In order to run Cloud4Wi services on your Meraki infrastructure, you need to map the WiFi network into the Cloud4Wi hierarchy, composed of Locations and Access Points. When a user attempts to connect to an access point not properly listed in the Cloud4Wi inventory, it lands on an error page.
In any deployment, especially the large one, the network might change frequently: access points are replaced, added, or removed, new locations are opened or some are closed. Keeping the Cloud4Wi inventory aligned with the actual network could be time-consuming.
The Inventory Automation tool allows connecting to your Meraki dashboard via APIs in order to help keep the network aligned with your inventory.
Preliminary steps
When using the Inventory Automation with Meraki, we assume by default that Meraki Networks map to Cloud4Wi Locations and Meraki Access Points map to Cloud4Wi Access Points.
The mapping of Networks with Locations is done automatically by name. If you enable the tool on an existing Cloud4Wi account, we strongly suggest renaming your Cloud4Wi existing locations using the name of the Meraki Network that corresponds to it. In this way, on the first run, all the matching Networks will be mapped automatically, therefore generating fewer alerts. Otherwise, it will be possible to manually associate Networks with existing Locations with a different name.
Settings
Open the Inventory Automation tool and go to the Settings tab.
To set up a connection, enter your Meraki API Key.
We strongly suggest creating a dedicated user with read-only permission on all the Meraki organizations where you are running Cloud4Wi and then generating an API key with that user.
Once the connection has been established, it is possible to customize the import settings:
- Product Types: choose between wireless and /or appliance products.
- Organizations: select the organizations you want to import and keep synchronized (you can select more than one).
- Network Tags: choose which Network Tags you want to import and keep synchronized.
To enhance the automation of operations within the Inventory Automation tool, you can set default sync options to determine how to handle new Access Points detected or removed from the Meraki instance. These options allow you to choose whether to manually review notifications or to automatically proceed with the creation or removal of the AP under the Cloud4Wi instance.
Alerts
In the Alerts section, notifications related to changes in the Meraki network compared to the Cloud4wi hierarchy are shown. By default, pending Alerts are displayed, while solved Alerts details are available by filtering from the Status menu.
For each type of Alert, different Actions will be available to help solve the issue directly from this section:
- Network detected: a new Network is detected in the Meraki Organizations. If a location with the same name is already configured in the Cloud4wi account, the mapping is automatically done and the Alert is automatically Solved. If not, is it possible to do different actions to solve the issue:
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- Create new location: wizard to create a new location in Cloud4wi is available prefilled with the same details configured in Meraki ( ex. name, address, time zone). It is required to define which kind of service is associated with the new location, copying it from an existing location. During creation, you can decide if you want to import automatically all AP under the Meraki Network or not.
- Associate with an existing location: it is possible to associate the discovered Network with an existing location in Cloud4wi but with a different name (the mapping of Networks with Locations is done automatically by name). In any case, we strongly suggest renaming your locations using the name of the Meraki Network that corresponds to it to match them automatically.
- Ignore: by ignoring, the alert will be solved and you will no longer receive notifications about it. You will be able to resume the network from Hierarchy details.
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- Network removed: a Network, already mapped in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy, is removed from the Meraki dashboard. It is possible to :
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- Delete Cloud4Wi location: proceed to delete the associated Location also in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy. By deleting the location, also all related APs will be removed.
- Ignore: by ignoring, the location will be not deleted in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy and you will no longer receive notifications about it.
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- AP detected: a new AP is detected under an already mapped Network. If an AP with the same mac is already configured in Cloud4wi under matched location, the mapping is automatically done and the Alert is automatically Solved. If not, is it possible to do different actions to solve the issue:
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- Create a new AP: create an AP with the same Mac also in Cloud4Wi inventory, suggesting using the same name used in Meraki.
- Ignore: by ignoring, the alert will be solved and you will no longer receive notifications about it. You will be able to resume the network from Hierarchy details.
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- AP removed: an AP, already mapped in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy, is removed from the Meraki dashboard. It is possible to :
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- Delete Cloud4Wi access point: proceed to delete the AP also in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy.
- Ignore: by ignoring, the AP will be not deleted in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy and you will no longer receive notifications about it.
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- AP replaced: an AP, already mapped in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy, is replaced in Meraki, changing the MAC:
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- Replace AP MAC: proceed to modify AP MAC also in the Cloud4Wi hierarchy.
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Hierarchy
In the Hierarchy section, it is possible to check the status of alignment between the Meraki and Cloud4Wi hierarchies. For each Network and AP discovered in the Meraky Organizations is indicated the status :
- Mapped: if the Network/AP is properly associated with a Cloud4Wi Location/AP
- Unmapped: if the Network/AP is not yet associated with a Cloud4Wi Location/AP
- Discarded: if the Network/AP has been ignored and we no longer receive notifications about it