Out of Band Control Plane

Cisco Meraki's out of band control plane separates network management data from user data. Management data (e.g. configuration, statistics, monitoring, etc.) flows from Cisco Meraki devices (wireless access points and routers) to Cisco Meraki's cloud over a secure Internet connection. User data (web browsing, internal applications, etc.) does not flow through the cloud, instead flowing directly to its destination on the LAN or across the WAN.

Advantages of an out of band control plane:

Scalability

• Unlimited throughput: no centralized controller bottlenecks
• Add devices or sites without MPLS tunnels

Reliability

• Redundant cloud service provides high availability
• Network functions even if management traffic is interrupted

Security

• No user traffic passes through Cisco Meraki's datacenters
• Fully HIPAA / PCI compliant

What happens if my network loses connectivity to the Cisco Meraki Cloud Controller?

Because of Cisco Meraki's out of band architecture, most end users are not affected if Cisco Meraki wireless APs and routers cannot communicate with Cisco Meraki's cloud services (e.g. because of a temporary WAN failure):

• Users can access the local network (printers, file shares, etc.)
• If WAN connectivity is available, users can access the Internet
• Network policies (firewall rules, QoS, etc.) continue to be enforced
• Users can authenticate via 802.1X/RADIUS
• Wireless users can roam between access points
• Users can initiate and renew DHCP leases
• Established VPN tunnels continue to operate
• Local configuration tools are available (e.g. device IP configuration)

While Cisco Meraki's cloud is unreachable, management, monitoring, and hosted services are temporarily unavailable:

• Configuration and diagnostic tools are unavailable
• Usage statistics are stored locally until the connection to the cloud is re-established, at which time they are pushed to the cloud
• Splash pages and related functionality are unavailable