Item: Cisco Meraki MX
Rating: 7
Author: Joseph Brower

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Meraki MX

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Meraki MX is used by some of my clients for managing their internet connection between a few facilities. They have an ethernet handoff, and Cisco Meraki MX sits between their internet connection and their network, acting as a firewall, router, VPN endpoint, and content filter.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Decent web interface
Support
Content filtering
Threat detection (when using the higher license)

Cons

Intranet management (inability to NAT between LANs limits flexibility)
Multitenancy from one device
Limited in VPN options
Always a recurring charge
Difficult to troubleshoot when internet is down

Return on Investment

For my clients, it was easy to mark off a few items on their checklist so that we could move on to more important things

Simplified Management

Cisco Meraki MX has allowed me and my team to maintain a few networks with relatively little effort. We didn't require a lot of training to use the core feature set, and it has served our clients well. It does what any good firewall should do, be set up, stay out of the way, and maintain security.

Integrations with other Cisco products

We haven't integrated any other systems into Meraki.

Scalability

While the Cisco Meraki MX interface is scalable and handles things nicely, sometimes the hardware isn't quite up to the task. Scaling the hardware requires purchasing the higher model, as lower models can't be upgraded. Then users are left with an old model that is now an expensive paperweight, as you can't even redeploy at home without spending on a monthly license.

Alternatives Considered

pfSense

We continued using Cisco Meraki MX after taking over the client since they are familiar with it and enjoy the reporting it provides. We use pfSense for most new deployments as the controls it gives us are slightly better than the Cisco Meraki MX controls. That isn't to say Cisco Meraki MX is bad; it just isn't suitable for many of our clients that are multi-tenant, which is one of the weaker offerings from Meraki. For our clients that were already using Cisco Meraki MX when we adopted them, there was no reason to change, it does the job, and it does it well.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Meraki MX delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Cisco Meraki MX's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Meraki MX live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Cisco Meraki MX go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Meraki MX again?

Other Software Used

pfSense

Likelihood to Recommend

If a company wants a fairly turn-key solution and doesn't mind some limited functionality, Cisco Meraki MX works well. The content filtering/IPS system is effective, and the reporting is nice. It also allows for easy team management, and the VPN can easily be managed by integrating it into active directory or other authentication mechanisms.

Cisco Meraki MX Feature Ratings

Cisco Hybrid Work

Cisco Products Used for Hybrid Work

Cisco Meraki MX

Hybrid Work Model

Working from anywhere (e.g., coffee shop, airport)
Working from an office or other company space
Working from home

Hybrid Work Implementation Progress

We mostly needed a system that would let our workforce work on small documents from anywhere. Since the information is stored on our server at the office, having something that would let them securely connect and access server resources was critical. We also wanted something that would integrate with our local authentication server (Microsoft Active Directory in this case) and the Meraki unit works for that.

Organizational Challenges Faced

There weren't organizational challenges per se. Most of the difficulty came from ensuring those that needed to work remotely had the equipment to do so. We're an MSP, and the client already had a good idea of how they wanted things to work. We just needed a good way to make it happen.

Impact on Organizational Challenges

The Meraki unit acts as a good endpoint for roaming clients. Setup is pretty easy and is easy enough for people to use that we don't have to expend a lot of effort training people. It has been secure, reasonable in setup, and performance has been as we expect. The only challenges we've run into with it have been Microsoft occasionally breaking things with an update. Those are few and far between, and would probably impact any VPN solution. So in short, it made solving the problem of remote network access very painless for us.

Hybrid Work Experience

Being outside of the office does create some challenges. Having the VPN available to employees has done quite a bit for letting them check up on things, update documents, collaborate, etc. The VPN is one part of the hybrid work system in place, but it place a pivotal role and having it easy to set up made my team's life easier from an operational standpoint, as well as a training standpoint for our customer.

Other Products Considered

In this case, we were already using the Meraki for other services (IDS/IPS type work). We also implement pfSense and OpenVPN. They all have their pros and cons, but Meraki fits in well with the solutions that we've found. It is easy to use, has broad platform support, and maintains security well.

Other Collaboration Services Used

Microsoft Teams
Google Meet
Other

Dialpad
Discord
Figma

Using Cisco Meraki MX

Users and Roles

4 - We are an MSP and Cisco Meraki units are used by some of our clients, so we need to maintain them. They are used as router/firewalls for some of our clients.

