Do I require a license to run my AP in Survey Mode?

[Glasbatron]

Hi All,

We are now looking into bringing in Meraki into our portfolio. We currently have some access points (Various) on the way to use to use for Site Surveys. My Question is do we also have to purchase the licenses for these to work in survey mode only?

[MacuserJim]

You will need to license them to assign them to a network and use any of the cloud features.

[jdsilva · Accepted solution]

I'm pretty sure you don't need a license to run them in survey mode. Let me see if I can find an AP I haven't added to the dashboard and test it out. Since you configure this on the local status page I can't imagine that you would need a license...

[Glasbatron]

Thanks jdsilva. I dint think that I would as it is only at the local stage I need to use it. I just need to have everything ready as this will be a fast turn around to Survey Stage one we receive the Access Points.

[jdsilva]

OK, so the documentation is correct in that you cannot take an AP directly out of the box and convert it to survey mode. I just tried that and it I cannot get to the local status page at all.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/WiFi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Conducting_Site_Surveys_with_MR_A...

I can see a way around this possibly as Meraki will give you a 30 day grace period for licensing... So if you add a new AP to a network, ensure it's all connected to the dashboard and all, you'll then have 30 days to convert it to survey mode before it goes offline. Once it's in survey mode it should continue to operate as long as you leave it in survey mode.

But, that's just a guess. 

[Glasbatron]

Thanks JD. So the other nightmare we also have is that the Client currently only has the rights to the dashboard and that may not change, I guess the AP's will have to go to them for initial configuring before sent out to myself. I will have a play and once set up let you know how I have got on. Thanks for the help