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I am leveraging additional connectivity features, applying zero trust within the cloud network, simplifying cloud network management, and gaining more insights into what is happening within the environment.

It has enhanced the way I can deploy and manage VPCs and other connectivity services. It has provided valuable insights into latency, ports used, and top talkers, and it has offered effective troubleshooting tools.

The most valuable features are real-time topology, uniform Terraform modules across all public clouds, and troubleshooting tools such as Flightpath and packet capture.

One area that could use improvement is IPv6 support.

I have used the solution for one year.

There were no deployment issues.

I did not encounter any stability issues.

I did not face any scalability issues.

I have not interacted with customer service.

I did not use a previous solution.

The initial setup was straightforward.

The implementation was handled internally by our team.

The cost should be compared to the pricing of native services, which often include a data processing component.

I did not consider any alternate solutions.

I do not have any additional advice.

The main use case for Meraki SD-WAN involves working on the basic setup, which consists of Layer 2 switches. It is a very stable solution without the errors or bugs that occur with the Catalyst ones.

Additionally, it has a GUI interface that simplifies troubleshooting and switch issues, making it easier for someone who doesn't have a strong command of CLI to troubleshoot. The GUI facilitates most operations, except for those issues that require vendor support for troubleshooting.

The SD-WAN features of Meraki SD-WAN include the overlay setup that can connect between the switch and the Viptela device or between the VCE of another vendor without needing to be vendor-specific. Users can connect the switch to a VCE from another edge, whether it's Viptela, VMware, or Versa; it will work normally and build the overlay as expected.

The real-time visibility and analytics capabilities of Meraki SD-WAN are very good for troubleshooting ports, especially when viewing traffic running on these ports in real time. The Meraki dashboard is quite effective.

I am using Meraki Dashboard for centralized management with Meraki solutions. The Meraki Dashboard is helpful with Meraki SD-WAN and provides good functionality.

The main point for improvement for Meraki SD-WAN is that they could provide more troubleshooting tabs on the GUI. For instance, when performing a TCP dump or packet capture on some ports on uplinks, this should be available on the GUI.

It would simplify troubleshooting and allow for deeper investigations when accessibility is granted for these two types of troubleshooting tools, which are already permitted on other vendors such as VeloCloud, which was part of VMware and now belongs to Broadcom.

VeloCloud provides much more detail and many more tabs for troubleshooting everything, such as ARP, IPv4, IPv6, TCP dumps, routing, and switching. Users do not need to access the device CLI to dive deep into troubleshooting, as everything is accessible through the GUI in VMware. Cisco should enhance the GUI interface to provide more details for users to troubleshoot.

I have been working with Meraki SD-WAN for around five years.

I would rate the stability of Meraki SD-WAN as a nine.

The scalability for Meraki SD-WAN depends on the number of switches with low port numbers, which do not offer the same scalability as the 48-port models. The switches that have 20 gigs and 10 gigs are different than those with one gig. Scalability depends on the model number of each switch, but generally, it is scalable according to need.

I would rate technical support from Cisco as a nine.

Positive

I am not still using Infoblox as we stopped working with it.

The initial setup for Meraki SD-WAN is very easy; it's just plug and play.

The main competitor in the market for Meraki SD-WAN is VeloCloud, which is one of the leading SD-WAN solutions along with Ciena, which uses Flexware. It's a good solution, but Cisco, Versa, and VeloCloud, in particular Cisco Viptela, are the best options on the market.

I am currently working with Cisco and Ciena products, specifically Cisco switches and routers and wireless LAN controllers. Working for Cisco, we are working with Catalyst 90, 9300s and 9800s, 95, 9500s. For Ciena, I am working with Ciena switches and also with Broadcom SD-WAN, VeloCloud SD-WAN.

I am using Meraki SD-WAN, but I am not dealing with ACI or FabricPath; however, I do use Meraki and Viptela.

I have used policy-based routing features on other devices from different vendors, but I have not used it on Meraki SD-WAN.

Cisco provides their SASE solutions for security and Umbrella, along with other services, usually associated with their products or available for additional purchase. It integrates very well with Meraki SD-WAN or even with Catalyst switches. The SD-WAN solutions on Catalyst switches that use IOS XE or SD-WAN software can integrate with security features effectively, as Cisco has a complete structure for service and security.

I do not remember the prices for Cisco products as I have not reviewed a bill of material for the last two years.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Meraki SD-WAN an 8.