Get rid of the limitations applied to Meraki Configuration Templates
- January 8, 2021
- The Boundless Crew
- Blog
Many Network Administrators struggle with the use of Meraki Configuration Templates
Have you ever felt the Meraki templates were too restrictive for your use case? If you have, you are not alone.
The Meraki configuration templates are most useful in cases where a large number of sites share a common network design.
They allow many Cisco Meraki devices to be deployed following a single base configuration, so in this kind of scenario, they are a great asset to speed up network provisioning and maintain consistency across your organization.
However, the reality of a high number of Administrators is much different.
Network Administrators may be able to use the Configuration Templates to provision new networks in a consistent way. However, the moment they need to change a specific configuration on just a handful of networks, the Meraki Templates will not work. And here is where the real struggle begins.
Cisco Meraki alternatives to the Configuration Templates come with downsides
1 | MANUAL CONFIGURATION CHANGES
The first and most common one is running the configuration changes manually. It clearly isn’t the sexiest option for most of us but is the one we know the best.
If you just need to configure one or two fields in a few networks, making these changes manually may be fine. The problem comes when the changes impact hundreds of networks. In this case, running manual configuration changes can be not only time-consuming but also quite error-prone.
2 | THE MERAKI DASHBOARD API
To overcome this issue, Meraki has opened access to its Dashboard API.
The API contains a set of tools for building software and applications that communicate with the Meraki Dashboard. It can be used for multiple use cases, including bulk configuration changes, providing you with much more flexibility than with the simple use of the native templates.
The downside to this is that to use the Meraki API, you will need to develop, test, and maintain your script.
Unfortunately, this can also be a costly task, both time and money-wise.In summary, any alternative to the Meraki Templates would either be time-consuming or result in costs down the line.
A new concept of Templates: more flexibility, great simplicity, fewer constraints
To help Network Administrators make the most out of their time, Boundless Digital has designed a new concept of Configuration Templates. The Boundless FlexTemplates.
Boundless FlexTemplates works quite similarly to the Meraki Configuration Templates, with one exception.
Unlike the Meraki templates, the FlexTemplates aren’t bound to your networks. They are deployed.
This difference is key as thanks to it they provide much more flexibility when making custom changes to individual or selected networks.
1 | CREATE YOUR FLEXTEMPLATE
2 | EDIT YOUR flextemplate
3 | Deploy YOUR flextemplate
Boundless FlexTemplates is powered by the Meraki Dashboard API. This gives Network Administrators access to all the possibilities the API provides without having to develop, test, or scale in-house scripts.
As a result, they can save time and money in the long run.
Boundless FlexTemplates advantages over Meraki Configuration Templates
1 | Deploy custom changes in bulk without using a template
If your networks are bound to a Meraki template, you can still deploy FlexTemplates and apply individual changes. This will not unbind your networks from the Template.
In the same way, after deploying a FlexTemplate to your network, you can still bind them to a Meraki network.
2 | Use them in different ways
You can deploy many FlexTemplates to the same networks, progressively extending or overwriting the configuration changes.
3 | Deploy BULK configuration changes to MORE DEVICES
Boundless FlexTemplates benefits for Network Administrators
Less Hands-On Work
With Boundless FlexTemplates, you can make customized changes to your individual networks in bulk, even when these are bound to a template.
