FEATURE REQUEST - Add Product Types to Existing Network

[sledge121]

I would like to request an API feature to add product types to an existing appliance only network (switch,wireless etc).
I know adding switch serial numbers to the network automatically adds switch in the network drop down, but it would be more useful to be able to add product types in advance of serials being added.

Thanks

[GreenMan]

What would be the advantage of doing this in advance?   It just sounds like an extra, unnecessary step to me  (the sort of complication Meraki tries to save customers from!)   If you really want to push for this, I'd suggest you contact your Meraki account team, to discuss a potentail enhancement request - but you'd need to be able to articulate the business benefits, I think.

[sledge121]

You asked a question regarding my request "What would be the advantage of doing this in advance?"

Then tried to shutdown a reasonable response with this "It just sounds like an extra, unnecessary step to me".

Then slopey shouldered it with this "contact your Meraki account team".

And all without waiting for my initial response.  Judge, Jury and Executioner all in one paragraph.  People might presume customer support is not your strong point.

I'm sure the API code to add product type to an existing network would be simple, especially as multiple product types can be added when the network is created.

[GreenMan]

Thanks for the feedback @sledge121    - I'm feeling under a somewhat unwarranted attack here, given that I, like the vast majority of Meraki responders on here, are really only doing so largely on our own time  (we have specific customers for whom we're directly responsible in our 'day job').    I was actually just thinking through some practicalities and trying to help you on the basis of understanding in the back end how some of this works:

The first point being that feature requests are, to my knowledge, not likely to be picked up directly out of such requests in the Community, given the huge volume we receive (and particularly those which don't receive a lot of "me too!" contributions) ;   engaging with someone (your account team) focussed on understanding you and your business is key to the process of picking up such requests.   (let me know if you need help finding the right contacts for you...)

The second being that our product development teams think very carefully about adding anything extra, not least because 'adding more' generally means, over time, complication - & we're pretty obsessed with simple.  This is particularly true for adding extra steps in processes.   If you can add a device type to a Network, by simply adding a serial number with that device type, that just seems easier to me.  I am genuinely interested in any practical benefits of your extra step.

Anyone wanting to take forward an idea to the product team knows that they really have to gather a lot of well thought-out detail around a customer and their business and technical needs and the benefits accruing, not just for them but for other potential users.    That's needed in order for any request to be prioritised over others (and we get a lot!) - to justify the time and effort in development.  I've also discovered that assuming how simple something is to create is also not without its own dangers.

My intention was not to shutdown a reasonable response - you're free to add as much extra in reply as you'd like - what I was trying to articulate was that if you want to have this request delivered, you would need to be able to describe what the extra step is adding for you and the wider Meraki-using community.

[sledge121]

I originally API created a 600 site Org with only MX devices, the customer is using their original none Meraki switches and access points.  Now the customer wants to start adding Meraki switches to all sites and have asked if I can add product type switching in advance and then mass configure their switch alerting settings, switch alert settings are not visible or configurable on a network until it has product type switching.
They've stated the reason for asking this as:

"we will be adding the switch serials/devices to the networks on an ad-hoc basis and will not know all the serials for each site in advance, having all the switch alert settings pre-configured for the whole Org would remove a step from our provisioning process".

A third party is holding all their switch stock, they request a few devices per day from stock for the roll out and that is the point at which they are given the per site serial numbers.

[GreenMan]

Thanks for the extras - I can see now this would be useful - and definitely worth reaching out to your Meraki account team, with this kind of detail.   In the interim, did you try, as part of your scripting, adding a 'dummy' device (you could re-use the same one each time) to the target Network up-front, in order to make the config options available (which you then set as needed), then pull it back to the Inventory once you're done, until deployment time?   You'd obviously need to check that the config remains in the backend, but my experience generally with that kind of thing is that it does.   You won't see it again, until (say) a switch is re-added, but it's likely to still be there.

[sledge121]

Using a dummy device is an interesting one but I currently don't have the time to invest in testing it.  I've told the customer the feature isn't available and they need to reach out to their Meraki account team.  Thanks.