Move switch to a new network without losing port configuration

[Pete_RMOW]

I'm wondering if it is possible to move a switch to a new network in the dashboard without losing all of the port config info, etc?

If not, can anyone explain Meraki's reasoning for wiping the config info when moving switches between networks?

I created a test network that contained all of the test switches. They've now been configured ready for production and are ready to be moved into the production networks in the dashboard. I don't want to lose all the work I've just done configuring the trunks and allowed vlans, etc just because I'm moving it to a different network.

[MacuserJim]

Those are network specific settings so it makes sense that when you move them it would inherit the new network settings (which is likely default). Are these settings the same (or mostly the same) across all the sites? You can build a switch template and bind the networks to the template. That would allow you keep those settings. If you do have some one off settings you can over ride portions of the switch template. ie change LAN 1 from VLAN 1 trunked to default of VLAN 2 as an access port.

Also why don't you bind the switch to the destination network from the beginning?

[Pete_RMOW]

Thanks MacuserJim. That makes sense. I'm newish to Meraki and we haven't really started using templates for networks. These were already set up when I started here, and it looks like the dashboard networks were just set up mainly as logical containers for our different locations.

So I created a test network, and placed the lab switches in there when I was testing, with the intention of moving them to their respective network after I had finished testing and they were ready to production. I'm guessing that I'm not using Networks for their intended purpose.

[MacuserJim · Accepted solution]

Ah. I would recommend playing around with templates. They are awesome for managing a lot of networks. Also if you are setting up a device to deploy to another site (ie a retail store you manage) I would suggest assign it to the site where it will eventually be set up. Then if you'd like you can plug it in on your network so it checks in with the dashboard and downloads configuration settings or updates the firmware, if needed, then when it arrives at the site it is good to go. Otherwise you can ship a brand new device to the site and when they plug it in it will just take a few minutes for it to download configs and updates.

[Pete_RMOW]

Thanks MacuserJim. I'll definitely start playing around more with the templates. I took screenshots of all my L3 interfaces, vlan config, etc, so the reconfig of the core was only about 15mins.

Thanks again!

Pete

[SimonG]

Hi, 

I've a similar problem.  Its an existing network that has  been up and running for a while.  There are a number of devices that need shifting for new networks to provide logical and admin separation.

I dont think templates will help in this case?  

At the moment i'm looking into using the API and the DEVNET python switchcopyconfig.py scripts.  (https://developer.cisco.com/codeexchange/github/repo/meraki/automation-scripts/)

That is unless anyone has a simpler way?

S,

[MacuserJim]

Just create a new network. When you create the new network you can check the box that says clone and clone the settings from an existing network. Then you can just move the devices to that new network.

[SimonG]

Thanks Jim, 

I've tried this but it still just wipes the config.  It keeps the basics like name, but the switchport config is lost.

I've tested by taking a sample switch that is  currently unused but connected to the LAN, putting on some config (vlans, Tags, descriptions),  then create a new network cloning the original.  When i move the switch across, its defaulted.

S,

[BadOscar]

I know this is an old thread but I need to make some network name changes to scale with our environment so I need to move switches from one network to another but there is apparently no way to do this without losing my port level config - according to meraki support. Did you get anywhere with the python scripts by any chance? In this immediate case it's only 12 switches but that's still a lot of ports to manually configure.

[TerryMC]

I'm in the same situation. We have one large network and need to break it down into smaller networks. We have an access control list to create in Meraki that will block communication between classroom VLANs, but it will go well over the 128 limit. Our next option is to break up the network into several networks. I wished we could use network objects in the ACL's and that would solve our problem, so we could combine multiple CIDRs in one object. 

The base network settings I can clone, but the switch's port configuration gets wiped. I need a way to copy a switch's port configs and restore it to the same switch in a different network. The Python scripts sound promising but I'm only finding a script that copies the port config back to the same switch and network. We may be able to use the script and move the port configs.

Any luck on figuring this? This is a feature that Meraki really needs to add. We have over 50 switches to move and that's a lot of work reconfigure all the switch ports.