issue with the Aruba Switch after only one week of being outside when it shut down in security mode.

The Aruba Switches would heat up too much and shut down. The CPU temperature would reach a certain point and then it would just shut down. As far as I know, the temperature threshold on the Aruba Switches was lower than on other brands. It could also be related to the specific series we ordered, as I am not sure if they have higher-grade switches that can handle higher temperatures. We are in Singapore, so if the switches are placed in a corridor without air conditioning, the temperature inside can get very warm, even hotter than outside. The temperature can rise quickly in these conditions.

I have been using Aruba Switches for approximately six months.

There are some stability issues with Aruba Switches.

I rate Aruba Switches an eight out of ten.

The solution is highly scalable.

I rate the scalability of Aruba Switches a ten out of ten.

When Cisco Meraki was presented, it seemed to be a strong solution and appeared to be superior to the Aruba Switch solution, particularly with regard to the console. It was more user-friendly. However, in the end, the Aruba Switch console proved to be user-friendly. Ultimately, Cisco Meraki would be the better choice, but it's not surprising as Cisco is known for being the number one choice.

The initial setup of Aruba Switches was simple. The process is the same if you were to install other similar solutions from other vendors, such as Cisco.

Aruba Switches are similar to HP.

We utilized the services of a company that both resells and provides consulting. They sent a consultant to assist with bringing the system in-house. They handle the installation and our role is to ensure everything is running smoothly and verify the configurations.

The pricing was still affordable compared to Cisco, which is usually less affordable for most companies. We are using the solution in a school, we need the price to be affordable.

I rate the price of Aruba Switches an eight out of ten.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Aruba Switches an eight out of ten.