vMX100 to vMX S/M/L Transition FAQ

What happens with the existing vMX100?

We expect final orders for this product through December 22, 2020. However, the final date will depend on the availability of stock. At Cisco Meraki's discretion, the actual end-of-sale date may be earlier than December 22, 2020.  The end-of-support date for this product is December 22, 2027.

• End-of-Sale Announcement Date: September 29, 2020
• End-of-Sale Date: December 22, 2020
• End-of-Support Date: December 22, 2027

For reference see: vMX 100 End-of-Life EoS notice

Can I upgrade the vMX100 to MX 15.X firmware? Will I have access to C5 and additional regional support?

A vMX100 can be upgraded to the latest MX 15 firmware but it is not possible to swap to a C5 instance type (or access the new regions available via C5). You will need to delete this vMX100 and redeploy it in order to leverage the C5 instance type/regions.

What is the difference between vMX100 and vMX-M?

vMX-M supports AWS C5 and its additional regional support. vMX100 and vMX-M are equivalent in Azure.

How do I upgrade from vMX100 to vMX-S/M/L?

You will need to perform the following:

1. Delete the vMX100 instance from the platform where it is hosted.
2. Navigate to Security & SD-WAN > Monitor > Appliance status
3. Remove the vMX100 from the dashboard network by clicking on Remove appliance from network on the left side of the page, under the config status.
   
4. Add any vMX-S/M/L licenses needed to your Meraki org. For more help with adding licenses, refer to the License info page or the Meraki Per-Device Licensing page.
    
5. Click on the respective vMX-S/M/L button on the appliance status page to create the vMX of that type.
   
   
6. Turn on site-to-site VPN, if it was previously enabled, as it gets turned off during this swap.
   
7. Set the network to the desired/supported version of firmware. For more help with scheduling firmware, refer to the Managing Firmware Upgrades document. 
8. Redeploy the vMX instance on AWS/Azure/GCP/Alicloud/NFVIS.

How do I upgrade from vMX-S to vMX-M/L?

You will need to perform the following:

1. Delete the vMX-S instance from the platform where it is hosted.
2. Navigate to Security & SD-WAN > Monitor > Appliance status
3. Remove the vMX-S from the dashboard network by clicking on Remove appliance from network on the left side of the page, under the config status.
   
4. Add any vMX-M/L licenses needed to your Meraki org. 
   • For more help with adding licenses, refer to the License info page or the Meraki Per-Device Licensing page.
5. Click on the respective vMX-M/L button on the appliance status page to create the vMX of that type.
   
   
    
6. Turn on site-to-site VPN, if it was previously enabled, as it gets turned off during this swap.
   
7. Set the network to the desired/supported version of firmware. For more help with scheduling firmware, refer to the Managing Firmware Upgrades document. 
    
8. Redeploy the vMX instance on AWS/Azure/GCP/Alicloud/NFVIS.

How do I downgrade from vMX-L to vMX-S/M?

You will need to perform the following:

1. Delete the vMX-L instance from the platform where it is hosted.
2. Navigate to Security & SD-WAN > Monitor > Appliance status
3. Remove the vMX-L from the dashboard network by clicking on Remove appliance from network on the left side of the page, under the config status.
   
    
4. Add any vMX-S/M licenses needed to your Meraki organization. 
   • For more help with adding licenses, refer to the License info page or the Meraki Per-Device Licensing page.
5. Click on the respective vMX-S/M button on the appliance status page to create the vMX of that type.
   
   
    
6. Turn on site-to-site VPN, if it was previously enabled, as it gets turned off during this swap.
   
    
7. Set the network to the desired/supported version of firmware. 
   • For more help with scheduling firmware, refer to our Managing Firmware Upgrades document. 
      
8. Redeploy the vMX instance on AWS/Azure/GCP/Alicloud/NFVIS.

Will there be a vMX-XL (or any vMX options > 1Gbps)? 

For now, the recommendation is to scale with more vMXs.

Will we be able to run vMX on our own compute?  

VMX instances can now run on Cisco's Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure Software (NFVIS) platform. This will allow you to have a VMX appliance on a Cisco UCS  compute platform, leveraging the NFVIS software. Please reach out to Meraki support or your Meraki sale representative/SE to find out more. Also, please read the vMX Setup Guide for NFVIS document.

Can we deploy CN (China) vMXs in the global dashboard?

Yes, but we recommend you deploy and maintain CN and global vMXs separately in their respective dashboards for more reliable cloud connectivity.

Which cloud providers support availability zones for the vMX?

Availability zones provide additional reliability and redundancy to the already existing superior cloud infrastructure. If you wish to design your network for enhanced high-availability, then allocate and distribute your instances across multiple availability zones. Supported regions may have isolated availability zones with different locations, power, cooling and networking. All cloud vendors support availability zones for the new vMX-S/M/L instances. Users have the option to select which AZ per region they wish to deploy the vMX.

Will the legacy vMX licenses be transferable/convertible to the new medium vMX licenses?

Yes, existing vMX-100 licenses can be converted to vMX-M licenses by support. Please note, this is only applicable to organizations with co-term licensing. 

Can the new vMX image on the marketplace be used to deploy vMX-100 licenses? 

Yes, vMX-100 licenses will still be deployable on the new compute optimized instance types (ex. c5.large in AWS or F4 in Azure) using the updated marketplace offers. Please see the following scenarios for more clarification: 

Scenario 1- Customer has an existing VMX100 with 3 years left on the license. They decide to get ahead of any problems and upgrade the image in AWS. They delete the existing VMX-100 image and spin up the new VMX image from the marketplace. When this new image checks in, it sees a VMX-100 license and configures itself as a vMX-100.

Scenario 2- Customer does a renewal of dashboard, VMX-100 licenses are renewed to VMX-M. The existing VMX100 is now causing a license violation. The customer deletes the image and builds a new VMX using the new marketplace offer. When that image checks in, it will see a VMX-M license and configure itself as an vMX-M.

Scenario 3- Start with scenario 1, but at the next renewal, the VMX-100 license will need to up renewed to a VMX-M. In this scenario, when the license is renewed to a vMX-M, the AWS instance will need to be rebuilt again.