As I can see, many answers refer to different parts of the solution. and the answers are correct: you can integrate Meraki or cisco switches with meraki or Cisco APs or any other model of APs (Huawei, Aruba, Ruckus).
Nut, if you're asking specifically for wireless solutions: Meraki APs, with Cisco (Aironet) APs and WLCs. then no, they are not compatible. Each works in its own area and can't cover the same space without causing interference for each other.
You could cover 2 separate buildings with one solution for each as a test to compare solutions (short-term) or integrate them into DNA Center (long-term) to monitor and maintain them. But integrating Wireless APs from both solutions into 1 area can't be done for now.
IT Support and Network Admin at Escuela Carlos Pereyra
User
Top 5
2021-10-11T12:19:28Z
Oct 11, 2021
Me voy a tomar la libertad de responder en español, ya que el colega Gilberto es latino;
Cual es la razón de tomar en cuenta estas 2 líneas de productos de la misma marca? , estas a tiempo de revisar otras opciones ?
si es así te recomiendo la marca Unifi , Router, switches y AP´s en el mismo dashboard, fácil de configurar, mismo rendimiento y a mitad del costo, sin licenciamientos extras y por si fuera poco con una mejor comunidad de soporte, la misma plataforma la puedes administrar en forma local y/o en la nube
pero entrando en materia de Cisco, cual es el requerimiento actual? la red wifi por que ya tienen los switches cisco y quieres convergencia, o al revés, quieres los switches por que ya tienes los AP´s ?
en el primer caso no te quedan muchas opciones, con la marca, pero tienes la ventaja de poder ver otras marcas y separar el control de AP´s del de switches y con el tiempo cuando se tengan que renovar los switches entonces podrás retomar la idea de que todo este en el mismo ecosistema
en el segundo caso, te recomiendo mejor mantener la marca siempre y cuando el manejo de los equipos pueda realizarse con el mismo tipo de administración aunque no puedas mantener la misma línea de producto
siempre la administración del wifi lleva mas inversión de tiempo que el de la LAN, entonces la recomendación en general es priorizar la facilidad de gestión en los AP´s
Based on IEEE standard, different technology can work together. For instance: You can connect a Non Meraki Wireless AP with Meraki switch and it works fine.
However when its comes to integrity and single dashboard management Approach, Meraki Dashboard do not allow any Non Meraki appliances to get managed and monitored from their dashboard.
Based on the IEEE standard, different technology can work together. For instance: You can connect a non-Meraki Wireless AP with Meraki switch and it works fine.
However, when it comes to integrity and a single dashboard management approach, Meraki dashboards do not allow any non-Meraki appliances to get managed and monitored from their dashboard.
Manager Information Technology at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
2020-01-29T20:09:42Z
Jan 29, 2020
They can't be integrated today. I saw that because as time passes I would believe you would see these technologies begin to converge. But today it is for sure independent of each other.
They should work well together. We have set up Meraki so as to include both the desktop computers and the wireless system. I can access both through the same Meraki page.
Pre Sales Engineer at a integrator with 51-200 employees
User
2020-03-08T15:35:41Z
Mar 8, 2020
Hi Gilberto,
All answers are correct.
Adding a new point, currently through the Cisco SDN platform (DNA Center), it is possible to have visibility of the Cisco platforms (Aironet / Catalyst) and Meraki Cloud Managed Solutions.
Documentation: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/cloud-systems-management/dna-center/nb-06-dna-center-data-sheet-cte-en.html#MerakiVisibilityinCiscoDNACenter
Last but not least, Meraki have several API commands available to use.
https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/7928889/SVmsVg6K?version=latest#5ae08230-26a7-48de-91b8-ebcb843bbe6d
Generally speaking, yes. Is it the best solution, no. The control of the RF environment will be made by two independent controllers, who leave spaces for the interference and over-the-air protocol conflicts which lead to poor performance and poor user experience. This also depends on how critical the scenario is. If you are talking about a 20 people office, you will have no problem. If you're talking about an auditorium for 500 people, you will have problems.
In terms of management and reporting, you can integrate both solutions. This is valid for Cisco Meraki and Cisco Wireless, or Cisco Meraki and any other wireless vendor. For example, you can achieve the same integration results with Meraki and Huawei or Cisco Wireless and Aruba HPE.
Hello community,
I work at a small tech services company and am currently researching firewalls.
What are the differences between Cisco Meraki MX67 and FortiGate 60? Which solution do you prefer?
Thank you for your help.
Managing Director at VIPUN COGNITIVE SOLUTIONS PVT LTD.
Apr 3, 2023
Meraki MX series are all cloud-based management with on-premises physical firewall connectivity, so if the Internet goes down you will lose the management options to the firewall.
Whereas FortiGate Firewall doesn't need Internet for the first time setup. Also, it is easy to manage the management interface being it is available to local users when the case of internet connection fails. All other security features, policy creation, and VPN related remains the same as you see in any brand firewall.
Senior Network Administrator at Banque de l'Habitat Tunisie
Apr 3, 2023
The Cisco Meraki MX67 and FortiGate 60 are both firewall devices, but there are some differences between them:
Deployment: The Cisco Meraki MX67 is a cloud-managed firewall, meaning that it can be managed and configured through the cloud, whereas the FortiGate 60 is typically deployed as an on-premises appliance.
Security features: Both devices offer a range of security features, such as firewalling, VPN, and intrusion prevention, but they may differ in the specific features and capabilities they offer. For example, FortiGate 60 offers advanced threat protection, while the Cisco Meraki MX67 offers content filtering.
Throughput: The FortiGate 60 offers higher throughput than the Cisco Meraki MX67. The FortiGate 60 can handle up to 1 Gbps of traffic, while the Cisco Meraki MX67 can handle up to 450 Mbps.
