Single Ethernet Interface - Limitation?

[KR2]

Hi All,

I'm relatively new to Meraki products and researching new AP's for a wireless refresh. It looks like the WiFi5 AP's are end-of-sale and all of the new WiFi6 AP's have only 1 Ethernet interface. I'm wondering if the single Ethernet interface (no capability for LAG) would be considered a limitation when installing the AP at a location with 1G LAN infrastructure?

[DarrenOC]

Hi @KR2 

Welcome.  As you've rightly pointed out the WiFi5 AP's are EoS and the newer WiFi 6 AP's are shipping with single interfaces.  

The below document only mentions WiFi 5 AP's and the replacement models all have single interfaces

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Client_Addressing_and_Bridging/MR_Link_Aggregation_Configuration...

https://meraki.cisco.com/lib/pdf/eol/meraki_eos_mr.pdf

Is it a limitation....?  AP's can be replaced pretty easily and most designs encompass some overlay of coverage so I don't see it as an issue.

[KR2]

Darren,

Thank you for your reply and the documentation links, as well as your feedback regarding whether or not you would consider the single interface a limitation; it's much appreciated.

[GreenMan]

Note that the current crop of APs support multi-Gig (mGig) on their single LAN interface for the most part, so;   100/1000/2.5  - or even 5 Gbps, in the case of MR56.   Uplink support reflects the capabilities of the installed radios and cumulative wireless data rate.   Review the specific datasheets for full details.

Of course, you need mGig capable switching too, of which there are a number of choices, within our MS switch ranges.

[Ryan_Miles]

The 2 ethernet port AP design was relatively short lived by Meraki and all Enterprise AP vendors. It predated mGig and offered a way to get a little more bandwidth to an AP. It also brought downsides: requires 2 cable runs =$, 2 switchports =$, and the AP only received PoE on one port so it didn't provide any level of resiliency should that upstream switch go down.

1Gbps is still sufficient to the AP in many deployments. As mentioned though most mid-tier and higher Wi-Fi 6 AP's include mGig. Pair that with a Meraki mGig switch (or any vendors mGig capable switch) and you have the extra bandwidth you need.

Entry level Wi-Fi 6 AP's typically top out around 1 gig of actual real world throughput and that's why you'll see them have a 1Gbps port. The higher end 4x4 and 8x8 AP's can have real world throughput numbers in the 2-3 gig range hence why we include either 2.5Gbps or 5Gbps mGig ports on them.

And it's a bit forward looking, but when Wi-Fi 6E comes out it will bring even higher throughputs and really drive the use cases for mGig switches.

[ww]

Most clients are only 2x2, on 80MHz you lucky to get around  800Mbit.

Most cases  you still run 40 or 20MHz (+/- 400 or 200Mbit)

i.m.o for wifi6 Gbit is fine. at wifi6e mgig gets interesting.

[PhilipDAth]

I've never seen an AP run a network port at a sustained 1Gb/s of load.  Never.  I think it would be challenging to even do so.  You'd probably have to set a special lab environment to make this happen.

If you don't have MGig ports the solution is relatively simple - install more APs so the load gets split over more 1Gb/s switch ports.