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Case Study: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir & Cultural Center

THE BAPS SHRI SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR & CULTURAL CENTER is a Hindu place of worship and a center for education, community service, and social activities and services. It is located in Chino Hills, Calif. on a 21-acre property. When completed, the facility will comprise a traditional Hindu mandir (temple) and eleven ancillary buildings in a campus-like setting.

BAPS desired a wireless LAN covering its entire campus to support mobile VoIP (voice over wireless LAN, or "VoWLAN"), to connect video surveillance cameras, even in parking lots and other outdoor areas, to stream live video broadcasts to viewers throughout the campus, and to provide business staff with secure Internet connectivity.

Key Requirements: Roaming, Security, Mesh
Connected roaming, or the ability of a software application to remain connected to the wireless LAN when moving between wireless LAN access points, is a critical requirement for VoWLAN deployments, as users do not expect their calls to be terminated as they move around the campus. Thus, this was a must-have feature of the BAPS wireless LAN.

In addition, as the BAPS accounting department intended use the wireless LAN to exchange sensitive financial information with the parent organization's nationwide IT hub in New Jersey, wireless LAN security was also a requirement. Finally, to make remote outdoor portions of the campus accessible to network-connected video surveillance cameras and other network users, a wireless LAN solution offering access-point-to-access-point mesh connectivity was desired.

"THE AEROHIVE COOPERATIVE CONTROL ARCHITECTURE PROVIDES US WITH SEAMLESS ROAMING BETWEEN WIRELESS LAN ACCESS POINTS WITHOUT THE PROHIBITIVE COST OF CONTROLLER-BASED NETWORKS. THE AEROHIVE SOLUTION UNIQUELY ENABLED US TO REALIZE OUR VOICE OVER WIRELESS LAN OBJECTIVES WHILE MEETING OUR OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGY GOALS. ANY ORGANIZATION INTERESTED IN MOBILE VOIP SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER AEROHIVE." Kaivalyamurti Swami IT Administrator BAPS

Evaluating the Alternatives
Previously, BAPS had deployed a wireless LAN comprised of Cisco Aironet access points. These autonomous, or "fat", access points were unsuitable for BAPS's Chino Hills facility, because they do not permit secure fast roaming between access points, which is a critical requirement for VoWLAN applications. Autonomous access points are also cumbersome to manage. The security of these first-generation access points was also a concern.

Wireless LAN solutions that used centralized controllers to provide the roaming, management, and security missing from fat access points were also rejected as being far too costly. Cisco controllers, for example, would have cost BAPS an estimated $14,000-$25,000 per controller. In all, the Aerohive solution offered significant savings when compared to typical controller-based wireless LAN alternatives.

Cooperative Control Architecture from Aerohive
Ultimately, "cooperative control" equipment from Aerohive was selected for the BAPS wireless LAN. Aerohive cooperative control access points ("HiveAPs") require no network controllers or overlay networks. Instead, software in the HiveAPs enables them to self-organize into groups called "hives" and to share network control information. The result is enterprise-class connected roaming, network management, and security without the cost, performance, and availability issues associated with controller deployments. As an added benefit, HiveAPs can form a mesh network with other HiveAPs that are not connected to the wired network, meeting BAPS's wireless outdoor connectivity objectives.

KEY FACTS:   THE BAPS SHRI SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR & CULTURAL CENTER IS A MULTI-USE RELIGIOUS FACILITY AND COMMUNITY CENTER SITUATED ON A 21-ACRE PROPERTY IN CHINO HILLS, CALIF.   BAPS REQUIRED A WIRELESS LAN TO SUPPORT ITS VOICE OVER WIRELESS LAN (VOWLAN), STREAMING VIDEO, AND INTERNET ACCESS REQUIREMENTS.   BAPS WILL DEPLOY AEROHIVE WIRELESS LAN EQUIPMENT IN PLACE OF THE CISCO AIRONET EQUIPMENT IT ALREADY OWNS.   THE AEROHIVE CONTROLLER-LESS WIRELESS LAN SOLUTION COST FAR LESS THAN CONTROLLER-BASED ALTERNATIVES WHILE PROVIDING NECESSARY ROAMING, MANAGEMENT, AND SECURITY.   AEROHIVE'S HIVEMANAGER NETWORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ENABLES BAPS TO MANAGE EACH WIRELESS ACCESS POINT REMOTELY AND EASILY.   AEROHIVE'S WIRELESS MESH CAPABILITY WILL ENABLE BAPS TO PROVIDE CONNECTIVITY TO THE ENTIRE PROPERTY, EVEN OUTDOORS.

Aerohive Mesh Connectivity
In outdoor areas, such as the BAPS campus, or other large spaces, physically wiring a network may be cost-prohibitive or otherwise impractical. Often, the most logical solution is to deploy a wireless LAN with wireless mesh backhaul capabilities. Traditional autonomous access points typically lack the dynamic RF management and the strong wireless mesh support necessary for these deployments. More modern controller-based access points have trouble scaling because they only support simple wireless bridging and not true meshing, and because of the consumption of wireless bandwidth by tunneling all network traffic back to a controller.

Aerohive Networks' cooperative control architecture provides BAPS with a scalable, wireless solution using the wireless mesh capabilities of each HiveAP. The HiveAPs' cooperative RF management and cooperative control communications also simplify deployment.

Remote Network Management
The Aerohive Networks HiveManager Network Management System (NMS) provides a single centralized management instance for the entire wireless network. A HiveManager is not a network controller and is not required to operate a hive of HiveAPs. When used, HiveManagers simplify provisioning for global policy management and provide centralized configuration and monitoring. The HiveAPs for the entire BAPS campus will be managed from a single HiveManager, a valuable convenience to the organization's small volunteer IT staff.

Zero-Configuration Deployment with HiveManager
The HiveManager will also make deploying HiveAPs across the BAPS campus extremely simple. First, unconfigured HiveAPs are connected to the network and allowed to discover the HiveManager. Then, configuration data is pushed from the remote HiveManager to the newly installed HiveAPs, for true plug-and-play installation. BAPS reports that the equipment evaluation process to date has been trouble-free and that the Aerohive wireless LAN is performing perfectly.

Security at the Network Edge
The BAPS accounting department will use the wireless LAN to connect with the organization's nationwide IT hub in New Jersey. Sensitive financial information will be transmitted, so security of the wireless LAN is critical. Aerohive's cooperative control architecture and the HiveAPs provide the security BAPS will require, with features including 802.11i (WPA2), wireless IDS, 802.1X authentication, rogue detection, and guest access control. HiveAPs also integrate easily with third-party solutions, such as Microsoft NAP- and TNC-based systems, that enforce endpoint compliance checking.

An integrated stateful firewall in every HiveAP also ensures immediate response to security threats. The firewall has a multi-level response mechanism that can log, block, disassociate, or disassociate-and-ban wireless clients in response to particular attacks. In addition, in-line Layer 2, Layer 3, and Layer 4 denial-of-service (DoS) protection ensures that wireless clients do not consume too much wireless bandwidth or overload buffers, helping to prevent DoS.

What's Next for BAPS and Aerohive?
The next phase of the wireless LAN deployment is scheduled for July, 2008, when HiveAPs will be deployed across seven buildings on the BAPS campus. Another deployment phase will include parking areas and other outdoor spaces, taking advantage of Aerohive's wireless mesh connectivity capabilities and providing uninterrupted VoWLAN coverage and security camera surveillance on the BAPS property. Finally, HiveAPs will be deployed in BAPS's remaining buildings and the BAPS temple, completing the deployment.

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