Cisco Packet Tracer

[Polymathink]

Any chance that Meraki will create something like Cisco Packet Tracer or that Meraki equipment and configs will be integrated into Packet Tracer, or add-on packages for Packet Tracer made available, so we can create and test blended Meraki and Cisco environments?

I'd love to be able to use Packet Tracer (or the like) for an upcoming converged, fully-meshed, SD-WAN VOIP/Data project that will eventually include vMX for Azure. We've got both Meraki and (more traditional?) Cisco equipment.

[JMohler]

I would welcome that as well!!  

[PhilipDAth]

I don't want to poor cold water on your idea, but I think it is highly improbable Cisco Meraki would do this.

For a start the similuation environment would need to be able to talk to the Internet and the Cisco Meraki cloud.  To create such a pretend simulation environment, and collect all of the information that the dashboard needs to work would be a huge effort.

Personally I would prefer that this "huge effort" (aka development time) was put into furtehr extending the existing products, such as IPv6 support, IKEv2 support, Anyconnect support, etc

Even then, I think it is more likely that Cisco VIRL would be supported ahead of Packet Tracer, as it is at least a virtual simulation environment meaning it could run the actual code - but I also think there is zero chance of that happening.  There isn't even a VMWare version.

[Polymathink]

"the similuation [sic] environment would need to be able to talk to the Internet and the Cisco Meraki cloud."

Packet Tracer simulates the GUI interfaces of many products and doesn't have to reach out to the Internet to do so. I could see where the Dashboard screens could be generated and the inputs directed to the simulation environment without having to interface with the Internet. To keep these Dashboard screens updated in Packet Tracer shouldn't take too much work. Looks like a relatively simple port of the essential items needed for routing, Switching, VLAN, SD-WAN, wi-fi. Full Dashboard functionality needn't be extended.

VIRL would be great, as well. Not sure which is more prevalently used, PT or VIRL. PT is pretty lightweight for quick modeling of essential network connectivity.

[Erik]

This is at least a start: https://www.packettracernetwork.com/features/packettracer-72-newfeatures.html

[Polymathink]

Promising!

[ipcisco]

Sure, you can start to do these with these labs 🙂

https://ipcisco.com/cisco-packet-tracer-configuration-examples/