merakictl

Multi-language Documentation: English, 日本語, 简体中文.

Merakictl is a community developed command line tool for interfacing with the Meraki Dashboard API. It allows you to query and alter network configs from a familiar cli-based environment.

This tool leverages a community supported Go Lang Library: dashboard-api-golang

For the vendor supported python Library: dashboard-api-python

Download Merakictl

This CLI tool does not require any prior programming experience or knowledge of Go Lang to use. Please check the releases page to download the latest version. Use this reference chart to select the appropriate version:

Download Merakictl

$OS	$ARCH
Linux	386
Linux	amd64
OSX	386
OSX	amd64
Windows	386
windows	amd64

Export Path to merakictl

    # Linux/MacOS

    # Move executable to preferred location and append in $PATH
    mv merakictl-$OS-$ARCH /usr/local/sbin/merakictl
    export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:"$PATH"

    # Windows
    # Move executable to executable location (Powershell)
    Move-Item -Path "merakictl-windows-$ARCH.exe" -Destination "C:\Program Files\merakictl.exe"

Now this binary should be available in your shell from any location by calling merakictl.

Compile CLI From Source Code (Optional)

The following steps are very optional and intended only for those who wish to compile from source code.

For everyone else, I preemptively compiled this tool into static binaries for multiple platforms.

Please see the Download Merakictl section for details.

Install Go Lang (Optional)

Install the Go programming language.

Set Go Lang PATH (Optional)

export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin

Import Project (Optional)

go get github.com/ddexterpark/merakictl

Compile Static Binary (Optional)

    cd /Users/{$USERNAME}/go/src/github.com/ddexterpark/merakictl
    go build main.go

    # Make binary exicutable on *nix systems
    chmod +x main.go

Initial Setup

Set Environment Variables

At minimum, to use this tool you will need to set an environmental variable for the API key. There are also some optional env vars that you can set to customize your API calls:

Required

MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY

      Bash -
      export MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY=1234567890987654321
      echo $MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY
      
      PowerShell -
            setx MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY "1234567890987654321"
            echo %MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_KEY%

Generate a Meraki Dashboard API Key

Optional Variables

This variable allows you to change the base URL used when making API calls. This is useful for targeting specific shards or regions.

By default, we leverage the mega-proxy, the Meraki API's Global Load-Balancer.

MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_URL

        Default = "https://api-mp.meraki.com/api/"
        China = "https://api.meraki.cn/api/" 

MERAKI_DASHBOARD_API_VERSION

The default version is v1, this tool has limited support for v0 as it is being sunset in 2022. Not all endpoints will work in v0.

    Default = 'v1'

AutoCompletion

To enable tab-based autocompletion use the following command with your preferred shell as input.

    merakictl completion [bash|zsh|fish|powershell]

Syntax

The full command guide is available here

    merakictl [COMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND] [TARGET]  [flags]

COMMANDS

Long	Short	Syntax	Description
show	get	merakictl show [COMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND] [TARGET] [flags]	Operation for displaying (GET) api resources.
create	post	merakictl create [COMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND] [TARGET] [flags]	Creates (POST) new resources.
update	put	merakictl update [COMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND] [TARGET] [flags]	Updates (PUT) targeted resources.
remove	del, no	merakictl remove [COMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND] [TARGET] [flags]	Destructive (DELETE) API call for removing resources from the Dashboard.

SUBCOMMANDS

Subcommands mirror the Meraki Dashboard hierarchy.

Long	Short	Syntax	Description
Organization	org		Collection of Networks
Network	net		Collection of Devices
Device	sn		Meraki Product
appliance	mx		Meraki MX Security Appliance
switch	ms		Meraki MS Switches
wireless	mr		Meraki MR Wirelesss Access Points
gateway	mg		Meraki MG Cellualar Gateway
camera	mv		Meraki MV Cameras
systems	sm		Meraki SM Systems Management Solution
insight	in		Meraki Insight Application Telemetry

Usage Example

   merakictl show organization list
   merakictl show org networks --organization 'DextersLab'
   merakictl show network devices --network 'My Network'  -o 'DextersLab'
   merakictl show mr ssids -n 'My Network'  -o 'DextersLab' --export
   merakictl update mr ssid 0 -n 'My Network'  -o 'DextersLab' --import SSIDS.yaml

Disclaimer

Please use merakictl responsibly. It can be tempting to immediately try out a new tool to solve some production issues, but it is always better to use a test environment first and develop a change plan based on empirical evidence.

Elements of a great production change plan include:

• Peer Review Have someone else review your test plan, ask them to run it in your test environment.
• Pre-checks Capture the state of the network before the change.
• Post-checks Capture the state of the network after the change.
• Backup Config Copy the config so that you can re-apply it in the event of a rollback.
• Rollback Procedure Do not take this step lightly, things go wrong. The worst possible position is to have a change fail and not have a tested, reliable rollback plan.
• Exponential Change Schedule Don't do everything at once. Start with a single network, monitor it, give it time to operate normally, then, if nothing is wrong schedule the next 5 networks, then 10, 25, 50, 100, etc..
• Failure threshold What percentage of failed changes are acceptable in a batch of networks before all scheduled changes are canceled? Typically, 1-5% is acceptable depending on your scale. Anything over that needs a root cause analysis, and modification of your plan.