Meraki

KarstenI

Whoa, someone at Meraki decided to make a feature public, knowing it would provide wrong information.

KarstenI

Just in case you use the dashboard to determine if your devices are End of Sale or Support: It's not always accurate.

KarstenI

The most important question is why you want to use the NAM nowadays. Other than MacSec, there is IMO no benefit compared to the native supplicant.

KarstenI

The CW9172 is compatible which is shown on the data sheet: Maximum power requirement : (PD: 25.5W max 802.3at) And with the entry APs, you will never go beyond 1Gig on the Ethernet side in real world deployments.

KarstenI

The MR46 is equally old. And in real world it's likely not performer than the MR44 as the only difference is the 4*4 radio on 2.4 GHz. And you don't need to use Wi-Fi 7 even with a Wi-Fi 7 Access-point. But nowadays, having a 6GHz radio is the game changer if regulation allows the 6GHz usage.

KarstenI

I wouldn't go for the MR44 any more. The new Entry-model is the CW9172. It will be supported much longer than the MR44 (which was also a great AP, but now, it's just to old to buy that device for a new deployment).

KarstenI

The AP has to query the RADIUS server after the first auth frame from the client. The 9800 also supports it, so it’s not really difficult.

KarstenI

I don't see a real usecase for OWE with MAB. But I am really waiting for WPA3-SAE with RADIUS-based MAB/iPSK.

KarstenI

This is something I am missing and which is very important. A backup in every other solution is also there to protect in case of a malicious insider. In the Meraki dashboard, if someone deletes a network or even the Org, there has to be a way to restore it from a backup. Cloning Orgs might be a way, but I would not consider this a solution.

KarstenI

The wording is different to an org without this early-access feature, but only the usual info:

KarstenI

No idea, if I go to the Stage 2 Pre-Sale I directly get redirected to "no Access" and seconds later to "Need Access?" which I have never seen. I would assume that they are changing things at the moment. I would try to contact the Blackbelt team (question mark in the top right corner) and ask them.

KarstenI

When did you finish it? In the past, it was available for download on the learning.meraki.net page, where you completed the CMNA. On the right side was a link to download the certificate. But when I go there now, it says this course expired on the 3rd of December 2025.

KarstenI

I would be happy if that option disappeared. One click less to go to AnyConnect.

KarstenI

The Secure Firewall Thread Defense just now went back to 2010 ...

KarstenI

Resolved an issue that caused some wireless clients to lose connectivity when roaming between access points connected to different members of the same switch stack This one hit us quite hard.

KarstenI

If your WLAN design allows it, I would try to go for 40 MHz channels on 5 GHz. With similar power your clients could all end up on 6 GHz and 5GHz would be underutilized.

KarstenI · ‎Nov 27 2025

Stop, first vote for MX HA-support with IPv6 ... 😉 Or just vote for both!

KarstenI · ‎Nov 27 2025

MLO doesn't need three bands. And most clients only use two bands for MLO. If I remember right, the Qualcomm client chip can do three bands, but most mobile devices don't. For the CW9171: Is that device already shipping? I would expect that it will be supported natively in Meraki when available.

KarstenI · ‎Nov 21 2025

The 9171I is a 2 radio, 3 band, 2x2 AP. But the list price is only $250 under the 9172I. I am not sure if that is a good deal.

KarstenI · ‎Nov 19 2025

You already got great answers how it is defined and how it is supposed to work. Beside that, I know of environments where they run cables of about 130-140 meters and it works (but these were cables of very good quality and one connector in between). And this was a "let's test and hope for the best before we spend much more money" approach that could have failed. So, based on your needed length, you could just try it. But for length beyond that, I would not try it and directly go for the installer to get new fiber links.

KarstenI · ‎Nov 11 2025

Hmm, I was referring to this paragraph: "4x4 uplink/downlink MU-MIMO with four spatial streams (5 GHz, and 6 GHz), 2x2 uplink/downlink MU-MIMO with two spatial streams (2.4 GHz) (or) 4x4 uplink/downlink MU-MIMO with four spatial streams (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)" The FRA paragraph looks better.

KarstenI · ‎Nov 11 2025

The FRA kills 6GHz in favor of two more spacial streams on 2.4. I have exactly zero situations where I would need that.

KarstenI · ‎Nov 11 2025

The datasheet: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/catalyst-9100ax-access-points/wireless-9174-series-access-points-ds.html

KarstenI · ‎Nov 4 2025

For a low end device, that is even positioned below the 9172, I would expect (fear) it to be a two band AP.

KarstenI · ‎Nov 3 2025

And not only that one: https://blogs.cisco.com/networking/the-future-of-wireless-built-on-cisco-powering-the-ai-era

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