Member Avatar for Lightninghawk

Looking for an efficient way to block p2p content on a hotel network.

  • 5 Contributors
  • 8 Replies
  • 2K Views
  • 1 Month Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by holisticgroup19

Dani AI

Generated

Great question, . +1 to on going with a UTM, and is spot on that Meraki fits hospitality well. The reliable way to curb P2P on guest Wi‑Fi is layered controls: block the apps at L7, cut off their DNS/trackers, and close the easy bypass paths. On Meraki, that usually means an MX at the edge plus MR SSID policy. Meraki’s L7 firewall lets you deny application categories like peer‑to‑peer without chasing ports that change constantly. (documentation.meraki.com)

Practical, low‑touch recipe you can deploy in minutes:

  • MX: Security & SD‑WAN > Firewall. Add L7 rules to Deny the peer‑to‑peer category; keep a modest per‑client bandwidth cap so any residual traffic cannot hog the pipe. Use Traffic shaping and per‑client limits on the MR SSID as well. (documentation.meraki.com)
  • DNS layer: integrate Cisco Umbrella so guest DNS gets filtered (blocks torrent indexers/trackers and malware). Note that Automatic MR-Umbrella integration was deprecated on April 26, 2025; use Manual integration going forward. (documentation.meraki.com)
  • QUIC/DoH evasions: to keep web filtering effective, add an outbound L3 rule on the MX to block UDP/443 so browsers fall back to TLS over TCP. Expect side effects for some apps; test before broad rollout. ()
  • Isolation: for the guest SSID, enable Wireless Client Isolation (or use NAT mode with Meraki DHCP) so devices cannot reach each other, which hampers local peer discovery on the LAN. (documentation.meraki.com)
  • IPv6: mirror the same deny rules for IPv6 (or disable IPv6 on the guest SSID) so BitTorrent over IPv6 does not slip through. (documentation.meraki.com)
  • Verification: watch Dashboard event logs for L7 blocks/NBAR hits; that is where you will see P2P denies show up. (documentation.meraki.com)

Not on Meraki? The same principle applies: use your UTM’s application control with DPI to block the P2P category (e.g., Fortinet or SonicWall), as port‑only blocks will be bypassed. (docs.fortinet.com)

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for rproffitt

Time to talk to the chain's IT department about an UTM (Unified Threat Management) device. I may be dated on this but names like Fortinet, Cyberoam (now Sophos), DELL Sonicwall come to mind. I do not offer support for these so your IT should draw up the usual RFQ or implement as they see fit.

Member Avatar for Dani

I use Cisco Meraki for the coworking space that I own and it's super simple to set up and perfect for this use. Primary use cases are coworking spaces, hotels, cafes with public wifi, airports, etc.

Member Avatar for Lightninghawk

Thanks everyone.

Member Avatar for Lightninghawk

The owners are considering Meraki. Thanks Dani!

rproffitt, the chain forces them to pay hundreds of thousands in royalties and provides almost no support or assistance. I have actually tried to persuade them from leaving the chain since most of their business is repeat from large companies housing their staff here for the local plants and factories.

commented: It's always sad to read stories like that. I have mine as well. +15
Member Avatar for Dani

For what it’s worth, I’m a Meraki customer and am very happy with them. I have two devices in my coworking space.

Member Avatar for holistictech55

My company use Cisco Meraki for this purpose. You also should try this. Good Luck

Member Avatar for holisticgroup19

Use cisco Meraki obviously

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.