Swapping MX84 to MX85

[TimGeo]

I'm swapping my 84 to an 85 for a little more speed on our network. I've yet to do a swap yet and wondering if people have had better success just creating a clone of the network or is it preferred to just do a quick swap and put it on the same network? Is assigning the MX85 as a warm spare a viable option and switching it as the primary device? I haven't tinkered with that much yet. 

[PhilipDAth · Accepted solution]

A quick swap out is easiest.

You can't assign it as a warm spare.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MX/Other_Topics/MX_Cold_Swap_Replacing_an_Existing_MX_with_a_Differ... 

[DarrenOC]

As above ^ shoot for the straight swap out. I had no issues swapping an MX64 over to an MX75.

Configure the new device offline, WAN IP, DNS via local status page. Remove the old Mx from network and move the new one in.

[LeonValleyTX]

Sorry for the ignorance here but what's the easiest way to "Configure the new device offline" ?

[KarstenI]

Other than setting the public IP to give the MX a way to reach the Dashboard, there is no offline config. The config "lives" in the cloud and gets pushed to the device.

[LeonValleyTX]

Ok to be clear,  What exactly do I plug in where and bring up on a browser to setup the Public IP?  I connected a network cable on my network last night and came in and it had handed out a bunch of IP address so I had to unplug it in a hurry.  I'm a dork.

[Russ_B]

I haven't had to swap an MX yet, but I did find the documentation for the process when I thought one failed:

MX Cold Swap - Replacing an Existing MX with a Different MX - Cisco Meraki

It doesn't look like making the MX85 a warm spare will be an option, since the MX Warm Spare Overview says "Note: The secondary MX must be the same MX model as the primary."

Russ

[GIdenJoe]

I personally have always used the long way by splitting up the network, cloning it to a new network with the different model, than implementing it and reenabling VPN and remerging the network aftwerwards.  Haven't failed yet.

[KarstenI]

I did a couple of swaps directly in the network. It’s quite easy as the config is on the dashboard. After the swap, some small things have to reenabled like interface assignment and enabling of the VPN.

[BrandonS]

I’ll just add one thing because I think it may not be mentioned in the documentation.  Take note of the appliance name, physical address and notes in dashboard if they are important to you.  They will all be blank after the swap.

[TimGeo]

Those things are kind of minor. Do you know if it will transfer over our VLAN settings and the Uplink info? These are all things I plan on having info on just curious and want to prepare. 

[KarstenI]

You VLAN-Settings are preserved, but not the interface assignments. And you need to configure your uplink by hand, without that the device can not get the config from the dashboard.

[Bruce]

From what I remember (it’s been a while since I did a swap though), you also have to go and re-enable the AutoVPN if you were using it. You just re-enable it, all the settings should still be there.