Templates & Cloning

[joshua-mcdonald]

So I am currently working on a large scale organization with 100s of Networks within it

I am looking for a way to speed up new installations and adding Wireless to networks that are currently only Switching.

What are the caveats of using Templates for this instance.

I've been told that templates will attempt to apply to the entire organization on creation and if a wireless template is used on an existing network it will remove or cause issues with the Switching of the site.

Is this the case and if so is there a work around?

We are currently using cloning of sites for settings copying purposes.

Thank you.

[Brash · Accepted solution]

Templates are great if your networks are cookie cutter.

They're less good if you have slight variations - some config items can be overridden per site or by using device tags.

They shouldn't be used if you have significant variations.

The biggest benefit and limitation of templates (in my opinion) is firmware. All networks tied to the template must run the same firmware. Updating the firmware on the template applies it to all attached networks.

In terms of creating templates, you can create one at any time. It's only when you bind networks that they will change the config and potentially impact clients.

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Templates_and_Config_Sync/Managing_Multiple_Networks_with_Configuration_Templates#MR_-_Wireless_Network_Templates

If the template limitations prevent you from effectively using them, get familiar with the API as you can more or less achieve the same result.

[Philip D'Ath]

I can't find the documentation for this at the moment - but you might want to check out the old feature "Configuration Sync". For WiFi it compares the settings in a source network against a selection of destination networks, and lets you choose what to copy.

I think this only works on "WiFi" networks, and you can not use it on a "combined" network.