7 Reviews and Ratings
158 Reviews and Ratings
No answers on this topic
Core and data center applications are the strengths of Arista products. The distribution layer is also a good fit. For the access layer, it would be more of a niche product.Incentivized
Cisco Meraki MS is brilliant in very simple environments where basic segregation is required. Many features are pre-configured as defaults and this makes it easy to configure security and stability features like STP protections and UDLD. It is capable of some more complex functions, such as dot1x authentication. TAC support is easy to access and usually timely. Bundling support into the license and making it available through Dashboard is great. We have had issues monitoring the Cisco Meraki Dashboard using legacy SNMP based system - this means we now effectively have one more network monitoring screen to watch. We also sorely lack an ageing timer for stick MAC address port security - essential in uncontrolled locations with no NAC available. We have also had issues with devices pulling DHCP leasing from the wrong VLAN on initial provisioning and then struggling to transition to our management VLAN when the full config is pulled.Incentivized
The 7304's along side our core network design has provided 100% uptime during the 5 years of deployment.The multi-chassis LAG has provided near 100% connectivity to the distribution and access switches.Very low maintenance attention is needed.Incentivized
Meraki MS switches are wonderful at allowing a network admin to configure a VPN mesh network without having to have highly specialized knowledge. Unlike Cisco switches, there is no CLI, there is only a GUI, and Meraki support helps you set it up as you add nodes to your network.Meraki MS switches are easy to deploy. Full stop.They can work with any firewall or ASA but I would strongly recommend using the Meraki MX security appliance if you are going to use Meraki MS switches because they were made to work together.They easily stack. It's all done for you in the Meraki cloud control panel.They will get an address from your admin VLAN's DHCP scope and keep it. Even if you unplug it and move it, you will not have to worry about addressing it.The GUI is online and you can reach it from anywhere, so as long as you have the credentials, you can manage the network from any device that has a browser.Incentivized
The 7304's lack a graceful non-intrusive upgrade method even though they are dual supervisor.I would like to see more integration with Aruba's ClearPass and Airwave products.Incentivized
People who are coming from enterprise switches or command line options may feel limitedIf internet is having issue, managing the switches can become more burdensomeSwitches do not have as many advanced features as enterprise switchesDelay in reporting and debuggingIncentivized
Being on the cloud its very easy to manage. We have layer 7 visibility and Cisco has introduced stackable MX switches which is even better! The Meraki portal can be accessed via SSO which is important to my organization (although it was a bit difficult to get that implemented initially!)Incentivized
Cisco support for the Meraki products is great. I have a dedicated representative who I can reach out to at any time. They offer numerous online resources and easy to follow tutorials to help the most novice user feel like a pro. When I need support they were ready and quickly helped me solve my problems.Incentivized
I have used the Catalyst 6500 series in the past. From my point of view, the Arista surpasses the Catalyst on just about every front. Originally we were planning on implementing the Nexus 7000/7700 series switches for our core. Though a little more feature rich, it did not provide features we needed that the Arista did. The Nexus also was a confusing and complex platform to work with. Also, the Nexus was a significantly more expensive solution. Although very happy with the Arista switches we may evaluate the Aruba HPE 8400 chassis-based switches along with Arista switches in the future.Incentivized
Meraki MS provides the sweet spot between manageability and functionality, though not at a significantly lower cost. Desktop support engineers can manage it day-to-day and sometimes that is the most important factor, especially in our case, as a layer 2 switching solution that can also provide PoE to the Meraki MR WAPs.Incentivized
Cisco Meraki MS is intuitive and allows us to easily manage 340+ satellite locations and four corporate locations. Templates, intelligent patching, and alerting are fantastic. This has drastically improved compliance and managing such a large footprint. I would continually recommend Cisco Meraki MS for any multi-site organization because of its ease of use.Incentivized
The Arista 7000 series met or exceed our data center switching and routing needs.It provided a more cost effective alternative to other products we were considering.Implementation was quick and easy due to the simple standards-based configuration.Incentivized
We scaled out existing networks way faster and way easier.We have added new sites with new switch and network configuration requirements way faster and easier.Because Meraki switches integrate so seamlessly with Meraki Wi-Fi it makes Wi-Fi management very easy and very straightforward.Incentivized