Meraki Bells and Whistles
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@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
n the one Meraki, and that's just up front. The Meraki always has the annual cost, and the UBNT does not. So other than the
OK that makes sense... But managing 20 firewalls (one after each AP) yet keeping the network flat sounds HUGELY painful at min.. where the Meraki interface handles that all for you.
Mind you I've never used a Meraki beyond a single AP and I did little more than setup an SSID on it and just use it as an AP.
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@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
@scottalanmiller what are you doing at the command line of a UAP?
We don't, the idea of configuring APs to do really anything is a Meraki problem. Another reason to replace them. I'm talking Unifi vs. Meraki, not Unifi AP vs Meraki AP. It's a network, not a single device.
aww.. OK I get it now with the command line talk.
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@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
The reason to replace Meraki APs with Unifi APs is that the management of them becomes free instead of requiring separate accounts, dashboards, etc. By removing the Meraki APs, you get a single pane of glass to the network.
What? Meraki has devices for all the network components - APs, Switches and Firewalls - sounds like a single pain of glass to me.
with UBNT, you have to run Unifi gear to get that single pain of glass (Unifi AP (OK we all run those) Unifi switches - which most people crap on around - especially JB, and Unifi Security Gateways - which suck because you can't manage advanced settings in any way other than json files).
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
OK that makes sense... But managing 20 firewalls (one after each AP) yet keeping the network flat sounds HUGELY painful at min.. where the Meraki interface handles that all for you.
You'd use UNMS to manage those firewalls with Ubiquiti as each site very likely has their own configurations that they need setup.
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
What? Meraki has devices for all the network components - APs, Switches and Firewalls - sounds like a single pain of glass to me.
You are totally missing the big picture. THOSE get replaced because of complexity. It was you who singled out the AP apart from the rest of the solution. When those complex pieces get replaced because you need the power and flexibility of Ubiquiti, then you have to replace the Meraki APs to get a single pain of glass.
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
with UBNT, you have to run Unifi gear to get that single pain of glass (Unifi AP (OK we all run those) Unifi switches
Right, which was the point because we had just established needed UBNT for flexibility.
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@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
What? Meraki has devices for all the network components - APs, Switches and Firewalls - sounds like a single pain of glass to me.
You are totally missing the big picture. THOSE get replaced because of complexity. It was you who singled out the AP apart from the rest of the solution. When those complex pieces get replaced because you need the power and flexibility of Ubiquiti, then you have to replace the Meraki APs to get a single pain of glass.
I honestly don't even know what you are talking about anymore.
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Anyways back to the OP, @WrCombs since your boss brought in a physical device, she needs to provide credentials into the management environment so you can set this up to run the SSID you need.
How/where you get into that cloud I don't have an answer.
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@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
with UBNT, you have to run Unifi gear to get that single pain of glass (Unifi AP (OK we all run those) Unifi switches
Right, which was the point because we had just established needed UBNT for flexibility.
we did? when? you said performance and command line flexibility - which has nothing to do with APs, but the the whole Meraki line in general.
The Unifi line (SPoG) also doesn't have commandline
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
OK that makes sense... But managing 20 firewalls (one after each AP) yet keeping the network flat sounds HUGELY painful at min.. where the Meraki interface handles that all for you.
It would be a huge pain in the ass, but why do you feel the identical situation is easy with Meraki and hard with Unifi? It's a pain equally in both cases. Remember, we just established that it's a name game with Meraki and that technically there are 20 firewalls there just like with the Unifi. In both cases you have a site manager and a single pain of glass, but in both cases you are choosing to deploy twenty individual firewalls all throughout your wireless (but not wired) network.
No matter how you slice it, that's a crazily complex situation that Meraki has no way to fix over Unifi.
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
we did? when? you said performance and command line flexibility - which has nothing to do with APs, but the the whole Meraki line in general.
All choices about a unified network system is about the system in general.
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
The Unifi line (SPoG) also doesn't have commandline
Ours does. Doesn't yours? We use it all the time.