The cost of the devices may also differ. The Cisco Meraki MX67 tends to be more expensive than the FortiGate 60.
Scalability: The Cisco Meraki MX67 is designed for small to medium-sized businesses, while the FortiGate 60 can scale to meet the needs of larger organizations.
Hi,
I work as a Network and Telecommunications Manager at a retail company.
I'm looking for a product replacement and I'm currently exploring Mist AI and Cloud or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN.
Which one would you recommend choosing and why?
Thanks in advance.
Senior Network Admin at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 2, 2022
Had so many problems with Meraki in the past 5 years. I wouldn't recommend them to anybody. The last problem was intermittent problems connecting to an SSID, the helpdesk answer was: "make the password less complex". It was passw0rd.
Roaming always seems to break whenever they do an update. One time it took more than a year to fix the issues, couldn't upgrade the firmware for more than a year. Every time I reported a problem, they wanted to upgrade our firmware, but they hadn't fixed the roaming problem.
Wifi works so much better now when we moved away from Meraki. Plus, we don't have to pay the license fee anymore.
As I can see, many answers refer to different parts of the solution. and the answers are correct: you can integrate Meraki or cisco switches with meraki or Cisco APs or any other model of APs (Huawei, Aruba, Ruckus).
Nut, if you're asking specifically for wireless solutions: Meraki APs, with Cisco (Aironet) APs and WLCs. then no, they are not compatible. Each works in its own area and can't cover the same space without causing interference for each other.
You could cover 2 separate buildings with one solution for each as a test to compare solutions (short-term) or integrate them into DNA Center (long-term) to monitor and maintain them. But integrating Wireless APs from both solutions into 1 area can't be done for now.
You cannot use them together if you want central management.
This is because they are independent products.
Me voy a tomar la libertad de responder en español, ya que el colega Gilberto es latino;
Cual es la razón de tomar en cuenta estas 2 líneas de productos de la misma marca? , estas a tiempo de revisar otras opciones ?
si es así te recomiendo la marca Unifi , Router, switches y AP´s en el mismo dashboard, fácil de configurar, mismo rendimiento y a mitad del costo, sin licenciamientos extras y por si fuera poco con una mejor comunidad de soporte, la misma plataforma la puedes administrar en forma local y/o en la nube
pero entrando en materia de Cisco, cual es el requerimiento actual? la red wifi por que ya tienen los switches cisco y quieres convergencia, o al revés, quieres los switches por que ya tienes los AP´s ?
en el primer caso no te quedan muchas opciones, con la marca, pero tienes la ventaja de poder ver otras marcas y separar el control de AP´s del de switches y con el tiempo cuando se tengan que renovar los switches entonces podrás retomar la idea de que todo este en el mismo ecosistema
en el segundo caso, te recomiendo mejor mantener la marca siempre y cuando el manejo de los equipos pueda realizarse con el mismo tipo de administración aunque no puedas mantener la misma línea de producto
siempre la administración del wifi lleva mas inversión de tiempo que el de la LAN, entonces la recomendación en general es priorizar la facilidad de gestión en los AP´s
suerte.
The two solutions are different from each other. Very briefly, you cannot have Meraki APs via a Cisco WLC and vice versa.
Meraki is a cloud managed solution, while Cisco has both cloud and on- prem offerings.
They both have different positionings depending on customer requirements.
Based on IEEE standard, different technology can work together. For instance: You can connect a Non Meraki Wireless AP with Meraki switch and it works fine.
However when its comes to integrity and single dashboard management Approach, Meraki Dashboard do not allow any Non Meraki appliances to get managed and monitored from their dashboard.
Based on the IEEE standard, different technology can work together. For instance: You can connect a non-Meraki Wireless AP with Meraki switch and it works fine.
However, when it comes to integrity and a single dashboard management approach, Meraki dashboards do not allow any non-Meraki appliances to get managed and monitored from their dashboard.
They can't be integrated today. I saw that because as time passes I would believe you would see these technologies begin to converge. But today it is for sure independent of each other.
They should work well together. We have set up Meraki so as to include both the desktop computers and the wireless system. I can access both through the same Meraki page.
Meraki wireless is a cloud based solution and CISCO is hardware based solution. Both are independent and cannot be integrated with each other.
Hi Gilberto,
All answers are correct.
Adding a new point, currently through the Cisco SDN platform (DNA Center), it is possible to have visibility of the Cisco platforms (Aironet / Catalyst) and Meraki Cloud Managed Solutions.
Documentation: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/cloud-systems-management/dna-center/nb-06-dna-center-data-sheet-cte-en.html#MerakiVisibilityinCiscoDNACenter
Last but not least, Meraki have several API commands available to use.
https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/7928889/SVmsVg6K?version=latest#5ae08230-26a7-48de-91b8-ebcb843bbe6d
Best,
-- Urik
Having said this, just wanted to add that they could work in the same environment but that would not be an ideal situation.
Meraki is cloud-managed. Cisco WLC is on-premise managed. Both are independent and cannot be integrated with each other.
Generally speaking, yes. Is it the best solution, no. The control of the RF environment will be made by two independent controllers, who leave spaces for the interference and over-the-air protocol conflicts which lead to poor performance and poor user experience. This also depends on how critical the scenario is. If you are talking about a 20 people office, you will have no problem. If you're talking about an auditorium for 500 people, you will have problems.
In terms of management and reporting, you can integrate both solutions. This is valid for Cisco Meraki and Cisco Wireless, or Cisco Meraki and any other wireless vendor. For example, you can achieve the same integration results with Meraki and Huawei or Cisco Wireless and Aruba HPE.