Find serial numbers on devices easily?

[DrPhil]

Hi,

Do I always have to ask Cisco support for serial numbers on Meraki devices if I only have the MAC address available? 

I work for an ISP and sometimes there can be an issue when our entrepreneur installs MR/MS devices and forget to send us serial numbers before leaving the location, then I'm not able to easily add the devices to Meraki dashboard. 

[Mr_IT_Guy]

When ordering these devices, are the order numbers Meraki sends not being added to the dashboard? Once the order number is added in, you should be able to find the device via MAC.

[DrPhil]

Let us for example say that I have a network with 1 switch and 5 active accesspoints connected, one of the AP's goes down and needs to be changed. My friend takes 1 accesspoint out of a large stock and install on-site without giving me serial number first and I don't know which one he used. I can see the new device connected from the switch based on MAC address but I'm not able to add it to dashboard without the serial number he did not gave me before he installed it.

[Mr_IT_Guy]

This large stock of APs, are they not already claimed in your organization when they've been ordered? If they had been claimed, they would be in your inventory and then you could search your inventory to find the device based on MAC.

OR

Are you ordering the APs and not adding the order to the dashboard thus not adding the APs to your Meraki inventory?

[DrPhil]

Problem is, as ISP we work with many organizations and cannot add these to inventory before I know where we gonna use it. I think we also have to pay for license if we add it to Inventory.

[MacuserJim · Accepted solution]

You don't pay for licensing unless it is assigned to a network. So if it is just in inventory it wont use licensing.

When you say "organizations" do you mean org units in the Meraki dashboard? or Organizations as in different businesses?

If you are managing all these devices under different org units in the Meraki dashboard, you can claim all the unused ones in one org to keep track of inventory, and then you can move it to a different org when you need to use it. You simply un-claim it from one org and claim it in the new org. If you happen to be using a single org and just have different networks for each client/office then you can just claim them and assign them to networks as needed. (remember you wont pay licensing unless they are assigned to a network).

Note:

By keeping them in an orgs inventory it allows you to search by MAC and see the SN and other information about the appliance.

[Mr_IT_Guy]

@MacuserJim, exactly what I was going for! 

[LasseBang]

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@MacuserJim wrote:

You don't pay for licensing unless it is assigned to a network. So if it is just in inventory it wont use licensing.

When you say "organizations" do you mean org units in the Meraki dashboard? or Organizations as in different businesses?

If you are managing all these devices under different org units in the Meraki dashboard, you can claim all the unused ones in one org to keep track of inventory, and then you can move it to a different org when you need to use it. You simply un-claim it from one org and claim it in the new org. If you happen to be using a single org and just have different networks for each client/office then you can just claim them and assign them to networks as needed. (remember you wont pay licensing unless they are assigned to a network).

Note:

By keeping them in an orgs inventory it allows you to search by MAC and see the SN and other information about the appliance.

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Hi,

From my info you are wrong, when the license is delivered from Meraki it starts counting.

I have been working with some partners that do MSP, and thats a big issue for them.

[MacuserJim]

If you go to "Organization > License info" you will see the current licensed device count change as you add and remove licenses from networks.

Also this article says that inventory not added to any networks will not count toward the current device count for licensing. https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Organizations_and_Networks/Organization_Men...

[LasseBang]

Its correct if you remove a license it will be removed from the "current" licensed device count.

My comment was linked to this:

"You don't pay for licensing unless it is assigned to a network. So if it is just in inventory it wont use licensing."

Because it is correct you can have a product in your inventory without having a license to it and therefore will not affect your co-term date.

However, if you have obtained a product with license, the license will count as soon as you have received shipment notification from Meraki regardless of whether it is claimed in the dashboard or not.

[DrPhil]

Thanks for answer!

I mean org units on the same dashboard account.

I will probably create a new organization where we add all unused devices and then simply move them over til correct organization/network when installed.