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
SPoG
Spog:
An absolute fricking spagbole who is mentally special and wants to suck on everyone’s toesIs that what you meant?
Ha. now I get it. Single Pane of Glass.
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@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
OK that makes sense... But managing 20 firewalls (one after each AP) yet keeping the network flat sounds HUGELY painful at min.. where the Meraki interface handles that all for you.
It would be a huge pain in the ass, but why do you feel the identical situation is easy with Meraki and hard with Unifi? It's a pain equally in both cases. Remember, we just established that it's a name game with Meraki and that technically there are 20 firewalls there just like with the Unifi. In both cases you have a site manager and a single pain of glass, but in both cases you are choosing to deploy twenty individual firewalls all throughout your wireless (but not wired) network.
No matter how you slice it, that's a crazily complex situation that Meraki has no way to fix over Unifi.
Because with Meraki - it's a point and click set of changes... Even with a total Unif situation there wouldn't be the ease of finding said AP and simply clicking to change a setting... but again - someone it's actually all that likely to do this - so it's mostly a moot point.
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
What? Meraki has devices for all the network components - APs, Switches and Firewalls - sounds like a single pain of glass to me.
You are totally missing the big picture. THOSE get replaced because of complexity. It was you who singled out the AP apart from the rest of the solution. When those complex pieces get replaced because you need the power and flexibility of Ubiquiti, then you have to replace the Meraki APs to get a single pain of glass.
I honestly don't even know what you are talking about anymore.
I'm not sure how you are confused. You ask why UBNT over Meraki, YOU asked. I explained. Then you asked about APs, rather than the network at large, which should have been obvious, but I explained. It's only complex because you are struggling to make Merakis sound viable. But because they are not, that's failing, but you are trying to pick apart the network to find a place that they do something of value.
They just don't. I've done this a long time. They were good when they were the only game. Now they are a lame, poorly designed product compared to the field. Just accept that and stop trying to make them seem good.
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@DustinB3403 said in Datto AP60:
@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
SPoG
Spog:
An absolute fricking spagbole who is mentally special and wants to suck on everyone’s toesIs that what you meant?
Single Pain of Glass
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
@scottalanmiller said in Datto AP60:
@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
OK that makes sense... But managing 20 firewalls (one after each AP) yet keeping the network flat sounds HUGELY painful at min.. where the Meraki interface handles that all for you.
It would be a huge pain in the ass, but why do you feel the identical situation is easy with Meraki and hard with Unifi? It's a pain equally in both cases. Remember, we just established that it's a name game with Meraki and that technically there are 20 firewalls there just like with the Unifi. In both cases you have a site manager and a single pain of glass, but in both cases you are choosing to deploy twenty individual firewalls all throughout your wireless (but not wired) network.
No matter how you slice it, that's a crazily complex situation that Meraki has no way to fix over Unifi.
Because with Meraki - it's a point and click set of changes... Even with a total Unif situation there wouldn't be the ease of finding said AP and simply clicking to change a setting... but again - someone it's actually all that likely to do this - so it's mostly a moot point.
Simply wrong. You are imaging Meraki to be magic. It's not. The effort is identical.
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
Because with Meraki - it's a point and click set of changes...
Okay but why didn't you say....
"Because with Unifi, it's a point and click set of changes..."
Why did you say it about one but not the other when they both do that?
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@Dashrender said in Datto AP60:
Even with a total Unif situation there wouldn't be the ease of finding said AP and simply clicking to change a setting...
Why not? Why is finding one firewall on Meraki easy in your mind but hard on Unifi?
I think you've decided that all Meraki tasks are easy and all Unifi tasks are hard without having used them. You are injecting obviously false assumptions into the discussion. But not just false assumptions, ones we already addressed before hand. This would be a huge mess on any system, we already said Meraki can't handle this gracefully either. Managing 20 firewalls is a mess no matter what tool you use, but Unifi can do this just like Meraki can... but with more power and less cost.
