Detecting multi-gig WAPs not connected at 2.5Gbps

[cm11]

Hi,

Is it possible to have Meraki switches (MS350 & MS355) report on ports that are NOT connected at 2.5Gbps? 

I am not technical but am trying to support our technical team from a business point of view - we have a lot of short Cat5e cables, some of which likely perform well enough to support 2.5Gbps - I'd like to identify which DO NOT, ie which we must replace if we are to get the most out of our already-connected MR44 WAPs.

Thanks in advance

[alemabrahao]

Maybe it will help you.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MS/Monitoring_and_Reporting/Switch_Port_View

But remember, if the port has a 1Gb connection it will never reach 2.5Gb speed.

[cm11]

Thank you, that partly answers the question but doesn't cover 2.5Gbps - what would a 2.5Gbps port connected at 2.5Gbps show? The 1Gbps icon or the 10Gbps icon? Or is there a separate document that applies to switches that have 2.5Gbps capabilities?

[alemabrahao]

Have you checked the port status to validate which speed is being displayed?

You can check some information on dcloud dashboard.

https://dcloud2-sjc.cisco.com/content/instantdemo/intro-to-the-cisco-meraki-platform-v1

[RaphaelL]

1Gbps speeds and over all show the same icon.  That wouldn't be efficient to do that kind of validation via the dashboard. You would have to use the API. 

https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-latest/#!list-the-switchports-in-an-organization

Probably cross reference with https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-latest/#!list-lldp-and-cdp-information-for-a-device to track your APs with CDP/LLDP info and voila.

[KarstenI]

ie which we must replace if we are to get the most out of our already-connected MR44 WAPs.

---

If this is your concern, do nothing. Your MR44 will not break the 1Gig barrier under normal conditions.

[GIdenJoe]

I'm not sure if you can see the live status of the uplink port of each AP via the REST API.  In that case you could have a script iterating over all your AP's and report if it sees a link that is lower than the max speed which could denote a cabling problem.

It's not so much that the AP won't perform well but if speeds are negotiated under the max speed of what the AP and switchport can do it may be a good alert to have to keep the quality of your cables.

[cmr]

You can use the alert for a switch port changing link speed and only apply it to ports with a certain tag.  Apply that tag to all AP ports and it will let you know if there are some issues.

[almightythor]

I would not suggest using cat5e for gig much less multigig. I only run 10G copper or better these days cat 6a. The lack of insulation in cat5e causes crosstalk and other issues. You would need 10G copper cables and a multigig switch port. The CBS switches offer 2.5G and work great for PoE. Otherwise you need to connect to the 10G sfp port to get the full speed. One user will only connect at the max speed allowed by their radio and antenna, so you would need to stack up multiple users to see the WAP use the 2.5G otherwise it seems to sit at 1G until the uplink needs more

[cmr]

In Meraki terms the MS355 switch can do 10GbE over copper, but you really should have CAT6a cabling for anything over 1GbE.

We have several CW9166 APs and though we have got them to run at 2.5Gb on shielded CAT5e and 5Gb on shielded CAT6, they are more stable at 1Gb on either of those.  Runs are 60-70m.