We get asked a lot about the differences between Meraki’s two licensing choices. They are the Advanced Security License, and the Enterprise License. Please note that you must have a valid license in order for your Meraki firewall to work properly.
Basically, these two licensing options add security and other functions that really “beef up” your firewall. Essentially, they are like subscriptions to features that turbocharge your appliance. They are offered in 1, 3, and 5 year options.
However, before making your decision, understand that the MX series licensing you choose is uniform across your Organization. For example, if you have 30 appliances, you cannot have 20 using the Advanced edition and 10 using Enterprise. So, if you want to use Enterprise for just a few of the appliances, you need to create two Organizations; one for your appliances with the Enterprise License, and another for those with the Advanced Security License.
What is the Meraki Advanced Security License?
The Meraki Advanced Security License is a larger investment. However, many of our customers feel the the added security features are worth it. Most notable are probably full anti-phishing and anti-malware. Additionally, Smart anti-intrusion systems add another layer of protection against direct attack. Like all of their software, these systems are kept current automatically.
Plus, you get full content filtering options, including compatibility with Google SafeSearch. As a result, it’s great for environments where the content needs to be clean.
What is the Meraki Enterprise License?
As said earlier, the Enterprise License is the more economical of the two. As a result, there are some features it surrenders to the Advanced Security License.
Some of those are Geography based firewall rules, Intrusion detection and prevention, Content Filtering, and Web Search Filtering.
With any Meraki license, you get a full hardware warranty with next-business-day replacements in most situations. Your license also brings unlimited technical assistance at no additional costs.
Of course, you will need to decide whether your organization needs the extra security features offered with the Advanced License or not. However, you can call Corporate Armor at 877-449-0458, or email us with any questions you may have. We have long experience with the Meraki family of products and solutions, and our advice will be guided solely by what is best for you and your unique organization. We can’t wait to serve you!
| Enterprise License | Advanced Security License | |
|---|---|---|
| Stateful Firewall | ✔ | ✔ |
| VLAN to VLAN Routing | ✔ | ✔ |
| Link Bonding / Failover | ✔ | ✔ |
| 3G / 4G Failover | ✔ | ✔ |
| Traffic Shaping / Prioritization | ✔ | ✔ |
| Site-to-Site VPN | ✔ | ✔ |
| Client VPN | ✔ | ✔ |
| MPLS to VPN Failover | ✔ | ✔ |
| Splash Pages | ✔ | ✔ |
| Configuration Templates | ✔ | ✔ |
| HTTP Content Caching | ✔ | ✔ |
| Group Policies | ✔ | ✔ |
| Client Connectivity Alerts | ✔ | ✔ |
| SD-WAN | ✔ | ✔ |
| Geography Based Firewall Rules | ✔ | |
| Intrusion Detection / Prevention | ✔ | |
| Content Filtering | ✔ | |
| Youtube for Schools | ✔ | |
| Web Search Filtering | ✔ | |
| AMP | ✔ |