MX series LAN

[uEjgI5198NFL8H4]

Is it possible to get 1 Gbps speeds when clients plugged into a lower price MX device are only sending traffic directly to one another across the LAN?

Is the only way to get that to plug a gigabit switch into the MX device or to use something like a MX250?

[kYutobi]

The ports on a Meraki MX are GbE. Not quite sure what you're trying to do but if you're just moving across networks shouldn't be too much delay but I don't know what's in your network.

[jdsilva]

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@uEjgI5198NFL8H4 wrote:

Is it possible to get 1 Gbps speeds when clients plugged into a lower price MX device are only sending traffic directly to one another across the LAN?

Is the only way to get that to plug a gigabit switch into the MX device or to use something like a MX250?

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No. LAN to LAN traffic is still subject to the same firewall rule enforcement, traffic shaping, AMP, Snort, etc etc. that LAN to WAN traffic is. The only difference is that there isn't any NAT. You won't see line rate non-blocking speeds on the LAN ports of an MX. 

[kYutobi]

@jdsilva  Does LAN speed play a factor even though it's internal? I know policies still apply but does he need the 1Gb speed he's asking about if its just on the LAN to LAN?

[jdsilva]

@kYutobi it would if it's routed between internal subnets (and the MX is doing L3 routing between them). But I think what you're driving at is intra-subnet traffic? 

(2 minutes go by...)

OK, just talked to my testing guy and we have done an RFC2544 test on the switching ability of the MX100 once, a long time ago. In that case, using intra-VLAN traffic the MX was able to switch traffic at or near line rate. But we have not ever done throughput tests routing between VLANs on the LAN ports. 

So, knowing that firewall rules can be enforced I'm going to stick with my initial statement that any LAN traffic routed by the MX will be subject to the same inspection and WAN traffic, and will therefore hit the same throughput limits. But, if you're just switching traffic in the same VLAN between two MX ports it does sound like you can get near line rate out of the MX.

[kYutobi]

@jdsilva Cool. Thanks for clarification bud. 😀👍

[uEjgI5198NFL8H4]

Thanks everyone for the answers!

For context: machines on my network are transferring large files between themselves across the LAN, thus the want for high speed wired connections when the connection is within in the LAN.

Based of what you all are saying I’ll have to connect those machines together via a good switch, then connect the switch to an MX to get a slower WAN connection.

[PhilipDAth]

To be clear, traffic between ports in the same VLAN will get Gigabit throughput rates.  It is all switch on ASIC.

Traffic between VLANs is subject to IPS (if you have it enabled).  It is not subject to content filtering.  You wont get Gigabit performance between VLANs.