topic Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks in Cloud Networking Platform

Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

mloraditch — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 19:36:15 GMT

I can't find this in the documentation yet but it's clearly in the dashboard:

Appears that new networks created after 8/1/25 will have an auto generated LSP password that will push to devices on their first config download.

Can anyone from Meraki confirm my interpretation?

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

Philip D'Ath — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 20:15:01 GMT

Wow. That is certainly a change.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

BlakeRichardson — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 21:16:47 GMT

It still amazes me this stuff like this just appears, surely each product team have someone who's job it is to update the documentation.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

edazeved — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:34:53 GMT

Hello!

This change (Local Status Page (LSP) mandatory password feature) was developed to enforce EU RED (Radio Equipment Directive) compliance.

It requires networks created after August 1, 2025 to have mandatory passwords set for Local Status Page access. It prevents the use of device serial numbers as passwords, which is considered non-compliant under EU RED regulations. The auto-generated password acts as a soft block to the Local Status Page, prompting users to set their own password as required under EU RED.

The public documentation will be updated shortly.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

Tony-Sydney-AU — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 02:51:25 GMT

Hello everyone!

Thanks for bringing this up, @mloraditch and @BlakeRichardson .

Here's the updated document, fresh out of the press!

Shout out to @Hannah-C and the relentless people from Documentation Team!

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

JamesT91 — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:40:12 GMT

But when are we going to be able to actually view the passwords in dashboard again? This has been broken for months.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

RWelch-USA — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 10:05:56 GMT

I don't get the idea or impression it is coming back (could be wrong). I gather the way forward is to set or in some cases, enter a new password if not done so already.

Seems like it's set this way by design - hence even support does not have access to the password.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

strz — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 08:25:08 GMT

I understand the EU policy, but I can’t comprehend why it’s not possible to view the password set in the dashboard afterwards. Do you know of any cloud tool that can set and securely manage LSP passwords via API? How do large customers handle this with hundreds of devices?

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

strz — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 09:23:34 GMT

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

Tony-Sydney-AU — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 22:43:17 GMT

Hi @SteMeDi ,

Yes, I feel your pain. I also miss that old feature.

However, I believe they made it that way to also avoid someone "shoulder surfing" when you're checking or even eavesdropping. Imagine an employee that checks it and then leaves the company; now potentially this person has the ability to login locally if they leave the company and the other admins forget to change the local password. See the problem?

It's very common to have admins forgetting to rotate key / sensitive network passwords when someone leaves the company.

In that sense, your password management over API is a nice solution. I checked Cisco Meraki marketplace but couldn't find one.

Perhaps the best way to move ahead is for you to leverage a corporate password manager. There are plenty of options out there. E.g.: Proton password , Bitwarden , Keeper...

Hope this helps.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

mloraditch — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 02:13:19 GMT

I have to imagine part of the theory is, if you are in a situation where you have to access the device via the local status and it's offline, you can just factory reset it and if it's online you can just change it.

The inconvenience is slight for the situations where it's necessary. I'm sure there are corner cases but I have to guess that's the line of thinking

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

strz — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 06:27:44 GMT

The reset deletes the Support Data Bundle, which in most cases is requested by Meraki Support when a device is down on our side. The new handling of the LSP creates a huge workload for me and I expect Meraki to make the password visible in the dashboard again.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

JamesT91 — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 07:32:19 GMT

You make it sound like it has definitely been removed from the GUI on purpose? I have a support ticket open where they are still "trying to fix it" ... am I being lead down a dead-end path here?🤔

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

strz — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 07:38:50 GMT

Support told me this:
Unfortunately the behavior with the new implementation changed and it is not possible to view the existing password in Dashboard. You can have more details in the document below: https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Tools_and_Troubleshooting/Using_the_Cisco_Meraki_Device_Local_Status_Page/Configuring_the_Local_Status_Page#Changing_Log-In_Credentials

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

JamesT91 — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 07:42:52 GMT

Sigh ... what's my support guy trying to fix then? 🤣 I will ask them now and see if they give me the same response. Not sure why there is so much smoke and mirrors around it all - if you are removing a feature from the dashboard just come out and say it.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

JamesT91 — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 08:21:36 GMT

I have now had a similar update from support, that we will never be able to view the passwords in the GUI again.

Hello

Following up on this case, to ensure the highest level of security and meet evolving regulatory requirements, neither Meraki nor the customers can see the password.

The network settings page will no longer have the ability to display a network’s LSP password.

It will be on the customer to save their password in a separate secure location for future reference.

The goal (and EU RED requirement) is for the customer to go and set it themselves. The intent of the auto-generated password is to act as a soft-block to customers to set their passwords themselves the first time.

Please check the document in the link below for more information.

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Tools_and_Troubleshooting/Using_the_Cisco_Meraki_Device_Local_Status_Page/Configuring_the_Local_Status_Page

Please let me know if you have further questions.

Kinds Regards

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

Mr_Meraki — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 15:39:29 GMT

Tony,

It sounds like there are 2 scenarios I am concerned about:

1) Device is online. You can choose to set a password and then track that with some kind of password manager or spreadsheet. Or you could just reset the password every time and don't bother tracking it. Is that accurate?

2) The second situation is the device is offline but a password has been set. Are you saying a reset wipes the password? Just thinking of situation where the device has been statically set so you can't get it back online.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

Tony-Sydney-AU — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 23:08:15 GMT

Hi @Mr_Meraki , these two scenarios are valid concerns and they can be addressed as follows.

Device is offline; you setup a password and manage it with your own solution. Here, the device will synchronise with dashboard and apply that local password once it goes online. After that, you will use the local password you defined in dashboard and stored in your own solution. You may define it every time you need local access; nothing prevents you from doing that. However, the only time you need local access is when you are doing a basic config to make it connect to dashboard or some troubleshooting. Therefore, it's not best practice to change it every time as the consequence is two fold: [a] device might be offline so it doesn't get the new password, [b] new password applies to all devices so you would need to know it when you troubleshoot a different device. So this last fold brings us to your second scenario
Device is offline but a password has been set and nobody knows it; so here a factory reset would erase it along with any other config. As a result, you would login locally with serial number and configure it to be online in dashboard. Once device is online, it would sync with dashboard and get the new local password again. Therefore, if you don't know the last password, you'll have to redefine it every time you do maintenance or add a new device. That's what I call administrative overhead and definitely not a best practice.

In summary, We can think of a "situation where the device has been statically set so you can't get it back online." and that's the case where a factory reset is useful. For example, a config that brings the device offline, like adding the wrong management VLAN. You can bring it back after factory reset but the device would synch with dashboard and put the wrong management VLAN again. The result is a kind of a racing condition where you need to know the local password and also revert the change in dashboard. Otherwise you may get an offline and online loop situation.

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

Mr_Meraki — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 12:44:10 GMT

@tony.alfano - What in your mind is best practice in handling this change for an MSSP with 100s of service desk agents managing a Meraki dashboard with 100s of orgs, thousands of networks, and tens of thousands of devices?

Re: Local Status Page Password Changes for New Networks

Tony-Sydney-AU — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:13:48 GMT

If I were to manage such MSP, I would seriously evaluate a corporate password manager. Assuming MSP has it's own Directory Service (MS Active Directory or any other), it's key that the password manager solution accepts logins from your Directory Service. This would allow you to disable just one login in case an employee leaves MSP.

For extra security, you may rotate device's local password by using API calls in all managed orgs. 😄 Don't ask me exactly how to do it. I just know that this API exists.