Tip of the Month: MS Switches

[PhilipDAth]

I see this catch people out again and again.

When you first plug in your shiny new MS switch it can take an hour for them to complete all the software upgrades before they will work.  They will often sit there with an orange light.  Often people keep power cycling them thinking something is wrong - which often just makes the process take even longer.

So tip of the month - after claiming your switches in the dashboard plug in the switches before the day you need them and just leave them sitting there.  Don't stack them.  Don't do anything else.  Don't even watch them.  If you sit there watching them your human nature will take over and you will think something is wrong and try and intervene slowing the process.

[Mr_IT_Guy]

I'd say this tip applies to MX devices as well. A small burn-in period is part of out standard deployment procedures. Better to have the equipment running for a few days to ensure functionality then to deploy in your closet only to have it fail (This is very rare with the gear but it has happened to me before).

[BlakeRichardson]

Very useful tip and I'm sure is very handy to new users of Meraki gear.

I would also suggest that when you receive your order confirmation add this into your dashboards inventory so you can have your devices serial numbers for asset tagging purposes BUT it allows you to also configure the devices before you have even received them!

That way when your order arrives you can unbox, have it asset tagged and going through its initial setup all in a very short amount of time!