Meraki (the Greek word for soul, creativity, and love) is one innovative cloud-based computer system acquired by Cisco in 2012. It started by providing access points and security devices
to schools and businesses with on-premises software to manage these devices.
The software which is used to manage all these systems was moved into the cloud and Cisco Meraki has become one of the biggest and most respected cloud network companies.
These attributes are all covered by the Meraki Dashboard, providing a real-time view of all users on your network. The Meraki dashboard helps create application usage policies that optimize the end-user experience and network security.
The cloud solution
Cisco Meraki is a highly secure cloud solution that allows users to manage Meraki network devices in a single platform. Its cloud architecture creates conveniently deployable and scalable networks that are easy to manage.
The systemlets the user configure his security for Internet-connected devices, routers, switches, firewalls and Wi-Fi networks that his company uses through an internet-connected browser.
It is a convenient and efficient way of configuring your organization’s entire network. Rather than managing all those endpoints at the individual level, Cisco Meraki allows you to configure and update them all from a single place.
Advantages
The system is suitable for businesses of any size, and is particularly useful for SMBs (small and medium businesses) because it allows a small team that may not have vast amounts of time or resources to manage their network very efficiently.
While it might not have the same level of power as more advanced Cisco technologies and hardware, Meraki is more than capable of supporting the needs of smaller businesses.
Managing the network
It provides a single pane of glass to manage your network(s). All of your endpoints, devices, security and firewalls can be configured from a single interface in the cloud.
Rather than managing all those devices and settings at an individual level, you can instead manage them with a single click over the Internet.
This is especially useful in an era where more and more employees are working remotely at least some of the time (and can also help with businesses that are expanding geographically).
This is one way of ensuring that your entire network is protected in the same way, across all your locations.
SMBs
SMBs have far more complex network setups than ever before. Their networks cover various clouds, on-premises servers, Wi-Fi routers, firewalls, apps, and users with a variety of PCs, laptops, mobiles, and more.
This complexity arose in today’s era of remote working. Managing these complex networks is usually time-consuming and resource-intensive.
Meraki provides solutions to manage your company’s entire IT network from the cloud. It is designed for any business with complex networking requirements (although it’s especially popular among SMBs).
Cloud-Managed Solutions
Meraki products bring in a high degree of visibility and enterprise-level performance at cost-effective price points that are more manageable for many IT budgets.
Meraki switches can be used everywhere from the Campus LAN to the Data Center, and Meraki access points are powerful and highly efficient to deploy and manage.
What’s more, Meraki offers a suite of products. Here is an overview of some of these devices:
Switches
Cisco Meraki switches are convenient to install, configure, and run. They provide secure performance for networks and are highly scalable.
Plus, remote management provides network administrators with much greater efficiency.
Wireless Access Points /security appliances / cameras
These system routers don’t require controller hardware or installation of any management software. Moreover, Meraki access points provide broad coverage and excellent performance.
There are several provisions of security appliances that provide firewall protection along with wireless LAN, switching, and MDM (Mobile Device Management). All devices are easily installed and managed from any location via the dashboard.
The security cameras capture valuable footage from any geographical location. These cameras are very easy to deploy and manage. In addition, they offer enhanced protection with security features such as heat maps and object detection.
Scalable /hybrid work design
Since it is cloud-based, Cisco youca scale your operations quickly and easily. You will have access to virtually unlimited resources, and this facilitates on-demand expansion.
The system is also designed for modern hybrid and mobile work at many businesses.
With hybrid work now the norm at many businesses, IT teams finds that Cisco provides ways to securely manage all their devices, routers, switches, and firewalls regardless of where their employees are physically located.
Meraki cloud
The software which is used to manage and configure Cisco Meraki devices is a web-browser based platform hosted from 8 datacenters located in different parts of the world.
These datacenters form the Meraki cloud and consist of many redundant servers which offer multi-tenancy and contain the network control data for each customer.
The Meraki dashboard is the User front end of the platform which can be accessed through a web browser on a device such as a laptop or desktop computer or through the Meraki App which can be installed on an iPhone or Android device
The cloud element
Cisco Meraki products leads by way of the cloud element. This is apart from Cisco’s own line of networking products.
All Cisco Meraki devices are configured and managed solely via the Meraki cloud dashboard and cannot be configured directly through SSH or via a console connection in the same way as a traditional Cisco router or Switch (although there is option to connecting to local configuration pages on each device).
It is this cloud-based, one piece of software to manage everything approach which makes Cisco Meraki devices appealing to companies or organizations like schools or small businesses, which have small IT departments with limited networking knowledge or limited IT funding.
The dashboard
The Meraki dashboard is used to manage every single Meraki device owned by an organization. It is used monitor, configure, and provide services for all Meraki devices
These devices can be located within any number of sites at any location worldwide and all appear in an organized and structured way in the Meraki dashboard.
This structured approach makes it easy for a small number of Network Administrators to manage multiple sites which may contain many network devices.
Managing the dashboard
Each device is constantly monitored by the dashboard. The network data provided by the devices is gathered and analyzed to provide administrators and can also be used for business analytics.
There are many useful services available to be configured in the Meraki dashboard such as hotspot mapping, contact tracing and asset tracking. It is also where product licenses are installed, and software upgrades are performed.
Overall, the Meraki dashboard is a single piece of software that can be accessed from anywhere and on any device which has a web browser and is used to manage all aspects of a Cisco Meraki network.