Deploying Cisco Meraki SD-WAN Services on MSX

This section details the procedures for deploying Cisco Meraki SD-WAN services on Cisco Managed Services Accelerator (MSX).

Deployment Workflow for Meraki SD-WAN

Cisco MSX allows seamless integration with Meraki's SD-WAN service providing capability to create SD-WAN networks and managing the devices in them.

The Meraki cloud solution is a centralized management service that allows users to manage all of their Meraki network devices with a single simple and secure platform. Meraki networks are used to contain devices and their configurations and map to sites on Cisco MSX.

To deploy a SD-WAN service for Meraki:

Table 1. SD-WAN Service Deployment Workflow for Meraki
Task See

1. Attach control plane for Meraki SD-WAN.

Setting Up SD-WAN Control and Management Plane for Meraki

2. Create sites.

Adding a New Site or Device for Meraki

3. Perform post deployment activities on Meraki SD-WAN

Maintaining Cisco Meraki SD-WAN Deployments

Setting Up SD-WAN Control and Management Plane for Meraki

To create the Meraki SD-WAN control plane service:

Before you begin

Configure Meraki-specific initial settings in MSX. For more information, see Setting Up Meraki SD-WAN-Specific Configurations in MSX.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Cisco MSX portal.
Step 2

From the left pane, click Tenant Workspace > Services.

Step 3

In the SD-WAN service panel, click on the ellipsis (...) and click Meraki SD-WAN Home.

Step 4

Click Add Control Plane to launch the wizard.

Step 5

Select Attach to use an existing control plane. Click Continue.

Step 6

In the Select Control Plane Type section, select Meraki SD-WAN to attach a Meraki SD-WAN control plane. The selected controller will appear in blue.

Step 7

Click Continue.

Step 8

Enter the API Access Key.

Step 9

Enter the Organization ID.

The organization ID helps to uniquely identify tenant's Meraki SD-WAN control plane. This ID appears in the field if you have already configured Meraki in Tenant Workspace > Settings. We recommend that you configure this ID in the Meraki Organizations Settings.

Step 10

Click Submit.

The Meraki SD-WAN Control plane is attached.

Figure 1. Attaching the Meraki SD-WAN Control Plane

Adding a New Device for Meraki

Before You Begin

Set up the Meraki control plane for the tenant and ensure that the status is active. For more information, see Setting Up Meraki SD-WAN-Specific Configurations in MSX.

To create a new device:

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Cisco MSX portal.
Step 2

From the left pane, click Tenant Workspace > Services.

Step 3

In the SD-WAN service panel, click on the ellipsis (...) and click Meraki SD-WAN Home. The SD-WAN home page appears and displays the Device Summary window for the selected tenant.

Step 4

Click Add Device button to add a new Meraki device.

Note 
The Add Device button is enabled only if the control plane is provisioned for the tenant.
Step 5

Select Control Plane Type. Select Meraki as the control plane type and click Continue.

If the tenant has only Meraki control plane deployed, only the Meraki controller type is enabled. If the tenant has both Cisco SD-WAN and Meraki control planes, you can choose to add site on either Meraki or Cisco SD-WAN control planes. For more information, see Deploying a Site or Device for Cisco SD-WAN.

Step 6

Enter the device information such as Location, Latitude, Longitude, and Support details, and click Continue.

Step 7

Select a Device Type. Choose from one of the following device types you want to set up on your Meraki site:

  • Access Point: Set up a site with only wireless devices.

  • Security: Set up a site with only security devices.

  • Switch: Set up a site with network switches.

  • Combined: Set up a site with a combination of wireless access points and security appliance devices.

Step 8

Set up Meraki device. Choose from one of the following options:

  1. Default Meraki Setup: Create the device without any template configurations, but later you can attach the template to the device.

  2. Clone from an existing device: Create the device with configuration settings copied from an existing device to a new device. From the Select Device drop-down list, select the device from where the configuration settings must be copied. The options shown in the drop-down depends on the device or the network type you chose in Step 8. After cloning, configuration changes made to the source device are not inherited into the new device.

  3. Clone from a Template: Create the device with configuration copied from an existing template into a new device. From the Select Template drop-down list, select the template from where the configuration must be copied. The options shown in the drop-down depends on the device or the network type you chose in Step 8.

  4. Attach to a Template: Create the device and then associate it to an existing template. From the Select Template drop-down list, select the template that can be associated with the new device. The options shown in the drop-down depends on the device or the network type you chose in Step 8. Any changes in the template are automatically applied to all the associated device.

Figure 2. Setting Up the SD-WAN Security Network
Step 9

Select a device to add. From the Select a Device to Add drop-down list, choose the device to be added from the device inventory. The options shown in this drop-down depends on the device or the network type you chose in Step 7. After creating a device, from the Device Summary page, you can use the option 'Add Additional Devices' to add more devices.

Step 10

Click Submit. The device summary page appears.

Postdeployment Tasks for Meraki SD-WAN

The post deployment tasks for the Meraki SD-WAN are:

Deploying an Additional Controller Type

Cisco MSX allows you to create new or attach a Cisco SD-WAN control plane to a tenant that already has a Meraki control plane deployed. Thus, allowing you to manage both Cisco SD-WAN and Meraki control plane and site information at the same time.

