The Meraki MS120 series of switches exists to address gaps in coverage for small to medium operations. These state of the art switches feature the excellent Meraki usability you’ve come to expect. And, they come in a variety of port numbers and price points to suit all budgets.
So, the MS120s are mid-range, medium power switches. They are multipurpose devices that might find a home in a variety of use cases.
The MS120 series starts with the MS120-8, from $445 with Enterprise license. These are fully self-contained desktop units. They pack a lot of power into a small fanless unit. They are perfect for startups, small branch offices, or remote locations. These are now some of the smallest and least expensive Meraki switches. Next is the MS120-24 from $1059, to the MS120-48 from $ $1,759 with the 1-year Enterprise license.
Meraki MS120 usability
The clean, simple interface is still quite powerful. The MS120 also has a full toolset for diagnosing network problems remotely. For example, it can fully capture live packets streaming through the switch for analysis. And, it can push out new rules and configurations automatically or on a schedule. Plus, because the MS120 is cloud-managed, it’s always ready to receive the latest firmware updates.
The MS120 is no more difficult to set up than a simple hub. Multiple units can be managed from one location or by remote administrators.
Plus, if you have multiple Meraki switches in a network, they can easily be managed all at once. Or, you can configure in groups that need to behave differently.
Security
Thankfully, there are many security features embedded inside each Meraki MS120 switch. For example, there’s the ability to use a RADIUS server for authentication. But, there are also additional protections, necessary for a device designed to protect information legally protected by HIPAA away from prying eyes.
And, two-factor authentication is the default for administrators accessing the dashboard. The switch also supports role-based access control that can be configured by device. In a healthcare environment, this could be very useful. For example, you can grant certain administrators access to switches on the clinical network, or separate admins by department. That can be a good way to ensure that the entire healthcare system cannot be compromised by the actions of one administrator.
In fact, the MS120 switch even allows security to be configured down to the individual port. So, even if attackers were able to defeat every other form of security, they would still need a specifically authorized device to make any changes.
And, the MS120 features Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol snooping. This can be used to indicate an attacker’s reconnaissance on a network. It would then block such activities automatically.
MS120 features
There are really only small differences between the MS120 and MS210 series.The major differences are that the Meraki MS210 series have integrated power supplies and or support for secondary redundant power. They have physical stacking capability as well.
However, they’re all Gigabit-speed Layer 2 switches, with Gigabit uplinks. And, you have your choice of anything from 8 to 48 ports. Varying levels of PoE/PoE+ power are available as well. Additionally, all models supporting virtual stacking.
The MS120 boasts switching capacity of 20 Gbps, and a forwarding rate of 14.88 mpps. The larger models, like the 48-port models, offer of PoE+ power, with options for a 720W power budget. Given their competitive pricing, that makes them a great choice for midsized offices.
Remember, Meraki switches utilize the same interface as all Meraki devices. With this price-to-performance ratio and ease of set-up, they are a great place to start looking. If you would like to know more about the Meraki MS series or any other Meraki product, please email us or call Corporate Armor at 877-449-0458. Thanks for reading!
Meraki MS series highlights
| Integrated multi-factor authentication |
| Zero-touch remote provisioning |
| 20 Gbps switching capacity |
| Completely cloud-integrated with all Meraki products |
| Extremely granular role-based access control |