Is there a tool similar to Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager for Meraki?

Crocker
A model citizen

Is there a tool similar to Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager for Meraki?

As the title says.

 

I know the API is a powerful tool for mass management/mass changes/compliance auditing & enforcement, but I'm looking for something pre-built that's GUI driven and doesn't require a programming background to make use of. Specifically, for MX & MS hardware.

 

Anyone know of any good options?

7 Replies 7
BrandonS
Kind of a big deal

Have you explored here? https://apps.meraki.io

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MilesMeraki
Head in the Cloud

Boundless digital have some impressive automation capabilities - https://apps.meraki.io/details/boundless-automation

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Ryan_Miles
Meraki Employee
Meraki Employee

Are you looking for functions not already supported by Dashboard and/or Config Templates?

Ryan

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Crocker
A model citizen

Yeah. Our Meraki deployment doesn't make use of config templates - most networks were stood up using the Clone feature, then tweaked for the specific needs of a given network; However, not all were cloned from the same base network so there's quite a bit of variation across the environment.

 

A simple example is that we want to disable the Local Device Status page across the environment, only manually enabling it when we need it. In the dashboard, I've got no way to tell it "Go turn this setting off everywhere".

 

Another example would be the layer 3 firewall rules. We're currently building three rulesets, and one of the three rulesets will be applied at all locations depending on the needs of the location. The rulesets are aimed at separating ~10 vlans per location from eachother. We've got no good way, via the dashboard, to roll that out - in our team of 3 techs, trawling through ~150 networks and manually creating several rules at each isn't a great experience. Even if we were to work through and manually build the rules at each site, the dashboard doesn't provide a good method for ensuring the rules were built correctly or applied at each site (audit/compliance needs).

Ryan_Miles
Meraki Employee
Meraki Employee

These types of wants would be addressed by templates. But, if you don't use them then API is another way to manage at scale.

 

As for a GUI-fied option as another person mentioned Boundless offers an interesting tool. However, they can only access config options with a corresponding API endpoint. Not every option config option in dashboard has a API endpoint today. I also just looked at my Boundless dashboard and can't find anything for making changes to the device Local Status Pages. But, you should engage directly with Boundless and get the scoop from them.

 

Another option which is $0 is Postman. This can help ease the move into API management. It's fairly powerful if you use external seed files and/or runner to cycle through calls.

Ryan

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TRBO_KCMO
Getting noticed

So for example, we want to make a change with Alerts for all networks, checking the alert for blocked malware. Have not used API's yet. Do I need to learn? Thinking maybe we're missing out on some of the possibilities we don't realize that we have.

BrandonS
Kind of a big deal

Probably need to learn or see if there is anything prebuilt here that meets your needs: https://apps.meraki.io

Someone created some nice API learning/training videos here too: https://go.boundlessdigital.com/meraki-api-with-python-course/lesson-1

 

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