Can we have a Cisco Meraki development change freeze for NOV-JAN 2020/1?

[PeterJames]

Hi Meraki,

Could we please have a change freeze from the Cisco Meraki development team this year from November 1st through to 4th January?

With the current economy in the state it is, I feel it is ever more important this year than previous ones.

Thank you,

Peter James

[rhbirkelund]

What changes do you want to be frozen?

If firmware updates are scheduled by Meraki, you are free to cancel them, or reschedule to some other day, which suits you better.

No firmware is forced upon.

[PeterJames]

Hi @rhbirkelund ,

Good point - Primarily any interface changes or SM MDM updates.

Thank you,

Peter James

[PhilipDAth]

Meraki is a global company, and different countries are in different states.

When updates are scheduled should be a matter for the customer to decide, not Meraki.

I've been waiting for a bug fix for the AMP engine to reach "stable release candidate".  It has only just made it into public beta.  I wouldn't want to leave a security issue out there for a customer over the Christmas period.  I'd want to apply it, and I wouldn't want Meraki to hold back on letting me do that.

[PeterJames]

Hi @PhilipDAth,

I agree - security updates should the exception here. Hacking (or is it cracking now? Oh hello HR...I do not do Crack, I was looking up hacking!) actually increase over the festive periods.

But on the SM interface changes happen across the board at once. We are only told about new shiny features, not that an area was worked on which could have unintended consequences if broken. I do not blame the support staff here, as time and time again I get impression they are not even aware of any changes.

Working in environments with over 300 service staff; desk, on-site and third parties. These companies have procedures and technical documentation, which are well reference. Any change to the SM interface can have a hard hit on agreed SLA's with customers and we have been in several situations where a change has meant sometimes the company can not deliver on promises to the customer on install day due to a new bug. During a trial/pilot this can be quite embarrassing, but more importantly costly.

Personally, I would monitor the feature board for any indications of change and these forums. And on top of this test on the 3rd of every month that everything still works.

For the restaurant and hospitality markets November (actually, the last week in October) to the second week in January become critical. And during these times larger companies freeze all but critical change control.

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In extension of this, I have found the networking dashboard of Meraki to be far, far more stable. During Nov-Jan, I would have no issues just leaving it.

Personally, I wish the automatic firmware update window worked as intended but I can live without it working. Apparently (according to support), I misunderstand the feature - Selecting "Apply firmware updates every week Tuesday 4AM" does not mean it will apply the latest firmware updates every Tuesday at 4AM. The "feature" was intended for when a new firmware is released that you go in (even thought I had it setup already), to go in and cancel the day/time, then set it up again. Only then will it apply. My bad!

Thank you,

Peter James