new to Meraki how to identify users

[Jallen3923]

Hello,

What is the best practice for identifying devices on the network ? Example user is connected as Android, what is the best practice to identify the end user ?

[alemabrahao]

This is not perfect, it depends a lot on the client's device.

Note: Some clients may misidentify themselves when specifying the User-Agent string field of an HTTP GET request. Device type policy enforcement is done on a best-effort basis, dependent upon the information that the client provides. When needing to enforce security-focused policies based on device type, please leverage solutions such as Meraki Systems Manager, or Cisco ISE. 

[GreenMan]

The way most companies / organizations achieve this is to use authentication via 802.1x at the point of connection.   The identity used will be assocated with the device in question, in the Dashboard.  Of course, that's just a side-benefit for most customers, as it's mainly done to confirm who or what is connecting to their network and to provide fully secure WiFi comms.  Such identity is often also used to apply different policies to different users or user groups too;   i.e. what resources can they access?   how much bandwidth can they consume?   etc.   https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Cross-Platform_Content/Creating_and_Applying...

Enterprise 802.1x is a pretty big project to undertake though, so best to explore this with an experienced Cisco partner, I would say.