Feature Request - Date Scheduled Tags and/or Tag Expirations

[WadeAlsup]

I've made a wish on this one already, but hoped for some feedback as well. While this post is in Wireless LAN, I believe the same logic could be applied throughout the dashboard/network and useful in a number of cases. 

I'd like to be able to set a Tag for a specific date range. Case Example: I'm emailed a month or so in advance about an upcoming event that is being scheduled at a site. They have asked that we provide a SSID for the guests that will be attending for a few days. I go ahead and setup the SSID for the event (Facebook login, limits, etc...) and test to ensure functionality. At this point, I could set SSID Availability and tie the SSID to a specific Tag and go ahead and Tag the AP's that will be used to broadcast. Going one step further in automation, if I could set that Tag to be enabled for a specific date range (say March 5th-March 9th), I would be able to step away from that task completely and not risk forgetting or having a scheduling conflict to Enable and Disable the SSID when the event starts further down the road. 

This could also be great for temporary overrides using group policies elsewhere in the network if I could schedule automatic Tag removals, or Expiration Dates. Much like VPN or User Credential expirations, except in this case it would remove the Tag where it was applied and return the device/client/whatever to it's Policy State as it were before the Temporary Tag was applied. 

There may be other avenues to get to the same result and I'd love to hear anyone's feedback around it. Thanks! 

[Seppi]

Hi @WadeAlsup

Interesting idea.

But maybe the API-Integration could be of interest for that usecase.

You can set the AP-Tags via API-Calls (see https://dashboard.meraki.com/api_docs#update-the-attributes-of-an-ssid), so you can have a script or app running somewhere that updates the Tags according to your needs.

Would that be an option for you?

[WadeAlsup]

Thanks for the response, @Seppi!

While the API can and would undoubtedly work for this scenario, my point would be to integrate it into the heart and soul of the Meraki Dashboard for ease of use and much the reason that so many love Meraki products. I think that many could benefit during out-of-the-norm and one-off requests when they are able to schedule expiration dates/times and have that autonomous remediation to a temporary change. You can enable those that may not be as tech savvy or comfortable with using the API integration or simply do not have the training and knowledge to do so. 

Easy Tag Control is the ultimate goal in my ideals here. 

[Adam]

We have a similar situation where I setup a temp SSID for auditors when we have them here for a week.  But I put it on my calendar as a reminder to disabled the SSID when they leave.  If they had an expiration/schedule on the SSID would that also accomplish what you are trying to do rather than tag expirations?  

[WadeAlsup]

@Adam, I do the same thing for our auditors that come in now. SSID expirations work, but only for a single scenario. I'd like to see a more wide-spread solution. I really think it would unlock the dashboard's true potential around using Tags. Maybe they could add a "Tag Control" section to "Network Wide." 

Thanks for chiming in!

[PhilipDAth]

It sounds like you need an Outlook plugin that can talk to the Meraki Dashboard API.

[WadeAlsup]

Haha, @PhilipDAth...you have one of those laying around? 

[PhilipDAth]

I run Ubuntu on my desktop ... so I probably wouldn't had an Outlook plug in ... 🙂