Cisco WLC now supporting AP names in beacon without CCX extensions Could Meraki please follow ASAP

[CharlieCrackle]

It has always been a pain for WLC  as you needed CCX extensions  to enable beacon AP name broadcast.    Cisco for quite some time want users to disable CCX extensions as best practice.   Meraki does this by default which is great  but then you don't get AP names in broadcasts.  

Having the AP name in the broadcast is great troubleshooting tool  an indispensable when doing WiFI verification

Yes you can get support to enable CCX extensions on Meraki [113 Tag] (if you can get a support person who know what you are taking abound)  but it is peer SSID and AP which is not scalable.

Now that cisco can do AP name broadcast in TAG 221 in beacon   (Like other vendors like MIST,Ubiquity)   Could Meraki Please  do the same

Wireshark can already decode  and Tools like WiFi explorer pro and WinFi can decode too. 


Could Meraki please add to the dash board "Advertise AP Name"  per SSID   and then broadcast via the same Tag 221 like the catalyst can APs since 17.18.2

[PhilipDAth]

You'll need to use the "Give your feedback" option.  Make sure you are on this page when you do.

To give this a better chance, you need to supply a business case to justify the investment in time.

https://documentation.meraki.com/Platform_Management/Dashboard_Administration/Operate_and_Maintain/H...

ps. I am not aware of the intricacies of this option, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

[CharlieCrackle]

I spend a lot of my time sending "Give your feedback" but don' t get any follow up !  What is super interesting to me is Netally released and update to their tester today and the release notes say "

Support for Extended Cisco/Meraki AP Names in Beacons

Wi-Fi applications now recognize the Cisco/Meraki vendor-specific information element used to advertise AP names longer than 16 characters in beacon frames. This mechanism does not require CCX (Cisco Compatible Extensions). This enhancement allows compatible Meraki access points (beginning with Meraki software release R32) to present their full AP names directly in scan results on supported NetAlly testers. When available, the extended AP name will appear in device discovery views where AP names are normally displayed.

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WoW !!!

If it is already available can someone from Meraki chime in,  It would be great news !  My APs are already running 32.2.1  but can not see the AP names in beacon traffic.   How do you turn this on ?  is it still a request to support ?   What do you have to ask for ? (dont want CCX).  will support know what I am taking about ?    Does it support all Meraki APS ??    I have discovered that unfortunately with this Cisco WLC version of this feature in 17.18.2  it is only supported on Wifi 6 APs and above.  which is pointless as you need to turn on CCX for the WiFi 5 Aps  and then you have the WiFi 6 and above aps broadcasting their names twice using both methods using more air time.

[Abel85]

You still need to open a ticket with support

[CharlieCrackle]

😭   Can I please add this to the wish list for a dashboard option.  waste days of time.  and totally delays verification surveys  days  as support rarely know how to do this and needs to be escalated.  Needs to be able to be turned on and off when needed.    Could you also confirm if it is supported on all meraki APs  or just the  Catalyst range (like the WLC 18.17.2 is only WiFI 6 AP or above.)

[CharlieCrackle]

Found in release notes:  

Scanned the GUI and can not see a toggle to turn on.   How do you do it ?

[CharlieCrackle · Accepted solution]

It has taken 1 Week (ridiculous) to get Cisco Meraki  support to turn on this new feature correctly. In the end I needed to step the support engineer through the process. On SSID turn on CCX (True) and device name (True) and then change CCX back to (False) Tag all the APS and you can now get device names on 221 tag without CCX enabled (Cisco  best practice) this is great ! Just so painful to get turned on. To make matters worse it is a per SSID setting and you need to tag individual APS. Not a problem if the end user could do it but having to ring Meraki support every time you add an AP or replace and AP is a total waste of time and a waste of support resources. We need this feature to be on the Meraki dashboard.  Please Kudos this post if you agree or comment if you don't. Other good news is Intuitibits  WiFi explorer pro decodes, as well as Helge Magnus Keck  WinFi and NetAlly  but you need to be on the latest software releases.  I have submitted feature request.