Meraki Early Access Program: AP Zero Touch Deployment

[RWelch-USA]

AP Zero Touch Deployment

Simplify AP deployments with automated, one-click provisioning.

[MerakiGnome]

Never convinced by zero touch deployments. Pre-staging has been ingrained in me. Equipment may be more reliable and robust nowadays but I like the assurance that the eqpt I’m deploying works and I’ve witnessed that.

[mloraditch]

I remember hearing about this at either Cisco Live or a partner training, It appears you have to load the new aps and then match them up, which is fine, but I'd prefer to have them pre-loaded and just rely on matching up serials as an option, then things could happen automatically as soon as they are plugged in.

I can see why you might want the other way, but having both would be ideal imo.

[Raphael_L]

I really love the idea , but I'm afraid the limitations might kill the hype.

1- Does it work with SecurePort ? SecurePort requires that the AP is in the same network as the switches

2- Can it support a more complexe naming scheme ? Our APs do not end with the SEQ number. AP + Unique LOC ( 3 letters ) + Floor ( 2 Chars ) + SEQ ( 2 Chars ) + ZZ

[minse]

Thanks @Raphletourn for feedbacks! definitely we can add SecurePort scenario support in next iterations. ther e are even more exciting list of features being discussed on AP ZTD solution and looking forward to support broader deployment scenarios!
in terms of AP naming support, yes I think there are huge room for improvements. Adding RegX expression is one of topic that we've been tinking but it also comes with some complexity too. one idea to overcome that is using API! AP ZTD operations are fully API ready and customer can add more complex rule in AP naming

[Raphael_L]

Wow that would be perfect !

Naming the AP via API sounds excellent too. Thanks for the follow up !

[aleabrahao]

Interesting.

For the environments where I have the C9800, I use regular expressions to apply tags to the Access Points. This way, the only work I have to do is rename the APs, and as soon as it returns to the controller, the correct tags are already applied.

It's not zero-touch, but it saves a lot of time. 😄

[minse]

Bulk AP Naming changes are one of topics that we are trying to tackle and Catalyst Center offer similar services as part of AP Config workflow.

[aneduzhk · Accepted solution]

IMO, this feature will have a big positive impact to make AP RMA and new deployment more seamless. Will it solve for every possible corner case like SecurePort? Of course not! However, we can always make MVP+ additional later.

Free free to submit enhancement requests via https://ciscospinfra.ideas.aha.io/