Can the Meraki MX64W be configured with 2 WAN interfaces? This is to have a secondary WAN circuit

RossSRRoss
Here to help

Can the Meraki MX64W be configured with 2 WAN interfaces? This is to have a secondary WAN circuit

Can the Meraki MX64W be configured with 2 WAN interfaces? This is so we can have a secondary WAN circuit. Currently configured with 1 WAN and 4 LAN interfaces. I saw somewhere when I queried that with a LAN 2 port that can be configured for LAN or WAN. So up to 2 WAN connections can be supported from the MX64W. My understanding was that this was with the MX64 not with the MX64W. Does anyone know for sure or have been able to setup 2 WANs with the MX64W? Thank you for your time in advance!

 

ROSS

10 REPLIES 10
BrandonS
Kind of a big deal

Yes, you can.  Login to the local configuration page and you will see the option there to change LAN4 to WAN2.

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Thank you Brandon for getting back to me on this query! I saw the config with the WAN 1 disabled when I was looking at the current configuration. I am a few months in working IT support at a remote location. Our main office, which is offsite has the Meraki and asked me to check and see if one of the LAN connections could be setup as a WAN so that we could have a secondary WAN. I thought maybe there was a difference in this model and was being asked.

 

Well that seems easy enough.

 

Would configuring it automatically try and load balance to what is specified for each uplink or does it keep running everything out on WAN1? I guess they want to see if this would affect business if turned on during business hours. I am not used to doing any network configurations during bussines hours unless it was an emergency at my previous places of employments. All of my past companies had change control committees. And any network changes that could affect business was done after business hours.

BrandonS
Kind of a big deal


@RossSRRoss wrote:

 

 

Would configuring it automatically try and load balance to what is specified for each uplink or does it keep running everything out on WAN1? I guess they want to see if this would affect business if turned on during business hours. I am not used to doing any network configurations during bussines hours unless it was an emergency at my previous places of employments. All of my past companies had change control committees. And any network changes that could affect business was done after business hours.


It should stay on WAN1 at default, but in the traffic shaping page you can choose to failover or load balance (and a few other options).  Good on you for waiting to do changes after hours 😉  I can't recall if it would affect WAN1 after you apply the change, but I feel like probably not.

- Ex community all-star (⌐⊙_⊙)

I appreciate the insight on the config change. I always want to ask what others have experienced with products, because as you know, sometimes hardware can be like HARDware. It can be unpredictable and can behave according to differently within each individuals environment. Also, you can't knock that once in a while, infrastructure can throw an occasional curve with an array of scenarios many may have not dealt with before. It is always good to be prepared for the worst. Thank you again for the reply to the "what if" scenario Brandon!

 

Hopefully it will go off without a hitch and it won't affect anything when applied during business hours. I am still going to try and talk to my manager about waiting after hours, just to be on the safe side.

 

 

Hi there Brandon,

 

I just wanted to let you know that I haven't had a chance to get the 2nd WAN configured and enabled as of yet. As soon as I do I will let you know how it goes. Still waiting to see if I can get an idea from others as to how it behaves and responds once WAN 2 is configured and enabled. Since I think this will be done during business hours, btw not my call, I would like some feedback from others as to what they have experienced on setting the 2nd WAN with the Meraki MX64W. The Question: Does it automatically try to load balance or does it just keep running everything out of WAN 1 until you tell it otherwise? If you just enable and not set load balancing or enable and set load balancing Is there any network hiccups or lag quickly afterwards.

 

I am hoping I can get as much intel as I can to convince its better after hours or if proven otherwise set during if the feedback is positive and there is minimal network disturbances. Again I appreciate and thank you for the feedback Model Citizen!

Thank you Blake for the documented reference link! I will keep it as reference. I did have a quick follow up question:

 

Would configuring it automatically try and load balance to what is specified for each uplink or does it keep running everything out on WAN1? I guess they want to see if this would affect business if turned on during business hours. I am not used to doing any network configurations during business hours unless it was an emergency at my previous places of employments. All of my past companies had change control committees. And any network changes that could affect business was done after business hours.

 

Hi Blake,

Still waiting to see if I can get an idea from others as to how it behaves and responds once WAN 2 is configured and enabled. Question: Do you happen to know, does it automatically try to load balance or does it just keep running everything out of WAN 1 until you tell it otherwise? If you just enable and not set load balancing or enable and set load balancing Is there any network hiccups or lag quickly afterwards. Since I think this will be done during business hours, btw not my call, I would like some feedback from others as to what they have experienced on setting the 2nd WAN with the Meraki MX64W.

Much appreciated

I set my to load balance during business hours. No hiccups at all. No complaints from users. I also set some rules for certain services to use either 1 or two (depending on what it was). to keep the load on one particular connect not too bogged down.

Thank you for the quick reply GypsyXG! I do appreciate the feedback on the behavioral end of it. It does put my mind at ease a bit knowing someone also set a second WAN with no issues of network latency, failures, or connectivity issues. I am hoping with the configuration to load balance will go without a hitch.

 

We are set on the Meraki as a Site to Site within a Mesh with 3 other Remote VPN participants. So what will affect us will affect the other 3. So I am being cautious and trying to gather as much behavioral scenarios as possible beforehand if at all possible.

 

Again thanks,

 

Ross

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