Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD)

UDLD is supported in all Meraki switches running 10.10 and above, with the exception of MS390
UDLD is supported on MS390 switches running 15.0 and above
UDLD is run independently on a per-switch basis, regardless of any stacking involved
An Event Log will be generated upon detecting a UDLD-error state
Both ends of a link need to support UDLD for this feature to initiate
The Meraki implementation is fully interoperable with the one implemented in traditional Cisco switches
Upon detecting a UDLD issue, there are two configurable responses:

Alert only
- Alerts will be generated if UDLD detects an error, but traffic will not be blocked
- This is the default configuration

Enforce
- Recommended on point-to-point links to prevent loops
- Non-UDLD traffic will be blocked if UDLD detects an error. While other traffic is discarded while in a UDLD-error state, UDLD traffic will continue to monitor the link, providing auto-recovery functionality

UDLD Error Conditions

UDLD will trigger both when there is a Unidirectional Link and when there is a Transmit(TX)/Receive(RX) Loop, as outlined below.

Configuring UDLD

How a switch responds to a UDLD-error state can be configured per switchport by navigating to the Switch > Monitor > Switch ports page and clicking on an individual switchport. This will bring up a switchport configuration window that will allow you to select how the individual switchport responds to a UDLD-error state.

Multi-Point Setup

For UDLD in a point-to-point link, both ends of a link support UDLD. With UDLD multi-point links, however, two or more UDLD-capable ports are connected through one or more switches that don't support UDLD (e.g. non-Cisco switches or Meraki switches with older firmware).

We do not enable the Enforce mode by default since this can result in ports being disabled too aggressively on some multi-point setups. Take the network bellow as an example, where the link from A to D goes unidirectional. Here, UDLD on switch C would disable the link to D, cutting at the same time its path to B, which doesn't exhibit any issues.

Network without UDLD

In the below example we have three interconnected switches with an extra redundant link. Switch A is the STP root bridge, the flow of BPDUs are denoted by purple arrows, and STP convergence results in Switch B placing its connection to C into a blocking state.

This is our baseline topology.

The link then becomes unidirectional such that packets only go from B to C. As a result, Switch B stops receiving BPDUs from Switch C.

Switch B transitions its port to a forwarding state and broadcast packets begin to loop through the network.

Network with UDLD

The same unidirectional link suddenly arises as outlined in step 2 above. With UDLD, however, the unidirectional link is detected even before STP on Switch B has had time to transition its port to a forwarding state.

Via UDLD, Switch B detects a unidirectional link and begins to block traffic on the port leading to Switch C. This loop, which would have otherwise gone undetected by STP, has been identified and mitigated.

For some additional reading on relevant MS configurations and loop-prevention features:

Cisco Interoperability Clarifications

The Meraki implementation is fully inter-operable with the one implemented in traditional Cisco switches. However, there are a few differences that should be noted:

Traditional Cisco equipment supports 'aggressive' and 'normal' UDLD modes. Meraki is able to implement similar functionality using just the 'normal' mode
In Alert only mode, the Meraki implementation generates a Dashboard alert and Event Log entry. Traffic is still forwarded when a UDLD-error state is seen while configured in Alert only mode
In Enforce mode, our behavior is mostly comparable to Cisco's aggressive mode. In our way of 'disabling' the port, we block all traffic, similar to the STP blocking state. This does not physically bring the link down, though, as in a traditional Cisco 'aggressive' configuration

	Behavior when Unidirectional Link is Detected
Cisco Normal Mode	Port state is marked as undetermined Port behaves according to STP state
Cisco Aggressive Mode	UDLD attempts to re-establish state of the port Port is put into the errdisable state if unable to re-establish port state Port is actually disabled
Meraki Alert Only Mode	Generates dashboard alert and event log entry Port behaves according to STP state
Meraki Enforce Mode	All traffic on the port is blocked, similar to STP blocking Port is not disabled UDLD traffic will continue to monitor the link, providing auto-recovery functionality

UDLD Overview

Meraki Implementation Overview