For deploying a Cisco SD-WAN control plane to the tenant, see Setting Up Control Plane for Cisco SD-WAN.

After both the control planes are deployed, you can select sites based on controller type filter option in List and Map view.

Maintaining Cisco Meraki SD-WAN Deployments

This section covers the maintenance tasks for Cisco Meraki SD-WAN deployments.

Configuring Application Relevance Settings for Meraki SD-WAN

Use application relevance settings in MSX to give a particular application higher priority, among others, and apply these settings across MSX-managed Meraki SD-WAN sites.


Note

The application relevance setting is supported only for following Meraki sites/network type:

  • Sites with MX device models (SD-WAN Security appliance)

  • Sites that are not attached to any templates.

Use this procedure to configure application relevance settings in MSX to assign a particular application higher priority among others.

Before you begin

  • Make sure one or more Meraki application class model template are assigned and available to the tenants. For more information, see Managing Meraki Traffic Class Access for Tenants.

  • Create or attach Control Plane, see Setting Up SD-WAN Control and Management Plane for Meraki.

  • Ensure you have the following permissions to configure traffic policies:

    • SD-WAN Traffic Policy: Users with manage permission can add and modify Application Relevance policy or Path Preference policy to the SD-WAN fabric.

    • Service Configuration Application: Users with manage permission can configure application relevance for Meraki applications. You can find this permission under Services, Configurations, and Devices category of permissions.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Cisco MSX portal using your credentials.

Step 2

From the left hand pane, click Dashboard.

Step 3

In the Subscription dashlet, click SD-WAN and click SD-WAN Home.

Step 4

Select the tenant from the drop-down and click Traffic Policy in the main menu.

Step 5

Select Meraki SD-WAN Traffic Policy.

Note 
The application relevance settings can be configured only when the control plane has been created or attached for the tenants.
Step 6

In the Application Relevance tab, select a policy class model that suits your requirements.

A policy class model is based on the number of traffic classes it includes. Depending on the selected class, the list of applications for the chosen class model appears on the same page. For information on the out-of-box applications available with Meraki SD-WAN in MSX, see Applications Available with Cisco MSX SD-WAN.

Figure 3. Meraki Policy Class Models
Step 7

Edit the application relevance for the applications. To edit, select an application, and choose one of the following business relevance settings from the relevance drop-down list.

  • Default: Applications classified as Default are given a Normal priority.

    These applications may or may not contribute to business objectives. For example, HTTP/HTTPS at times may be used for work or for personal reasons. As such, it may not always be possible to assign a static business-relevant designation to such applications. Such applications should be marked as default.

  • Business Relevant: Applications classified as relevant (important for business) will be placed high in the priority queue.

    These applications are known to contribute to business objectives of the organization and may include voice, multimedia applications, collaborative applications, database applications, email applications, file/content transfer applications, backup applications, and so on., as well as control plane, signaling, and network management protocols.

  • Business Irrelevant: Applications classified as irrelevant (not important for business) moved to lowest traffic class priority.

    These applications do not support business objectives and are typically consumer-oriented. These applications are known to have no contribution to business-objectives and are often personal or entertainment-oriented in nature. Such applications may include video-on-demand (for example, Netflix, YouTube, and so on), gaming traffic, peer-to-peer file-sharing applications, and other applications.

Step 8

Review or modify the Application relevance settings and click Apply to Meraki Sites to apply these changes across all Meraki sites for the selected tenant.

Step 9

Click Apply on the Confirm Policy Apply dialog box to proceed with applying the changes across Meraki sites.

Note 
A Turquoises mark beside an application indicates that the application relevance is being applied and new settings cannot be applied until the current process is completed.

After applying the policy, you can view the status under Meraki Traffic Policy Status section on the Site Summary page.

Figure 4. Applied Policy Status on the Site Summary Page

Deleting the Meraki Site

To delete the Meraki site:

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Cisco MSX portal using your credentials.
Step 2

From the left hand pane, click Dashboard.

Step 3

Click SD-WAN. The SD-WAN window is displayed.

Step 4

Select the tenant from the drop-down.

The SD-WAN Home screen refreshes and displays site status and control plane status for the selected tenant.
Step 5

In the List view, select the Meraki controller type. Cisco MSX displays all the sites with Meraki control plane.

Step 6

Select the Site for which you want to view the summary. The site summary screen appears.
Step 7

Click Delete Site. This action permanently deletes all information about the site and device from the Cisco MSX.

Detaching the Control Plane for Meraki

To detach the control plane for Merkai:

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Cisco MSX Portal.
Step 2

In the main menu of the Cisco MSX Portal, click Dashboard.

Step 3

Click SD-WAN. The SD-WAN screen appears.

Step 4

Select the tenant from the drop-down.

The SD-WAN Home screen refreshes and displays site status and control plane status for the selected tenant.
Step 5

In the List view, select the Meraki as the controller type. All the sites of Meraki control plane are displayed.
Step 6

Select the Site. The site summary screen appears. The Meraki control plane dashboard is shown.
Step 7

To detach control plane, click the Detach Control Plane button.