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Cisco Meraki MS

Score9.3 out of 10

197 Reviews and Ratings

What is Cisco Meraki MS?

Cisco offers the Meraki brand of Ethernet switches.

Categories & Use Cases

Meraki Switching-Deployment Simplified

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Meraki switches are easy to deploy in a network and can be managed from anywhere once it is online on cloud. We generally use Meraki switches as core switch to segregate traffic as per our requirement by implementing static route and also restricting traffic through ACL. Meraki PoE switches are easy for using with Access points as power requirement for those APs are easily fulfilled through it.

Pros

  • Simplicity in SVI creation
  • OSPF configuration on the MS is very easy to configure
  • ACL configuration is something which anyone can understand and do
  • Policies implementation on the ports are very easy on MS

Cons

  • Policy based Routing is something which is very important features required.
  • Upgradation of dual persona switch 9300 takes a lot of time and we need to upgrade it a day before the implementation.
  • Proper CLI configuration should also be there on Meraki Switch

Return on Investment

  • Meraki ease of deployment is best suited
  • Ease of management
  • Simple dashboard configuration is best for any users
  • Features like PBR and CLI management will improve the sale further

Alternatives Considered

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch, ExtremeXOS, HPE Aruba Networking Switches and RUCKUS Ethernet Switches

Other Software Used

Arista Campus Switches, HPE Aruba Networking Switches, Extreme AP560 Series

Top solution from Cisco Meraki MS

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Company has several access points distributed in different contact center and business customer agents, and to be able to manage all from a single console and give internet to the clients and offices. Have complete control and administration of the contact centers, permitting easy control. Allowing and easy way to add new devices or replace all ones

Pros

  • Single user friendly console
  • Easy manage of all devices
  • Adding new features in new versions
  • Scalability

Cons

  • The license cost is one of the pain points
  • Capability to integrate with other vendors
  • More templates to generate reports

Return on Investment

  • Improved visibility of the network of the remote offices
  • Reduces costs of maintenance of the hardware
  • Improved security out of the box

Alternatives Considered

Ubiquity 401k and Fortinet FortiGate

Other Software Used

Cisco Umbrella, Cisco AnyConnect, Microsoft 365

Right tool for your team

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The fact that it team is a very Small team and increasing number of remote sites to support new business ventures and new locations, without ht need of local teams everywhere to support these functions

Pros

  • Remote management
  • High quality connections
  • Reliability

Cons

  • Licensing costs
  • Support response
  • Power consumption

Return on Investment

  • No need for increase the team
  • Reliability of the devices
  • Stability of the connections

Alternatives Considered

Ubiquiti Networks UniFi

Other Software Used

Cisco Umbrella, Cisco AnyConnect, Cisco Duo

Cisco Meraki MS Review

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Remote Location switching. Local Tech support read only access.

Pros

  • Visualization of config
  • simplified review for non-tech folks

Cons

  • Lack of proper stacking support on switches (2 switches should be managed as 1)
  • Lack of local console support for initial troubleshooting

Return on Investment

  • Initial setup during critical windows required us to RMA four core switches putting us behind schedule.
  • Lack of robust traditional managment tools such as SNMP in favor of an API model

Great choice for branches

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

At some locations we use Meraki full stack, so we have a variety of switch for core and access layers. But at almost every other location we use them only to split the WAN service between 2 routers. For this we use a basic 8 port switch, which is all we need for this purpose.

Pros

  • Remote tools
  • Visibility of each port usage
  • Configuration using templates

Cons

  • Improve logging
  • Implement AI to spot issues

Return on Investment

  • Reduction in people onboarding time.
  • Graphical interface without need of third party tools
  • You need a lot of money to implement this solution, capex and opex.

Other Software Used

Cisco Meraki Dashboard, PRTG Network Monitor