Can I set up MR20s on one site then move them to another?

[DavidVW]

Bit lost here and haven't even turned them on yet.  Well basically I have purchased 2 x MR20s for wireless use in our sister company.

I'm wanting to set them up at our sister company which is miles away.  I've read some documentation which is not helpful whatsoever to someone new to cisco products.

I know this may sound like a daft question to the experts but can i set these MR20s up in my office, create SSIDs etc and setup the dashboard licenses i have purchased and then when i'm happy all working and ready i can just take them to the sister site and give the MR20s the correct network scope when i plug the ethernet cables in?

Only asking in case the licenses i have purchased are geo-locked or something along those lines.

Could anyone recommend any MR20 setup videos i could watch also as it all seems like quite a daunting task.

Many thanks for your replies....

[DarrenOC]

 Hi @DavidVW , if you're new to Meraki I would start here - creating your dashboard account

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Organizations_and_Networks/Creating_a_Dashbo...

You can set these devices up anywhere via the dashboard and take them to site when ready.

Most companies now configure these devices whilst they're being shipped.  Once they land on site they're pretty much plug and play and ready to go.

[DavidVW]

Excellent and thank you for your reply and link.  Will go read up on the dashboard now.  Fingers crossed......

[DarrenOC]

Mate, you’ll breeze it. If you need any other help just give us a shout on here.

The community will happily walk you through what you need

[DarrenOC]

Hi @DavidVW 

Another useful doc to help you

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/MR_Quick_Start

[DavidVW]

Thanks for the other doc.  Read through that and then:

Powered up my Access Point

Created a Network

Added AP

Added Cloud License and its showing @ 2 devices for 3 years

Gone to Radio settings and its showing the 'AP Name' as a mac address and the channel as 'Off - Auto'

Can't see a way of turning it on and if i use my phone to scan for wireless networks, its just showing the SSID as 'Meraki Setup' and not the 'SSID' I have named...although as noted before if its showing as 'Off' then i won't see the SSID

The LED is green on the MR-20 so i'm confused now.

Forgot to point out before that we have 2 x MR18s at the place where I work and that was setup by a third party company...I have access to the admin for them so have had a side by side comparison of the settings that we know work, just not sure why the wireless is not showing as on.

Thanks

[DarrenOC]

Hi @DavidVW , on your SSID you need to set it to Enabled.

 

[DavidVW]

Yes it was set to enabled.  Worked it out now...

I went through every single menu in wireless and network wide...went to SSID Availability....then saw that the 'scheduled' was 'disabled'...enabled it and it has now worked.  Does seem quite slow but will work through that tomorrow and add the second AP.

Again, thank you for your help as couldnt have done it without your guidance.

Maybe an idea if they had a slightly easier guide to work through.

David

[BlakeRichardson]

@DavidVW Welcome to the wondeful world of Meraki! One really awesome thing abot Meraki is the training is FREE.

https://community.meraki.com/t5/ECMS1/ct-p/ecms1

Community members are always on hand if you need help as are support which is included in the licensing cost. The short answer to your question is yes you can setup wifi access points and then ship them out, as long as they have an internet connection at the remote sight they will work fine.

Good luck!

[DavidVW]

Thank you for that link, will go take a look at it in a bit.

UPDATE:

Ok, so it was working....i powered it down before i left work last night.  Just got in to work quite pleased with myself that it was working last night and that i was going to set up the second MR20 this morning.

So, I powered up the MR20 that i set up yesterday, saw a green light on device, checked my phone for a WAP and boom...instead of showing me the SSID i set up yesterday, there is just an SSID named Meraki and it wont let me connect to it...so i went into the web dashboard and the damn MR20 has a red button next to it in 'Radio Settings'...I just cannot understand why it's not working as all i did was power it down last night...I didn't change any settings whatsoever.

This is getting kind of frustrating now.

UPDATE2:

Soon as i posted this i checked the dashboard again and the light was green.  I was able to connect to it using my phone but after an hour it went back to red and can't connect to it again now! 

I've emailed Technical Support as haven't a clue why it is doing this.

[DavidVW]

Hi @BlakeRichardson 

I checked the link you sent me and looked at the virtual classrooms, went to enroll and they were asking £975!  I wouldnt even pay that for a car 🙂

So not sure about the FREE training bit...but thanks anyway.

[BlakeRichardson]

@DavidVW  The courses use to be free. @MeredithW @CarolineS  are you able to lets us know if this is still the case or not? 

[Glen]

@DavidVW @BlakeRichardson 

Hi guys, I'm here to address the subject of Meraki training classes (and their cost).

For ECMS1 and ECMS2 courses, there are approved Cisco Learning Partners around the world that offer these classes in different time zones and different languages. These are paid classes (they may also accept Cisco Learning Credits) and they are taught by a qualified CCSI (Certified Cisco Systems Instructor) instructors. These classes also host a virtual lab with gear for you to practice on. You can find a listing of those Learning Partner offered classes on the ECMS1 and ECMS2 pages here in the Meraki Community.

Meraki does have a dedicated training team that delivers these same ECMS1 and ECMS2 classes. These classes do not cost any money, but you have to contact your Meraki sales team and ask them to add your name to the waiting list for the desired course through a "nomination" process. The Meraki training team will then fill the available training sessions based on certain metrics and criteria. If approved, you will be sent a confirmation regarding your registration for the course along with the class details (such as date/time, how to join, etc.). There is not a guarantee that everyone will be approved or accepted into these Meraki-led sessions, especially for the high-demand classes such as ECMS2.

I hope this helps clarify things!

[BlakeRichardson]

Thanks @Glen for clearing that up, I thought I had gone mad for a second.