The biggest challenges to troubleshooting are: Remote Analysis via end-user (ie. troubleshooting the end-user in parallel to the reported issue). There are numerous instances where this can play out, but one example would be having to answer the following: Did the device reload? (environmental issue, memory crash, or code upgrade) Is the switch losing power? (Is it bad switch or faulty/lose power cable) Is it a bad UPS or dirty power in the building? Is the circuit bouncing and the branch power cycles the switch? Having device uptime with reload reason would be helpful in troubleshooting these types of issues and comparing timestamps with other logs and devices. Cisco and Meraki barriers For the most part, Cisco and Meraki hardware play nicely with each other, but some things like ARP or MAC tables at a root Meraki device does not show every downstream device, almost like once it crosses the brand barrier, the information available is limited. Better upgrade status notifications It's difficult to know when a device is fully upgraded when performing upgrades remotely. When in the lab, I can see the light status of the device when it is reloading, but when upgrading devices at our numerous branches spread out across North America, I have to rely on the dashboard and continuous pings to know the progress. As easy as the process is to upgrade devices, it's nearly impossible to tell if it actually completed. The status under Organization > Firmware Upgrades shows different than BranchNetwork > Switches > Staged Upgrades, not updating until 30 minutes after the device is upgraded. The status under the Branch Network -> Switch Summary (or individual) status updates the code version in the Dashboard/GUI immediately, before it actually loads it to the switch Running a constant ping usually confirms when the switch reloads and boots to the new code version, but sometimes I've not lost any pings, almost as if the switch either never truly upgraded, yet everywhere inside the dashboard shows the device is on the new code version.
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