WLAN Design query

[DavidMCross]

Hello All,

Not 100% sure this is the right forum but am looking for some advice.  I took over an existing Meraki system a year ago so I didn't perform any of the initial setup.

We have two physical sites, about half a mile apart, linked via Meraki site to site VPN.  Primary site is running an MX84, and they have a large number of MR18 APs.  The secondary site is running from a MX64W with an MS switch and they have a third part wifi system.  I'd like to move some of the MR18 APs from the Primary site to the secondary, and idealy have a common SSID\Password\Policy set up running across both sites.

When I select the Primary site Network there is a Wireless sub-option on the left where all the MR18 APs sit.  But there is no Wireless sub-option when I select the secondary site Network.

There is a Wireless Network as well as the two sites, but currently that has no APs inside and no other configuration that I can see.

At the moment, I cannot "move" existing APs from the primary Network to the seconday Network, but I can to the Wireless Network.  Do I need to move these through some other method?

Is this due to the secondary site running from an MX64W, or is there a setting\config not in place that means the "Wireless" sub-option isn't available at the secondary site?

Pending the above query, do APs that sit in the Wiresless Network operate across all other Networks?  If not, do I need to match the SSID\Password\Policy settings between the two networks for clients to connect and operate in both sites?

Thanks in advnace,

David.

[dlowery]

You should be able to change the network assignment of an MR by going to Organization > Inventory then clicking the "Actions" drop down box. Then you would be free to move the AP's you wanted from one network to the other. The "Wireless" sub option should appear on the other network as soon as you move an MR onto the network.

You will need to reconfigure the SSID settings on the network that you are moving the MR's to if you want it to match the network that already has MR's.

[DavidMCross]

Thanks for your reply but that doesn't work.

Inventory allows me to tick the AP in the list, but the "Add to" dropdown is greyed out.  Do I need to unclaim it first?  I assume I don't loose the device\licence if I do that.

If I go to the the Primary Network, select Wireless, tick the AP from the "Access points" Monitor list and clikc the Edit dropdown I now get a "Move to another network" option but the secondary site does not appear an as option to select.

I don't know if I need to "remove from network" and\or unclaim first before I can re-assign to the secondary site.

Regards,

David.

[cmr · Accepted solution]

@DavidMCross the network you have at the secondary site presumably has only the Network-wide, Security & SD-WAN, Switch and Organization options on the left hand side?

If so what you need to do is create a new wireless network that copies the settings from the Wireless network on site 1. To do this click on the NETWORK drop down on the left hand side menu and choose Create a new network then give it a name, select Network type of Wireless and choose to Clone from an existing network, choosing site 1's wireless network.  You should now have a new separate network, wireless only but with the SSIDs etc. from site 1.

Now click on the NETWORK drop down again and choose View all networks, you should see a table and the 5th column is Network type.  Both of your live networks are Combined and the new network will be Wireless.  Tick the box at the left had end of the site 2 Combined network and also the new network then the Combine option will light up at the top of the table.  Choose the new combined network name and click on Combine.

You can now move APs from one combined network to the other and all settings should remain the same.

[DavidMCross]

Perfect, thank you.

Those were the steps needed to add "Wireless" as an sub-option of the secondary site network, with an exact copy of the primary sites SSIDs.  Thanks again.