MS125 or MS225

[GFrazier]

I am putting together a design for a network.  

On this LAN, all servers will be managed in the cloud, so there will be no servers on site; however, this is a high traffic establishment relying heavily on wi-fi connectivity between clients and the internet. This is basically a building hosting events, works spaces, and food services (3-story building).  

Top Floor MDF: 3 switches

2nd Floor IDF: 2 switches

1st Floor IDF: 1 switch

I am on the fence about using the MS125 or MS225.  As far as cost, the MS125 would win, however, there are some features I would like to utilize that the MS125 does not have.  The similarity is the 10Gb uplinks which we will be taking full advantage of using. The difference between them is that the MS125 is a layer 2 switch and stacks virtually, while the MS225 is a layer 3 switch and stacks physically.  I will be using a MX250 Firewall, so we already will have the Layer 3 routing we need from this device.

I really want to use the physical stacking feature.  I know this provides faster switching - in addition, I would not have to worry about any configuration issues or software glitches when it comes to recognizing the stack.

Is there any other reason that the MS225 would be a better choice than the MS125 that anyone can think of?  

I would actually like some opinions on what some seasoned Network Engineers/Managers would use.

[BlakeRichardson]

@GFrazier  The real question is how many client deivces will this equipment be serivicing and what type of work are they doing i.e. simple office work or multimedia heavy work? 

I design my networks client what the client is doing and how many clients devices there are. Is there anything else on the network like VOIP or CCTV?

[GFrazier]

Hi Blake,

There will be VoIP, but more like 3-4 phones.  No CCTV, but will have comcast install cameras and possibly VoIP.  There will be monitors spread around the establishment that constantly run ads and other announcements - they will have A/V equipment in their event room and will be able to project video on Monitors around the establishment as well.  They also have numerous conference rooms and Monitors for presentations... So, yes, it will be heavy use of multimedia.

[BlakeRichardson]

@GFrazier  Roughly how many end users?

[GFrazier]

There are constantly people coming and going 24hrs a day.  There are usually hundreds at a time for instance lets say on a normal day, 175+ (excluding staff)... Events will bring more.  Given that the members usually have more than one mobile device, you will have to double the devices pretty much (watches, phones, laptops) - so, well over 300 devices at any given time on a normal day. Right now (during Covid), I am seeing about 500 devices within the last 24hrs (including staff and hardwired devices).

Most of those devices are streaming, conference calling, file sharing between devices, and even copying documents.  You can actually view it as an office building, restaurant, and event hall that's always got something going on.

[BlakeRichardson · Accepted solution]

Performance wise the MS125 and MS225 are the same it all comes down to if you want physical or virtual stacking and L3 as you have already said.

Personally I prefer physical stacking. 

[GFrazier]

ok. Well, I think you answered my question then. 

Not only use the physical stacking for faster performance, but utilize inter-vlan communication.  Hopefully i am thinking of this correctly:  Since there will be several VLANs, I can enable inter-vlan connectivity on each floor as needed.

For example:

VLAN 10 – Staff devices (SSID: Staff)

VLAN 20 - Members devices  (SSID: Members)

VLAN 30 – A/V Equipment

VLAN 40 – Guests devices  (SSID: Guests)

VLAN 50 - Copiers, etc.

APs will be on each floor - ofcourse.

On floor 3, copiers are in the work space.  If I am correct on this, I should be able to grant Members and Staff access to the Copiers if they are actually on the 3rd floor by enabling inter-vlan access on the 3rd floor switches.

But what I am really interested in is the stacking and allowing the switches to handle all of the inter-vlan traffic.

[Bruce]

It’s also worth noting that some of the newer features that Meraki have announced, such as SecureConnect and Group Policy ACL, will only come to the MS210+, so not the MS120/MS125. If you can find the budget I’d go with the MS225 as it’s going to give you more capability in the long run.

[GFrazier]

Thanks Bruce... i really been thinking hard on this one... I will stick with my decision on the MS225 models... hopefully our client will agree to purchase.  

[GreenMan]

I think @Bruce is along the right lines here - for me it's some key features not supported on 120/125, also including loop detection & MAC flap detection, port range QoS, URL redirect & alternate management interface, amongst others.  I think MS225 offes better value for money.

[StingeyNinja]

Isn't MAC flap detection overrated, when devices like Synology NASes default network teaming setup uses exactly that approach?

[StingeyNinja]

Personally, I would do L3 on the switch (MS225) and leave the MX to handle WAN routing only.  I am making an assumption that the MXs don't implement L3 switching, so you're talking about actual CPU-based routing.