Great firewall solution
Updated March 14, 2019
Great firewall solution
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls
We utilize the Meraki firewall at one of our satellite offices and they provide us the gateway/firewall functionality, as well as opeating a site-to-site VPN connection back to our main office. As well as this, they allow for personal client VPN access, which makes it possible for key members to connect remotely to the company.
- The cloud management console is incredibly easy to use and very powerful
- The device looks the part, so for an open plan office it looks good
- Forms part of the Meraki estate to easily add wireless and switches into the network
- Very quiet operation, doesn't make nearly as much noise as other firewalls
- Not cheap to purchase initially
- While the interface in the cloud is great (and constantly improving) it's aimed towards the less techy, and so certain features are squirreled away.
- once you have committed you have to pay for the cloud access for them to work. DO your homework on costs
- Can be difficult to sort issues if your internet connection drops internally
- Cost of purchase and maintenance is high. And it significantly increased recently.
- This is offset by the ease of use which has a positive ROI effect since staff spends less time configuring and monitoring the firewalls.
- The web filtering was pivital to assist us keep users "business focused" so is a bonus
- WatchGuard
We were using WatchGuard firewalls prior to the Meraki firewalls. We selected the Meraki devices because we were impressed with the ease of use from the presentations and were not disappointed. The feature set they offer is good, but there are hidden costs with on-going maintenance that is essential to consider.
Using Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls
2 - They are the gateway to the internet as well as the link back to our main office. They now form a critical role in monitoring the network health of the site and make management an easy process with a single pane of glass view of the site. This means that issues are quickly identified and acted on.
2 - The skill-sets required for these products are quite low as it is all web based and easy to configure. As the main user, i configured what i needed and then gave another colleague a lower amount of access to be able to monitor for issues (although email alerting is setup so he doesn't require access normally).
- protection from hackers
- Interconnectivity between remote sites
- Web blocking of dodgy websites
- monitoring
- Spotting potential network issues, with its web interface you could track network traffic all the way to particular users and so pin point when someone's machine is having issues easily.
- Further investment in firewalls at other sites, to enable to alternative tunneling solutions they offer, thus meaning we can have seamless access over the backup lines we have would be interesting.
Evaluating Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls and Competitors
Yes - We had an old watchguard at the site which was under performing, was loud and didnt have the ease of setup that this offered. As we were able to get this kit operational quickly and its been great since. Its also much quieter than the other device so users are happy.
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Third-party Reviews
Additional features is key here, getting the most out of the device is what we wanted to achieve, not only through connecting it back to our main office but also to better manage the users when they were working on the internet, with the web filtering and antivirus options it has.
We would have potentially re-reviewed watchguard as they have a new raft of UTM features that seem interesting and also offer some new models that would potentially offer an interesting alternative to test against.
Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
- As we have different model firewalls at other sites the IPSEC configuration (making the devices talk to one another) was the tricky bit but not impossible.
- Similarly to above, matching what we had with web blocking took a little time as it was a different interface
Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Knowledgeable team No escalation required Support understands my problem Support cares about my success | None |
Using Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- The web interface is very simple and the configuration is very easy, even for more complex requirements
- If you have an issue that involves loss of internet connectivity, it can be a little hard to resolve as the web interface doesn't work