Meraki MX in passthrough mode behind Comcast SDWAN

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Meraki MX in passthrough mode behind Comcast SDWAN

So we recently signed on with Comcast SD WAN because the cost was minimal in addition to our other services.

I am going to transition off of the Meraki VPNs and use the Comcast VPNs as a few of our sites are in their footprint and then will use their backend for faster routing than going through the internet.

The comcast setup has a routing device that has a handoff with a local ip. We will say 172.16.16.1 is the comcast device and 172.16.16.2 is my MX device. Now I have moved all the VLANS and routing to downstream switches. The comcast edge device does not provide IPS and content filtering so I will continue using the MX's for that in "Passthrough" mode.

I won't be using the Meraki VPN functionality. I would then have Comcast->Firewall->Meraki Switch. Would I then want an interface on the switch in the 172.16.16.0 subnet and use the Comcast device .1 as the switch gateway? Do I need the Comcast routes to then point at my switch and not my firewall? Since I am using the Comcast VPNs the traffic can't be Nat'd (which is why I am configuring passthrough) I don't want to use it as a VPN concentrator or dont see a reason to. If I can't use static routes on the passthrough MX then how does the MX know what traffic from my other sites coming from comcast to pass to my switch? Which is why I am asking..do I need the switch to be the gateway for this traffic from comcast?

EG:

Location 1:

Comcast Edge device has local IP of 172.16.16.1

MX Passthrough Device has local IP of 172.16.16.2

Switch has an interface for this 10.10.0.0/24 network, does it also need to be on the 172 to communicate then with the MX Passthrough device, does it use the MX IP as a gateway or the Comcast Edge device as a gateway?

 

Location 2:

 

Comcast Edge device has local IP of 172.16.32.1

MX Passthrough device has local IP of 172.16.32.2

Switch has 10.10.1.0/24 interface 

 

Comcast has the 10.10.0.0/24 traffic route with a route pointing to 172.16.16.2

Comcast has the 10.10.1.0/24 traffic route with a route pointing to 172.16.32.2

 

 

1 Accepted Solution
cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

If the MX is in passthru mode then it doesn't take part in routing at all.  The Comcast device should have a route for the local 10 network pointing to a L3 interface on the switch in the 172 subnet.  The switch should have a default gateway of the Comcast device's 172 address.

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3 Replies 3
cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

If the MX is in passthru mode then it doesn't take part in routing at all.  The Comcast device should have a route for the local 10 network pointing to a L3 interface on the switch in the 172 subnet.  The switch should have a default gateway of the Comcast device's 172 address.

Thank you. I thought as much with my limited understanding.

I still do need the firewall in the middle in order to do Layer3/7 rules along with IPS and traffic shaping etc though correct?

cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

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