Managing Meraki with Security Cloud Control

Meraki MX is an enterprise security and software-defined wide-area-network (SD-WAN) next-generation firewall appliance designed for distributed deployments. The Meraki dashboard manages Meraki MX remotely. You can use Security Cloud Control (formerly Cisco Defense Orchestrator) to manage Layer 3 network rules for Meraki MX devices. For more information, refer to Meraki Next-Gen Firewall Technologies and Meraki product.

After you onboard a Meraki device to Security Cloud Control, Security Cloud Control communicates with the Meraki dashboard to manage that device. Security Cloud Control does not communicate directly with the MX device.

Security Cloud Control securely transfers configuration requests to the Meraki dashboard which then applies the new configuration to the device. For more information, refer to How Does Security Cloud Control Communicate With Meraki.

Security Cloud Control provides tools to optimize your Meraki environment by detecting problems with objects and policies and suggesting possible fixes or alternative options. This applies to policies that are associated with both devices and templates. Use Security Cloud Control to:

  • Simultaneously manage policies on one or more Meraki devices.

  • Monitor and manage Meraki policies or templates along with your FTD and ASA devices in a comprehensive environment.

  • Use a Meraki template to manage multiple networks.

  • Customize access rules by using objects that are compatible with other supported platforms, such as FTD and ASA devices.

Onboard Meraki MX Devices

Before onboarding a device to Security Cloud Control, you must create an account with the Meraki dashboard and onboard your device or template to the dashboard. To generate an API token and communicate with Security Cloud Control, your organization must have an account in the Meraki dashboard.

You can onboard a Meraki MX device or a Meraki template to Security Cloud Control.

Handle Meraki MX log in credentials and permissions through the Security Cloud Control console. Without the correct credentials or permissions, Security Cloud Control cannot communicate with the Meraki device.

For more information, refer to Updating Meraki MX Credentials and Generate and Retrieve Meraki API Key.

Meraki Layer 3 Rules and Security Cloud Control

At this time, Security Cloud Control supports Layer 3 firewall rules only. Layer 3 rules let you manage policy at the network layer of the OSI model. For more information, refer to Using Layer 3 Firewall Rules.

You can create Layer 3 outbound rules in the Meraki dashboard. When you onboard a device into Security Cloud Control, Security Cloud Control reads the Layer 3 rules that you have defined in the Meraki dashboard. You can then manage these rules in Security Cloud Control in the same way as you manage FTD or ASA rules. For more information, refer to Manage Meraki Access Control Policy.

Objects

You can optimize your new access control policy with objects. The Meraki dashboard uses protocols and groups of IP addresses or IP address ranges. In contrast, Security Cloud Control uses a variety of objects to manage rules. To understand how Security Cloud Control transfers Meraki protocols into objects, refer to Objects Associated with Meraki Devices. You can create these objects in Security Cloud Control, and they are translated into IP groups in the Meraki dashboard:

You can create Layer 3 outbound rules in the Meraki dashboard. Security Cloud Control reads in the Layer 3 rules you have defined in the Meraki dashboard when you onboard a device into Security Cloud Control. You can then manage these rules just as you would manage FTD or ASA rules in Security Cloud Control. For more information about Meraki access control policy, refer to Manage Meraki Access Control Policy.