Cisco Meraki FAQ | Stratus Information Systems

Welcome to our Cisco Meraki FAQ page, your go-to resource for all things Cisco Meraki!

Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a business owner, or an IT professional, we understand that navigating the world of networking and cloud-managed solutions can sometimes be a complex journey. This FAQ page is designed to address your questions and provide clear, informative answers about Cisco Meraki’s robust suite of networking and security products.

Let’s dive into the world of Cisco Meraki and simplify the way you manage and secure your network infrastructure.

What Is Cisco Meraki?

Cisco Meraki is a world-renowned IT company offering cloud-based networking technology. It simplifies network management by allowing users to remotely monitor and control devices connected to their secure networks through a centralized dashboard. It provides a range of products: routers, switches, access points, and security appliances.

What Kind of Device Is Meraki?

Cisco Meraki is a trusted manufacturer and developer of cloud-based networking devices. Its routers, switches, access points, and security appliances are compatible and easily integrated into the Cisco Meraki Dashboard with zero-touch provisioning. Meraki devices simplify network management, ensuring high visibility and control over simple or complex network infrastructures.

Is Meraki a SaaS or PaaS?

Cisco Meraki is a software as a service or SaaS platform offering cloud-based networking solutions through a web-based dashboard. As a software-as-a-service product, it allows remote deployment, configuration, and monitoring of network components and devices.

What Is So Good About Cisco Meraki?

The primary selling point of Cisco Meraki is that it’s a cloud-based networking solution whose devices are centrally managed through a single, web-based dashboard that even people with little IT experience can use. Cisco Meraki enterprise networks are efficient, enabling users to monitor hundreds of devices across multiple locations on one platform.

What Is Cisco Meraki Used for?

Cisco Meraki is used to simplify network setup and management. It is a staple for IT administration primarily for these three functions: streamlining processes, scaling enterprise networks, and monitoring real-time network insights. With Cisco Meraki, IT administrators can streamline network setup and maintenance easily, no matter the size or complexity of a network. They can scale up or scale down a network effortlessly whenever necessary. More importantly, IT technicians can monitor their network in real time. They can instantly find offline devices or access points, track bandwidth usage and locate users with excessive consumption, ensure building security and safety systems are running 24/7, etc.

Does Cisco Own Meraki?

Yes, Cisco Systems is a multinational technology conglomerate that acquired Meraki, a highly promising startup that provided wireless mesh access points and security devices to schools and small and medium businesses, in 2012. It was a notable acquisition as Cisco bought Meraki, a $120 million revenue-generating company, for $1.2 billion. The company rebranded into Cisco Meraki after the acquisition. It expanded Meraki’s cloud-managed products to include network infrastructure (switching, WiFi, bonjour gateway, and routing), unified threat management (firewalls and VPN), and mobile management (user, device, and user management).

Is Cisco Meraki Free?

Yes, most Cisco Meraki products are available for free evaluation. Authorized Meraki partners and distributors can help you register for a free trial of your chosen products.

How Much Does Cisco Meraki Cost?

The cost of Cisco Meraki enterprise networks depends on the scale, number of devices, kinds of devices, and acquired licenses. Other factors influencing pricing are conversion rates (if your authorized provider is from another country), licensing duration, bandwidth requirements, and customizations.

How Much Is a Cisco Meraki License?

Meraki enterprise licensing costs vary depending on the product lines and durations. Some product lines cost more than others, and our licensing periods range from 1 day to 10 years. Contact us for more pricing information.

Can I Use Cisco Meraki Without a License?

No, you can’t use Cisco Meraki without a license. All Cisco Meraki hardware and software require a license to work and be integrated into a network.

Does Cisco Meraki Use AWS?

Yes, Cisco Meraki uses Amazon Web Services and its scalable and robust cloud computing resources to enhance overall network performance. With AWS, Cisco Meraki customers can easily access their network data and manage devices and traffic remotely from anywhere in the world.

Can I Use Cisco Meraki as a Router?

Yes, you can use Cisco Meraki as a router. Cisco Meraki offers a range of affordable compact routers with integrated firewalls and VPN functionality. The MX firewall devices and other security appliances can also act as routers because they have routing capability, built-in firewall protection, and other supporting networking features.

Is Cisco Meraki a VPN?

Cisco Meraki devices have an auto site-to-site VPN feature that allows devices to connect or transmit data to other branches safely. With just one click, administrators can enable a robust VPN tunnel between participating MX devices to ensure all communications are routed through a secure, private service.

Is Cisco Meraki a MDM?

Cisco Meraki’s cloud networking solutions include Mobile Device Management. It enables IT administrators to monitor and manage permissions for mobile devices connected to your network. Admins can enforce security policies, restrict applications, and troubleshoot issues in network-connected mobile phones, smartphones, and laptops.

Is Cisco Meraki a Firewall?

Cisco Meraki’s MX series firewalls are among the company’s most popular and widely used products worldwide. MX operates on a Layer 7 traffic classification and control. It can manage access and restrictions based on user identity or device IPs and detect real-time network intrusions.

Is Meraki a Next-Generation Firewall?

Cisco Meraki MX security appliances and wireless APs or access points have built-in Layer 7 next-generation firewall. It enables them to analyze network traffic up to Layer 7 (the Application Layer). This next-gen firewall offers advanced threat protection, allowing the system to detect Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, filter content, etc.

Are Meraki Firewalls Any Good?

Meraki MX offers highly advanced, organization-wide protection against online threats. It is entirely cloud-managed, allowing zero-touch, self-provisioning deployments.

What Is the Difference Between a Cisco Switch and a Meraki Switch?

Before Cisco acquired Meraki and merged their technologies, there were distinct differences between Cisco switches and Meraki switches.
Cisco switches – Managed on-premises and needs more hands-on configuration.
Meraki switches – Cloud-based and allows remote configuration through a centralized management dashboard.

What Are the Benefits of Meraki Switches?

Cloud-based Meraki switches are easier to manage and monitor remotely. Because they are centrally managed, administrators have real-time visibility into their performance and can immediately adjust or troubleshoot to ensure peak performance. They also boast advanced security features like access control and threat detection.

Can Meraki Switch Work Without the Internet?

Yes, Meraki switches can perform their core switching functions without an Internet connection. However, they cannot get firmware updates, nor can administrators use features that depend on Internet connectivity, like provisioning new devices, remote monitoring, and ongoing management.

Can Meraki Track Me?

No, Meraki can’t track you. Meraki doesn’t support the invasion of user privacy. However, keeping track of individual users and devices when connected to your network is possible. For example, APs or access points can be used to find people. When a user connects to the network WiFi, administrators can see the AP device his smartphone, laptop, or tablet is linked to and its location.

How Is Meraki Different From Cisco?

There is no rigid separation between Meraki products and Cisco products. When people discuss their differences, they most likely refer to the two options available when building a wireless network.

Meraki – Cloud-hosted WLAN

A cloud-based wireless network offers total remote management. You’ll need to buy annual licenses, but the upfront costs are much lower than on-premises solutions.

Cisco – On-premises WLAN

An on-premises wireless network offers greater flexibility. However, managing the network requires more hardware and full-time engineering staff.