Switch Settings

Management VLAN

By default, the switch will try to contact Meraki Dashboard on the untagged (native) VLAN. Alternately, you can specify the management VLAN under Configure > Switch settings. This allows the switch to reach the internet via a trunk port.

If you change the management VLAN and the switch can no longer obtain a DHCP lease or reach Meraki Dashboard, the switch will revert to its previous management VLAN configuration.

If your network does not allow the native VLAN or any of the default VLANs to DHCP or connect to the internet, you will need to manually assign a management VLAN. To do this, place the switch on a network running DHCP, then from dashboard navigate to Monitor >> Switches and select the target switch. From the details page, choose "Set IP Address" and save your changes.

An Alternate Management Interface can also be configured to source management traffic such as Syslog messages and communication with RADIUS servers from a different VLAN.

Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (STP/RSTP)

RSTP/STP helps prevent network loops by creating a loop-free network topology. For details on how to configure spanning tree, check out our Configuring Spanning Tree on Meraki Switches article.

Quality of Service (QoS)

QoS can help re-prioritize network traffic. For more information on implementing QoS, please refer to this article.

MTU Configuration

The Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) is the payload size allowed in an Ethernet frame. The Meraki MS Series supports Jumbo Frames up to 9578 bytes.

The Default MTU value is 9578 for all switches in a Network. You can configure a custom MTU size for all switches in a network or adjust the MTU value for individual switches. If a switch does not have a specific MTU value set, it will use the network default. This default setting also applies to any new switches added to the network in the future.

You can can set the MTU size to 1500 if you want to turn off Jumbo Frames support.

Storm Control

Enhanced Storm Control can be enabled on supported switches to suppress Broadcast, Multicast and Unknown Unicast packets based on a percentage of traffic on a given interface. Suppression monitors the bandwidth of each individual switch port every 1 second. On classic MS switches, if the specified type of traffic exceeds the defined limit, only excess packets will be dropped. For more information on implementing Storm Control, please refer to this article.

Power Supply Settings

Cisco Meraki switches with dual power supplies can be configured in one of two modes; redundant power or combined power. In redundant power mode, the secondary power supply acts as a backup source and doesn't increase the PoE budget. In combined power, the PoE budget is increased however if a power supply fails then the switch may not be able to provide enough power depending on the current client draw. For more information on implementing Combined Power, please refer to this article.

Network Client Sampling

Meraki MS Switches by default will disable sampling of clients and traffic on the detected uplink interface to ensure that reporting data is accurate. The discovery mechanisms were to identify MS to MS links, and disable sampling dynamically. This works well for end-to-end Meraki networks, but in networks where there are ANY intermediary devices, or Catalyst + Meraki deployments, client connectivity and locations could become inaccurate. To address this, sampling can be changed to all interfaces.

For more information on Network Client Sampling, please refer to this article.