Combining networks (again)

[Adrian4]

Sorry for the second thread on the same topic but I have been looking at the subject more and have a much clearer idea of things but have one or two questions on specifics....

I have 1 combined network with two MX250s' (hot and spare) and 2 MS355-48X2 switches

I also have 1 wireless network with about 70 MR74's

I want to combine the two networks. 

I will split the combined network which will create two new networks - MX and MS

I then select all 3 networks and select combine.

First of all - is that all there is to it or am I missing steps?

Secondly - from everything I have read, I am not 100% sure whether or not I will loose any configuration.

The AP's would not be the end of the world but the MX or MR's would be devastating.

Is there any way I can create some kind of back up of the combined network as it is now so I could quickly and easily roll back should there be a problem? OR a backup of the device configs etc?

Thanks!

[alemabrahao]

Why are you going to split the combined networks? Wouldn't it be easier to just combine the wireless network?

You won't lose any settings, I've already needed to combine several networks and I haven't had any problems.

[alemabrahao]

About backup, you can clone the network before.

[Adrian4]

oooh that's very interesting, for backup reasons but also I am working on a combined template for all our sites and I REALLY would like to test it first, so could I clone a existing network and use it as a test platform? - I want to see exactly what settings will get changed when the template is applied.

[Adrian4]

thinking about cloning as a backup solution - if something went wrong with the main network and I needed to roll back quickly - would it just be a case of moving the devices to the cloned network?

Is there anything I can do to backup the device configs? 

[cmr]

@Adrian4 as @alemabrahao said, you can just combine the wireless network into the existing combined network.  I've split and combined networks probably about a hundred times and the only thing you lose are client statistics and possibly custom client labels.  No configuration is lost and network traffic is not interrupted.

[Adrian4]

I am unable to combine the wireless network with the combined network (the combined network does not appear as an option).

I think this is because the combined network doesn't have the wireless part - This was the reasoning behind splitting the combined network first.

However I got around this by adding a new AP to the combined network from inventory which created the wireless bit and after that combining networks was an option - but to be honest I think I will just move the access points to the combined network and then bin the old wireless network.

[cmr]

@Adrian4 it is actually the other way round.  If you were able to add an AP to the combined network, then it already included a wireless network.  It isn't always obvious that this is the case, but if you look at the firmware upgrades page, you should see what element make up the combined network there as they are split out on that screen.

[Adrian4]

weird - all I know is that combining the networks was not an option until I added a new wireless device to the combined network and the wireless menu option appeared.

Moving AP's to the combined network was not possible either until after I had added a new AP from inventory.