This post will be an exploration in to traffic shaping with templates in the Meraki dashboard. More specifically, how the categories are displayed compared to standalone networks. While recently troubleshooting an issue with an application that uses Web RTC traffic, it was discovered there are some differences in the way traffic categories are presented when using templates as opposed to when using standalone networks. The main difference here is related to how categories are displayed. When utilizing a template based configuration, NBAR related categories are not displayed within the traffic shaping configuration pages as they are when using standalone networks. This condition can be an issue if you have both Meraki Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 access points using networks that are bound to a configuration template. Meraki Wi-Fi 5 access points are not NBAR (Network Based Application Recognition) capable, but Wi-Fi 6 access points are. This can cause some unexpected behavior when implementing traffic shaping and selecting the “All” option for a specific category. If you select the “All” option under a category, Wi-Fi 6 access points will be impacted by subcategories that are not visible within the configuration view of a configuration template. As you can see in the screenshots below, the subitems listed within the “All VoIP and video conferencing” category are vastly different in the template than they are in the standalone network. VoIP and video conferencing is just an example, but the same trend holds true for all categories. Included at the bottom is a link to a Meraki document that includes expandable categories for all NBAR IDs.
NBAR currently supports recognition of over 1500 applications and sub-categories.
If you are migrating an installation from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6 Meraki access points that already has traffic shaping configured, you may ultimately be implementing traffic shaping policies you were unaware of. If you are not intimately aware of NBAR and its capabilities, it may not be obvious that the NBAR categories are not included/visible within the menus. Implementing rules that utilize the “All” option in your traffic shaping policies may be applied in an unexpected manor and impact client traffic in unpredictable ways.
Snippet from a template based configuration
This is what is displayed when using a configuration template regardless of whether you have Wi-Fi 6 APs or not. The NBAR categories are clearly missing even though they are implemented for Wi-Fi 6 APs when using the “All” option.
Versus a snippet of what you see on a standalone network
As you can see, the data is presented in a much different manor on networks bound to a configuration template than the way it is presented on a standalone network.
Sources: