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Cisco Meraki Documentation

Bonjour Forwarding

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Overview

This feature can be used to allow Bonjour to work across multiple VLANs. When you enable Bonjour forwarding, Bonjour requests from clients on this SSID will be forwarded to the VLAN you define here. You can choose specific services as well to enable Bonjour forwarding for a limited subset of services, e.g. only for AirPlay.

Examples include bridging traffic between two clients on SSIDs with different VLANs, and bridging traffic between services on the wired and wireless networks with different VLANs configured for each.
 

Configuration

To configure Bonjour forwarding, follow these steps:

  • Go to the Wireless > Configure > Access control page and select the External DHCP server assigned option under the Client IP and VLAN section.

External DHCP set to Bridge mode in Dashboard Access Control settings

  • Set Bonjour forwarding to Enabled and Click Add a Bonjour forwarding rule.

Bonjour forwarding enabled with option to Add new Bonjour rules visible in Dashboard Access Control settings

  • Add a description, destination VLAN, and specific services that need to be forwarded.
  • Description: Specify a name for the rule.
  • VLAN: Select one VLAN where network services are running. Bonjour requests will be forwarded to these VLANs. If you want to specify multiple VLANs for one or more services, you must create multiple Bonjour forwarding rules. Please note that the service VLAN cannot be the native untagged VLAN, which is usually 1.
  • Services: The list of services that can be forwarded includes:
    • All services
    • AirPlay
    • AFP (Apple File Sharing)
    • BitTorrent
    • FTP
    • iChat
    • iTunes
    • Printers
    • Samba
    • Scanners
    • SSH

Bonjour forwarding enabled with Bonjour rules configured in Dashboard Access Control settings

  • Save changes

Note: For Bonjour forwarding to work, the Bonjour client and server must have a routable path on layer 3 between them (i.e. they must be able to ping each other).
 

New Behavior in MR 30.X+ Firmware

Overview

Before MR 30.X, if Layer 2 Client Isolation were enabled, it would prevent Bonjour forwarding from functioning. MR 30.X firmware allows Bonjour to function even when the Layer 2 isolation is enabled on the same SSID.

Learn more about the wireless client isolation here.

Configuration

  1. Enable Bonjour forwarding on the Wireless > Configure > Access control page for the desired SSID and save changes.

MR30+ Bonjour forwarding enabled with External DHCP set to Bridge mode in Dashboard Access Control settings

 

  2. Enable Layer 2 LAN isolation for the same SSID on the Wireless > Configure > Firewall and traffic shaping.

  3. Once the Layer 2 LAN isolation is enabled, select the “Allow Bonjour forwarding exception” checkbox and save changes.

Dashboard SSID firewall and traffic shaping settings showing Layer 2 LAN isolation is enabled with “Allow Bonjour forwarding exception” option selected

 

Note: The “Allow Bonjour forwarding exception” option is only available when Bonjour forwarding is enabled on the Wireless > Configure > Access control page.

If Bonjour forwarding and  Layer 2 isolation (without Bonjour forwarding exception) is enabled on an SSID, you will see the following warning on the Wireless > Configure > Access control page:

 

Access Control page showing an Alert that Layer 2 LAN isolation is enabled and “Allow Bonjour forwarding exception” should be enabled

 
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    1. bonjour
    2. vlan