MS130 NBAR support

[GIdenJoe]

Hi, all.

The classic MS switches do not support NBAR as far as I know and notice at least on the MS225 line of switches but all Catalyst based switches do.

Since the MS130 will be the only 'new' native Meraki switch that in fact does support the fancy adaptive policy features on the X model means it does have some extra capabilities on board.

I was hoping to know if the MS130 has full NBAR support or not.  It is not mentioned on the overview and specifications document.  Does any Meraki insider want to take this one? 😉

[Arthamon]

Not sure if ChatGPT could be considered a "Meraki Insider", but here is what it says... You are the one usually answering questions, so if you are asking the question then we know it's a stumper. Double kudos to the member with the right answer lol.

"No, the Meraki MS130 series switches do not have full NBAR (Network-Based Application Recognition) support. NBAR is typically associated with Cisco's more advanced routers and some Catalyst switches that support deep packet inspection and application recognition capabilities.

Meraki devices, including the MS130 series, focus more on cloud-managed network solutions, providing visibility and control over network traffic but generally do not offer the same depth of application-layer traffic analysis as NBAR. Meraki switches do provide some Layer 7 application visibility and control features, but these are not as comprehensive as full NBAR support found in other Cisco products. For more advanced application recognition and management, you would typically look at Cisco products specifically designed for that purpose, such as routers with integrated NBAR or the Cisco Catalyst 9000 series switches."

[GIdenJoe]

Well I'm a little skeptical what an AI can offer who just gets it's information on any other public website 😉

I'm hoping since the MS130X/R series have some sort of advanced ASIC to support Adaptive policy it would also support NBAR at least for fingerprinting traffic.

My question originates from the time you could not have non-NBAR and NBAR capable devices on the same network while NBAR was enabled.  Since newer networks are usually combined even MS210's with Wi-Fi 6(E) hardware it still can use NBAR on the Wi-Fi and MX side.  But this would cause inconsistencies in the traffic analytics.