Description
Meraki has developed an unprecedentedly easy-to-navigate ecosystem for its’ products to co-exist in. And this cloud based, centrally managed platform has only grown in size and maturity. Over time, a growing, increasingly-loyal customer base have simply come to expect their Merakis to be simple to set up, easy to use, and a breeze to manage. Well, the Cisco Merak MX85 firewall is no different!
The MX85 is a predictably friendly little appliance that puts non-IT types at ease with it’s ‘snap’ deployment. In fact, you can install the MX85 in seconds, and is completely cloud-managed. At that point, it then gets all of its firmware upgrades through an SSL connection. The VPN can be set up in 5 minutes.
Performance of the Cisco Merak MX85 firewall
Basically, the Meraki MX85 does everything the Meraki MX84 does, just better. Both have hands-off set-up, stateful firewall, Layer 7 application visibility, traffic shaping, and content filtering. But where the MX84 pushes 500 Mbps of Stateful Firewall Throughput, the MX85 reaches 1 Gbps.
VPN Throughput for the MX84 is up to 250 Mbps, for the MX85 its 500 Mbps. Advanced Security Throughput are 320 Mbps and 750 Mbps, respectively.The Meraki MX85 can support up to 250 users, about 50 more than the MX84.
The interfaces are a little different; the MX84 has 10x GbE 2 × SFP USB 3G/4G ports. On the other hand, the MX85 has 2x GbE SFP and 2x GbE RJ45 (1x PoE+) WAN ports, and 8x GbE RJ45 and 2x GbE SFP USB 3G/4G LAN ports.
Features of the Meraki MX85
The Meraki MX85 is ideal for small to medium businesses, and also schools, hospitals, and institutional settings. As such, it has features like Content filtering, Google SafeSearch and YouTube for Schools. Plus, there’s Intrusion detection and prevention, Advanced Malware Protection, and Auto VPN™ self-configuring site-to-site VPN. It supports 75 VPN tunnels.
The MX series is the industry’s only 100% cloud-managed UTM firewall/SD-WAN in a single appliance. MX appliances self-provision, automatically pulling policies and configuration settings from the cloud. This auto-pilot personality is typical of all of Meraki’s products. They’re just easygoing, plug-and-play devices that non-IT types feel comfortable with. And it’s one of the big reasons they are so well-loved in the educational, healthcare, and small business sectors.
Tell me about Meraki’s licensing. What is this, and why does my Merak MX85 need it?
Remember, all current Cisco Meraki products require valid licensing to operate. Your Meraki MX85 is no different. This is done on a “per device, per year” basis. The MX series has two licenses: Enterprise and Advanced Security. Licenses are available in 1, 3, and 5 year options. You can buy them through your authorized Meraki partner.
What is Meraki Enterprise License?
First, the basic Enterprise License. With this you’re getting an excellent stateful inspection firewall with VPN capabilities. With this, your Meraki MX85 will do a good job of protecting your business from direct intrusion.
What is Meraki Advanced Security License?
Next, the Advanced Security License. Basically, it offers a lot more protection. It is an all-around security package that can protect you from nearly any attack. For example, you get Intrusion Detection / Prevention, Anti-Virus and Anti-Phishing. In addition, there’s Content and Web-Search Filtering, and Advanced Malware Protection.
Finally, it is important to remember that without this licensing, your Meraki MX85 will not function. 30 days prior to your license’s expiration, your account admins will be notified. Then, another e-mail will go out 3 days prior to expiration.
Finally, an expiration banner will also be shown in the Meraki dashboard during this time. However, you can reactivate your account at any point after it expires. Just add the necessary number of valid licenses.
Cisco Merak MX85 security appliance highlights
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Meraki MX series datasheet
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