Umbrella and Meraki integration

[DarrenOC]

Morning All

Have many carried out this integration as I’m trying to figure out the wherefores and whys?

If you’ve already deployed Umbrella to your endpoints why would you then look to integrate your Meraki network with Umbrella?

Which Umbrella licensing would you need to integrate as it’s done via API, is Investigate required?

Does the Meraki dashboard display Umbrella statistics?

How far can you go with the deployment, full AD integration on the Meraki side so you’ll get reports that employee Dave on his laptop has had Malware blocked and this will report into a single Meraki dashboard?

[CptnCrnch]

> If you’ve already deployed Umbrella to your endpoints why would you then look to integrate your Meraki network with Umbrella?

Are you able to install the romaing client onto each and every device within your network? I guess not 🙂

> Which Umbrella licensing would you need to integrate as it’s done via API, is Investigate required?

You have two choices here:

• The "classic" model with seperate licensing on Meraki and Umbrella (nothing special needed here): https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Other_Topics/Manually_Integrating_Cisco_Umbrella_with_Meraki_Net...Advantage: you're able to control both sides and will have full access to the Umbrella Dashboard including logs etc.
• The new Advanced MR licensing which includes Umbrella licenses: https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Other_Topics/Cisco_Meraki_and_Umbrella_Integration_-_MR_Advanced...Downside: you'll not be able to control the Umbrella side of things and won't have access to their Dashboard. Basically, you're stuck with standard policies that are predefined.

> Does the Meraki dashboard display Umbrella statistics?

See above. No, you'll get this kind of information and logging only via Umbrella Dashboard

> How far can you go with the deployment, full AD integration on the Meraki side so you’ll get reports that employee Dave on his laptop has had Malware blocked and this will report into a single Meraki dashboard?

Haven't tried this but my guess is: yes, it should show up.

[DarrenOC]

Hi Cptn, I feel a lab session coming up.  Will look through D Cloud first to see if there's anything on there.

[MerakiDave · Accepted solution]

Hi @DarrenOC just to add to @CptnCrnch comments, the "original" Umbrella integration with Meraki MR came in r26 firmware and is the API Integration method.  So it's still a completely valid and recommended solution based on the requirements, and it is not deprecated, we have just added a 2nd streamlined way to do it and allow you to perform DNS security on MR APs using Umbrella. 

In the original method, Meraki and Umbrella dashboards get linked via API keys allowing MR AP to have DNS traffic filtered through Umbrella’s secure DNS service, on a per-SSID basis or to wireless clients assigned to network wide group policies. You simply assign a filtering policy to an SSID or GP, and all DNS requests are redirected to Umbrella and checked against the network device policy in the Umbrella dashboard. 

So what’s new?

There is NOW both API integration and automated (single-SKU) integration with the “MR Advanced/Upgrade” license.

With single-SKU, it allows you to assign pre-defined Umbrella content filtering and security policies to an SSID or Group Policy directly from the dashboard and removes the need to integrate with an existing Umbrella dashboard or Umbrella account.

For existing MR customers that do not yet have Umbrella, there is an UPGRADE license to enable the Umbrella functionality. For new MR deployments that also want Umbrella, that’s the ADVANCED license. 

There are some pros and cons that will prompt you to use one method over the other.  The manual integration does require some manual configuration, some (minimal) API knowledge, and of course an existing Umbrella account and you’ll still have 2 Dashboards.  The automated single-SKU integration is an all-in-one simple and turn-key solution, but cannot create custom policies and only provides a broader (but very adequate) view of DNS events. 

If you really need the finest policy granularity and deepest visibility, then go with API integration, but for many customers who want to add Umbrella protection in a very simply way to their new or existing MR wireless deployment, this newer option is the way to go.

Hope that helps! 

Here is a slide attached for general comparison.

[Felippe]

Manual API Integration gives many more options, and i can see almost everything in Umbrella Dashboard. Besides i can still using roaming clients. Automated integration is best if you need to deploy network in few moments, especially for small networks for cafe, libraries and others without IT support.

[ToryDav]

Hi @CptnCrnch,

Regarding your comment on Umbrella Statistics, I want to be clear in that regardless of which model you go with "Manual, vs Automatic", that neither will allow dashboard to display statistics? 

You also stated that the automatic integration does not have an umbrella account and everything is in the Meraki Dashboard, so there is only configuration options for DNS and the predefined policies, no statistics or logging of event of any kind?

I just want to be clear.