Enhancement Suggestion for Meraki Dashboard Org Change Log Export Functionality

[bradly]

Hello, just sharing our recent experience with the Meraki Dashboard Org's Change Log and suggesting an enhancement to its export functionality. During an internal ISO audit, we discovered a limitation that was confirmed by Meraki Support.

While reviewing organisation change logs, we noted that authorised engineers were making changes to firewalls across our network. However, when attempting to compare the 'Old Value' and 'New Value' firewall JSON records, we could not see any differences. Upon closer inspection, it appears the output is being truncated. As a result, any actual changes may not be reflected in the logs available through the dashboard. This includes the dashboard webpage view, and the 'Download as CSV' file as well. 

We raised this issue with Meraki Support, who confirmed that this is a known limitation:

"Customer has reported that change log entries were truncated and requested support from Meraki to identify the issue. Meraki Support has confirmed with our engineering team that change log entries being truncated is expected behaviour due to the limitation of the length of the text field."

Support further advised: "At the moment, the full change logs from the dashboard are still stored in the cloud and can be extracted by our engineers from our backend. However, to request data from our engineering team, the customer needs to provide specific information, such as the network name, date and time, etc. The process may take a considerable amount of time to complete."

Support also suggested submitting feedback using the 'Give Feedback' button, which I have done. However, I am also posting here to provide more detailed feedback, including screenshots.

Enhancement Suggestion

I understand there are technical limitations that cannot be easily overcome, and that export operations can be taxing on backend systems.

That said, I would like to suggest enhancing the 'Export Logs to CSV' feature in the Org Change Log dashboard. Specifically, I recommend adding more detailed filters and the ability to export the complete change log, rather than the truncated version currently displayed in the web interface.

The 'Download detailed logs' function available under API & Webhooks > API Analytics is an excellent model for what the Change Log dashboard could offer. Implementing a similar feature would greatly benefit users who need comprehensive log data.

I understand that exporting detailed reports might not be instantaneous and may require scheduling. It would be reasonable for the export to take several minutes to process before being available for download.

Below is my ai slop vibe coded example of what the detailed export form could look like: 

Or alternatively.....

Keep all filtering and timeframe logic on the dashboard webpage but add an option to the 'Export to CSV' button -similar to my example below - to export the full, detailed change log, with an explanation that the process may take some time.

simpsons lisa ted talk meme

Edit: 

The API endpoint for the organisation change log Get Organization Configuration Changes - Meraki Dashboard API is also affected by the same text field limit. And change log entries for changes to our MX network-wide firewalls are truncated. So if that could also be fixed - that would be great as well.  

[MilesMeraki]

+1 to this feature request. So you're saying that without this feature, you can't achieve ISO 27001 standard? 

Kind of an important thing for bigger MSPs?

[bradly]

Hey @MilesMeraki 

The ISO audit I mentioned is an ISO certification project our customer is undertaking for themselves. The MSP I work for is already ISO certified.

I'm not sure if this limitation is actually a blocker, since I'm pretty far removed from those conversations. But from what I'm hearing; the ISO audit team needs these logs so we can track what changes have been made.

The customer has been following up about this almost every other day, so it's definitely on someone's radar on their side.

Taking a step back from this specific situation -- I feel like this is a pretty important feature that should already exist. I'm a bit surprised this issue hasn't come up before. Have no other Meraki customers ever needed to dig through firewall changes in the org change logs?

[MilesMeraki]

Does your org run Meraki internally too? If you've passed the Audit then not sure why you customer shouldn't too?

Regarding the tick box for the Audtior, can you not just tell them that you need to request for the specific logs via a time/date stamp to get the untruncated audit logs?

The main thing is that any changes are logged right, which they are.

I understand where you're coming from and totally agree the support of that as feature request!

[bradly]

Hi @MilesMeraki 

No, we don't run Meraki internally. 

No idea, I've told my contact with the customer what Meraki Support can do for us. Up to them to pass it on and see if they are happy with that. 

But I agree, the main thing is that any changes are logged. It's just not straight forward for us to access the full log if we need to review them. 

[bradly]

Just discovered there is an API endpoint for the organisation change log Get Organization Configuration Changes - Meraki Dashboard API v1 - Cisco Meraki Developer Hub

Just tested it, and it is also affected by the same truncation issue. Change logs for MX network-wide firewall rules get cut off.