I'm getting more and more into Meraki gear as replacements for Cisco ASA 5505's.
- They're trendy in that they leverage "the cloud".
- They're remarkably flexible, and don't require fixed IP addresses they way ASA's do for SOHO sites that connect to my data centers via VPN. That reduces the monthly cost of the circuits when we don't have to buy reserved addreses from the ISP's.
- They're far too expensive when compared to ASA 5505's. But I offset that, along with the ongoing cloud-based management/licensing, partly by seeing how much more reliable they are than ASA's:
- Some ISP's say they are reserving IP addresses for our ASAs' fixed VPN needs, but when the ASA's are shut down for a week or two while a home user is away on vacation, when they come back home they discover their ASA won't connect to our VPN. And that's because the ISP didn't reserve the address in their DHCP, and the ASA has picked up a new address, which won't match the VPN tunnel requirements.
- Since Meraki's don't need fixed addresses on their external interface, we find them to be very flexible and user-friendly. And Network Admin friendly, too--they just work. I can slip a Z3 into my laptop case and work from anywhere I can get an Internet connection. No configuration, no IP hassles--they just work.
- I can manage them remotely via the cloud--from any site. To any location.
- I could be in Florida today and Oregon tomorrow--my Meraki gear just connects my laptop seamlessly back to the home office without any special work on my part.
- Similarly, some teleworkers could be in New York with their Z3 today, and in L.A. with it tomorrow. And I can remotely manage their connection no matter where they are. No matter where I am. It's the one beauty of the cloud I've found so far.
What I haven't been able to do yet, is manage my Meraki gear via Solarwinds the way I manage Cisco gear. NPM, NCM backups, NTA Netflow, IPAM, UDT---none of them seem to be built to get along with Meraki.
So there I said it: I'm ignorant about how to get the Network Management of Merakis done using Solarwinds.
Are you managing Meraki gear with NPM, NTA, NCM, or UDT? If so, I'd love to hear your story, what you did, what you find works well, and what's missing.
Lay it on me, Meraki users!
