Cisco Meraki Switching brings the simplicity of cloud based configuration to the LAN, allowing configuration in the cloud and download to the switch when it connects not a console cable in sight. Ease of use is at the centre of the Meraki experience and the Meraki Switching does not disappoint. Configuring, deploying and managing core and edge switching can be laborious and cumbersome Not to mention the need to have a separate network management platform to poll and check the health of all your switches.

You can confidently eliminate those time-consuming chores:

• Porting and pasting configs from old switch to new

• writing scripts to batch-configure switchports

• Upgrading code, etc..

Meraki offers a diverse and powerful range of switches to connect the entire enterprise. What’s more, all the switches are cloud-managed and configured, so get rid of the console cable you just need to be able to log in to a web page.

• Cisco Meraki Access Points
• Meraki Made Simple

The Meraki Dashboard allows what is called Virtual Stacking. With Virtual Stacking, you can filter all the switch ports in your network and configure them as if they are one logical switch.
A good example of this is when configuring switch ports for new APs, something we’ve done a lot previously. Typically, part of commissioning a new wireless AP deployment was logging into each individual switch, checking where the APs are connected, selecting a range of switch ports and configuring them.

In this example, Virtual Stacking allows us to filter switch ports in our network that are connected to APs based on CDP information (or any other device type)!

We can search for Meraki APs in the search bar (lldp:mr) and all of the switchports in our network that connect to Meraki APs will be filtered. Now we can apply a consistent configuration to all of our ports types, with a quick search!

• Cisco Meraki Dashboard
• Cisco Meraki Wireless Overview
• Meraki Cloud Wi-Fi

Meraki offers a wide range of enterprise switches, which have connection stacking that improves the speed and redundancy of the hardware. There are 40G, 100G, and others that go up to 120G stacking, depending on the switch type.

Moreover, Cisco’s Stack Power redundancy cabling technology is now included within the MS390 product lines as well.

With Stack Power, switches can supply each other power in a way that in the event where Switch B’s power supplies fail, Switch B receives its power supply via the Stack Power approach through Switch A.

The standout feature of any Meraki device is its simple management via the Meraki cloud. At Comtech Associates, we’ve completed many Meraki deployments and typically the process would go like this:

• Order Meraki switches and send to site
• Claim devices in Dashboard based on Serial Numbers provided in order confirmation
• Configure switches in Dashboard while they are in transit to site
• Have a resource/team onsite install and patch in the switch, and once it has internet connectivity, it is in production!

Meraki’s cloud configuration extends to the MX Cameras, MX security Appliances and of course the Meraki Access Points.

Cisco Meraki Dashboard

If there are ever issues getting things working, Meraki Dashboard provides a toolkit for testing connectivity to the switch and endpoints, including:

• Pings
• Traceroutes
• LED Blinking
• Cable Testing
• Port Cycling
• Switch Reboot
• Layer 2/3 Tables
• Wake-on-LAN Messages

If this was not sufficient with the GUI version of Zero-Touch Provisioning, the Dashboard API opens the world to creating applications to communicate with the network and do whatever your business needs! To communicate, to say the least. We once had a project that required us to change all the edge switches in an entire company to Meraki products. It’s one thing to do the physical installation, but the config? Massive! The thought of auditing and cloning the config for all those hundreds of switches! Rather than do all that manual work, we wrote an app using the Dashboard API that would decipher the config setup on the existing switch to automatically populate the Meraki switch’s config in the Dashboard. This took minutes, what would have taken hours, or even days!

With some programming skills, whatever you can imagine, you can do.

We have the capability to develop Meraki API solutions in-house so don’t hesitate to ask about what we can do for your Meraki Dashboard.

The functionality of the Meraki switches will save you hours of time commissioning the network. The cloud based configuration makes configuring Meraki easy. You don’t need to be onsite to configure the equipment. You can even configure it before you unbox the equipment it’s all configured on the Meraki dashboard and pushed to the switch when it first connects.

The nice features of API configuration and Virtual Stacking through to easy configuration, physical redundancy and simple management.

These features all make the Meraki package unbeatable for customers who are more interested in running their business than an ICT network.

• Meraki Cloud Wi-Fi
• Meraki Managed Service
• Cisco Meraki Access Points
• Cisco Meraki Switching
• Cisco Meraki Dashboard

We hope that, by this point, you already realize that Meraki cloud-managed switching can save you hours of complexity. The question isn’t whether this will work for you, it’s how to make it work.

At Comtech Associates, we are more than just a hardware vendor. We support you in understanding your issues, planning and outlining what has to be achieved and assisting you in a full transition process.