Support Headcount Required

2 - Maintaining Meraki equipment only requires basic networking skills. Understanding firewalls, NAT, routing, DHCP, fundamentals helps.

Business Processes Supported

Easy router/firewall management for cleints
Reporting for our MSP clients
VPN endpoint

Innovative Uses

Using the VPN endpoint feature to make access iLO devices.

Future Planned Uses

Satellite or home office connections.

Likelihood to Renew

It is already in place and the client is happy with it. We don't see a need to change what is already working. We want the Meraki to stay out of the way and keep things operating, and that's what it does.

Evaluating Cisco Meraki MX and Competitors

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Ease of Use

It was already in place when we took over the client. We've been renewing it since it fulfills the need for the client and we can manage it easily enough. When renewal came up, we considered moving to another platform, but felt there were more important things to focus on.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

When the next renewal comes, we'll probably be caught up with other projects, so we'll be more seriously looking at alternatives.

Cisco Meraki MX Implementation

Implementation Rating

Be sure that the feature set will work for you and that you are OK with the hardware being tied to a license. If it ever becomes unlicensed, it becomes a paperweight.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a minor issue with the implementation - It keeps a bit of an audit trail, but nothing very thorough. There also isn't a way to export a specific snapshot of configuration.

Implementation Issues

Learning some of the limitations that our other equipment can do. (NAT between local networks for example.)

Cisco Meraki MX Training

Training Types Used

No Training

In-Person Training

Online Training

Ease of Cisco Meraki MX Training

If you are familiar with networking, you should have no problem picking up the interface. None of my staff needed any specific training to put the Meraki equipment to good use.

Configuring Cisco Meraki MX

Product Configurability

Overall, it is good for what it does and offers quite a bit of flexibility. It can't really handle multi-tenancy effectively, but outside of that, it has what any small or medium enterprise would need.

Configuration Lessons

There is really only one way to configure the equipment, so there isn't so much a "best practices" to speak of. It does a good job of guiding you to make reasonable decisions that won't get you into too much trouble.

UI Customization

No - we have not done any customization to the interface

Extensibility and Customization

No - the product does not support adding custom code

Additional Customization Considerations

We didn't customize much because you can't customize much.

Cisco Meraki MX Support

Support Rating

We were having trouble renewing the license. The support staff was very useful in making sure our license was properly applied.

Cisco Meraki MX Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

There isn't really an option for purchasing "premium support." We have the support that is provided with the license subscription.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of Cisco Meraki MX Support

When we were trying to get our licensing stuff figured out (our vendor was having trouble getting a new license key for us) Meraki extended the grace period for us to ensure we continued to have service. Then, when we got the license, they helped us to ensure they applied properly.

Using Cisco Meraki MX

Usability

Some features simply aren't there, but the ones that are there are pretty easy to use. Sometimes it is easy to get lost when trying to find the specific device you want to work on, but that's mostly due to how rarely we have to go into the interface.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Feel confident using	Cumbersome Lots to learn

Easy Tasks

Site to site VPN
Client to Site VPN
DHCP Server Management

Difficult Tasks

Offline device troubleshooting

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes, but I don't use it

Cisco Meraki MX Reliability

Reliability and Availability

It's been reliable equipment. We've not suffered any failures due to software or hardware. The only issue is if your license expires, it will stop operating completely until you resolve the licensing issue.

Performance

The interface is pretty responsive. The lower end devices are easy to overwhelm if you have a lot of throughput. Be sure the model you get is rated for the amount of traffic you will have. Overbuild if possible, otherwise you won't be fully leveraging the connection from your ISP.

Integrating Cisco Meraki MX

Ease of Integration

Based on what we've seen, integration is extremely limited. That being said, we've not tried to go too far into it once we saw that it would be limited.

Systems Integrated With

Active Directory

We use active directory for authentication on the Client VPN. Setup was painless and it has worked well enough.

Future Integration Plans

None

Types of Integration

Meraki is extremely limited in integrations based on what we've seen.

Integration Lessons Learned

Meraki isn't really the product for you if you are trying to integrate things. If you just need a router/firewall that can do some VPN and IDS work, it's great, but if you want deep integration into your other workflows, it probably won't work out well.

Upgrading Cisco Meraki MX

Upgrade Process

Yes - The firmware update was pretty simple. We didn't have to do much beyond just let it run. The update wasn't super exciting, and that's exactly how they should be.