vMX Azure compute costs

[DHAnderson]

I am working with customer who is looking at getting a SAS service that runs on Azure.  The vendor said that they need to charge extra because my client has a Meraki firewall.

When I pressed them on that they replied that my clients needs a vMX to get the site to site to work, because Meraki isn't really compatible.  Upon research I see that there is value in using a vMX over directly connecting to Azure.

The vendor never said the upcharge for the Meraki, but it looks like a couple of hundred of dollars a month.  I will be quoting a vMX-S.  It is my understanding that the vMX installs as a network adapter. 

I am new to all of this, so I don't really know what monthly Azure costs for a vMX are.  Is a couple of hundred a month reasonable in anyone's experience?

Thanks in advance.

-Dave 

[Inderdeep]

@DHAnderson : I am not sure but expecting the same whatever the cost of vMX100(retired now) on Azure or little more in below link

https://community.meraki.com/t5/Security-SD-WAN/TCO-for-vMX100-in-Azure/m-p/30075 

will check in my circle if anyone using on Azure and will update you !

[Bruce]

@DHAnderson the vMX runs as a virtual appliance within Azure, so it uses a standard Azure compute instance, most likely a 'Standard_F4s_V2' (but could be a 'Standard_D2_v2' or 'Standard_D2_v3' too). This means you are paying for Azure compute charges just as you would for any other server in Azure.

You can use the Azure pricing calculator here, https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au/pricing/calculator/, to determine a rough idea of what it will cost for the compute platform, it various between country and region. You can also use the calculator to estimate data transfer costs.

Whether you use an ExpressRoute or an AutoVPN to a Meraki vMX really comes down to the expected transfer of data out of Azure - it costs less when using ExpressRoute. When you start transferring more than about 1TB to 1.5TB per month out of Azure then you need to consider ExpressRoute (that's assuming the vMX can do the bandwidth you want). That's based on my calculations, but I'd advise doing them yourself for your region.