Cisco Meraki Announces New MX Security Appliance Features

Hot on the heels of announcing new features for their MS switches, Cisco Meraki has just announced new functionality for their MX Security Appliances.  The new features will be distributed to existing MX users via Meraki's summer firmware update.

New MX Features include:

• Datacenter failover
• Warm spare failover
• 1:Many NAT
• Geo-based IP firewall rules

Build More Stable Networks

Datacenter failover is a new feature for Meraki's MX series that could be critical if you manage multiple branch sites that tunnel back to datacenters.  Branch tunneling is already available with the MX using AutoVPN, secure branch connections can be made through MXs set up elsewhere.  Now you can set up failover sites meaning you can specify which hub each branch will automatically failover to.

The Meraki MX can run in two different modes, NAT mode or Passthrough or VPN concentrator mode.  While running in NAT mode, the MX can now be configured with a warm spare failover function.  This means more stable networks; more uptime.

More Flexible Addressing

Cisco Meraki's MX line already supports 1:1 NAT (Network Address Translation) but with this update, they will now be capable of 1:Many NAT enabling mapping between any public IP and multiple unique internal IP addresses and ports.

Geographic Security

It is now possible to see the geographic location of the origin or destination of traffic on your network.  Because of this, it is now also possible to restrict traffic to and from certain locations.  If you want to keep all traffic from a certain country off your network or if you want all of your traffic to stay solely within US borders, you can easily make those modifications.

Cisco Meraki continues to improve their network solutions.  We will have more on these upgrades and improvements in the future.  For more information, visit us at CopperWifi.com.