Cisco Meraki Wi-Fi issues

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Hello,

We have a Cisco network that is slowly but surely being converted to Meraki. Our hardwired customers have no issues connecting and reaching the internet, but our Wi-Fi customers are having issues reaching the internet. It appears to be a DHCP and/or DNS issue. Cisco Meraki recommends that we use a stand alone DHCP/DNS server, but when I do, the user absolutely cannot reach the internet. If I use the security appliance as the DHCP and Google as the DNS, they can "Most of the time". The problem is that the majority of our Wi-Fi customers are going to be paying for this service sometime after the New Year. I have to find a solution ASAP and Cisco can't figure it out.

The stand alone server we are using is a Windows Server 2012r2 server.

Well - let's look on the brightside! The configuration that Meraki recommends is the standalone DHCP/DNS server - and when you do that - there is NEVER Internet access.

This should be much easier for you to troubleshoot than the MOST OF THE TIME issue. Those can be a real nightmare.

But the standalone Win 2012r2 situation sounds like a configuration(s) that is not working. I would keep attacking that setup, Forget using the Meraki device for this as Meraki is not even recommending it!

So here are some things I would be doing here in troubleshooting.....these are not in order - just thinking out loud as the come to me really....

1. Is the WiFi client successfully pulling the DHCP information from the client?

2. How do the details of this information (ipconfig /all) compare to the information received when the Meraki device is providing the information?

3. Is the Meraki device properly configured to permit these clients from the "foreign" DHCP server to access the Internet through that device?

Remember that you can troubleshoot DHCP and DNS separately.

For example - if your WiFi client pulls the DHCP info properly from the Win server - you can then eliminate DNS from the equation by pinging remote destinations by IP address:

1 - ping the IP address of a neighbor
2 - ping the IP address of the default gateway
3 - ping the IP address of the DNS server
4 - ping the IP address of an external Web server

If all of those above work - your problem is the DNS. Perhaps your local DNS is not configured properly for FORWARDING. In fact, it might be conflicting with settings that are still trying to function on the Meraki device. Perhaps it is a situation where you need to disable DNS and DHCP services on the Meraki completely.

I hope all this helps...we will certainly try and help as much as we can - but this is certainly beyond the scope of what we are supposed to do in the forum :-)

I certainly wish I was on site with you. This sounds challenging and fun! Nerdy fun - but fun nonetheless.

@Michael-Wallace,

If you're wired customers do not have any issues. What are their settings? I would point my wireless clients to the same DHCP and DNS server so those settings can match. If it's not a DHCP or DNS issue now on wireless then you've figured it out. This goes back to an old troubleshooting technique in Cisco, compare your troubled configurations to a "known good config."

If you believe it is, take a wired client and point it to your setup for your wireless and see if you get issues. If your wired client now experiences the same issue, then you know where to troubleshoot.

Which Meraki Access points are you using and do you have your Organization setup in the Meraki Dashboard?