ExtremeCloud IQ vs. HashiCorp Vagrant

In complex environments where redundancy is required or a high density of client devices is in use. It is helpful to small enterprises with limited IT staff, as once the auto-provisioning is set up with AP templates, it means APs can be installed by non-IT staff. Licensing can be complex due to all the models, but the ability for co-term licenses to end on the same expiry is essential.

Incentivized

If you're writing software, particularly software that depends on other services (web servers or databases for example) then Vagrant is great. I know some people skip Vagrant and just set up virtual machines on their own, but I've found that Vagrant streamlines the process nicely and makes it easy to update or swap out versions. If you're a web developer (which I am) it's amazing. I can have several boxes configured for my different projects and I just spin them up or down based on what I'm working on. One scenario where this might not be ideal is if you're running Vagrant on a computer that has limited resources. Since you're running a virtual machine with its own operating system and such you'll want a host computer with enough RAM, hard drive space and CPU to run the virtual machine properly without killing the performance of the host. The virtual disks can also take up a lot of space if you're not careful so if you have many virtual machines provisioned and don't clean up the old ones that you're not using, you may find that your hard drive is full. Each of my Linux servers take up about 10GB of disk space.

Incentivized

• GTAC support is excellent; they understand the issue and do not hesitate to help in detail.
• The layout is very intuitive and easy to use, especially the templating of switch port types. It makes it simple to use context-based names so the purpose of the port can be understood.
• The auto channel selection now works very well, including the SDR dual 5GHz mode.

Incentivized

• Easy to create machines with different OS's, list of them can be found from Vagrant's website with configuration details.
• Flexible configuration, user can determine what software will be pre-installed to machine. Saves time because it doesn't need to be done manually every time.
• Easily manage full environments, not just single machines, with single command.

Incentivized

• Licensing as a whole is a nightmare. If you have a device RMA'd - you have to email their licensing team to have the device license transferred to your new hardware. Licensing renewals are also a pain, as oftentimes they don't have the licenses correctly tied to each device you own. Definitely the biggest issue I have with ExtremeCloud IQ Networks
• Hardware is tied to you once you purchase it, so there is no resale market/secondary market for the devices you purchase - should you try to sell them when they're end of life within your organization

Incentivized

• Learning curve is steep - It can be challenging for someone to set up initially. After some coaching, the basics come pretty quickly though.
• Relies on external Virtual Machine applications - It would be great if Vagrant itself could run the virtual machine instead of leaning on other virtualization software. This is a small detail, but would make setup simple.
• Better support for running

Incentivized

Vagrant is fast, versatile and does exactly what we need it to do: spin up virtual servers for local development fast and without trouble.

Incentivized

Being a web platform, it is very easily accessible. The user interface is very simple, intuitive, and visually well-designed. The learning to use it was very quick and can be done even without specific user manuals. Access to the analytics and troubleshooting tools is also extremely intuitive and very well-crafted.

Incentivized

A GUI would be nice for entry level users.

Incentivized

I previously used Aruba APs in the early 2010s - but have no other experience since then

Incentivized

Docker has a few advantages, especially with the disk size bloat brought on by Vagrant's hosting an entire OS and project in a VM. It relies on native tools, however, and may not support every software. Vagrant provides uniformity, efficiency and repeatability within team work and for deployment and testing.

Incentivized

• Extreme has allowed us to significantly reduce the time required for incident resolution.
• Close to zero-touch greatly enhanced our business.

Incentivized

• Saved lots of time by being able to set up a local env quickly
• Occasionally made troubleshooting bugs harder than it would have been using native Linux
• Clients had issues setting it up, which may have provided us some security in keeping their business

Incentivized