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Automatic provisioning with Cisco Meraki is live in the Purple Portal

By Richard Ellor
10 September 2019
2 min read
Automatic provisioning with Cisco Meraki is live in the Purple Portal
Cisco Meraki provisioning planner

How long would your Meraki guest WiFi rollout take by hand?

Compare typing splash, walled garden and RADIUS settings into every Meraki network against pushing them through the Meraki Dashboard API with Purple.

15
1150
12
1100
Meraki splash page mode
Guest SSIDs per venue

Rollout estimate for 180 access points across 15 venues

Manual setup time
13 h
52 min for each new venue
Engineer time with API provisioning
30 min
One-off connection plus a check per venue
Engineering time saved
13 h
Worth about $1,063 at $85/h
Values typed by hand
570
Expect about 5.7 typos at a 1% keying error rate

Meraki Dashboard API workload

API calls
32
Inventory reads plus 2 writes per guest SSID per network
Minimum sync time
4 s
At Meraki's limit of 10 requests per second per organisation

What gets set on each guest SSID

Meraki SSID settings pushed by API provisioning
Meraki settingValuePushed by API
Association requirementOpen (the captive portal gates access)Yes
Splash pageSign-on with my RADIUS serverYes
Custom splash URLYour Purple splash URL (external captive portal)Yes
Walled gardenEnabled: Purple portal hosts plus the social login providers you switch onYes
RADIUS serversPurple primary and secondary, UDP 1812, shared secretYes
RADIUS accountingEnabled, Purple primary and secondary, UDP 1813Yes
Client IP and VLANUnchanged: keep NAT mode or bridge mode with a guest VLANNo
  • Read the inventory: GET /organizations/{orgId}/networks and GET /organizations/{orgId}/devices (up to 1,000 per page)
  • Set splash mode, walled garden and RADIUS: PUT /networks/{networkId}/wireless/ssids/{number}
  • Point the SSID at the Purple portal: PUT /networks/{networkId}/wireless/ssids/{number}/splash/settings

Method: manual time per guest SSID is 6 min for the SSID basics, 4 min for the splash mode and URL, 6 min for about 12 walled garden entries, 8 min for RADIUS authentication and accounting servers, plus 10 min to test a login at each venue and 1.5 min to register each access point MAC address in the Purple portal. Meraki applies SSID settings per network, so the SSID work scales with venues, not access points. The API figure is a floor set by the rate limit; real runs add network latency and retries.

Want a check of your Meraki organisation before you connect it?
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Interactive deployment calculator

Cisco Meraki automatic provisioning and time-savings sizer

Calculate engineering time savings, labour cost reductions, and API automation workflows for multi-site Cisco Meraki deployments integrated with the Purple Portal.

MR36, MR44, MR46, MR56, MR57 cloud-managed access points

Payload: Custom splash URL + walled garden domains + RADIUS accounting

15 sites
1 site250+ sites
150 APs
10 APs2,000+ APs
Manual config time
88 hrs
~35 mins per AP across 15 sites
Purple API sync time
8 mins
~3 seconds per AP via the Dashboard API
Time saved
100% (88 hrs)
Eliminates repetitive manual entry errors
Estimated labour saved
£5,720
Based on £65/hr network engineering rate

Included Meraki Dashboard API v1 provisioning features:

  • Automatic SSID binding and splash URL injection
  • Walled garden domain list synchronisation (*.purplewifi.net)
  • Visitor authentication and CRM profile synchronisation
  • Dynamic MAC address syncing and access point inventory discovery across all Meraki networks.
Ready to automate your Cisco Meraki network deployment?
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We work with a number of enterprise-sized businesses across the world, many of which have thousands of access points across multiple locations. Manually configuring that many access points is a daunting task for any engineer. So, to help our customers tackle this issue, we have introduced automatic provisioning for Meraki hardware. 

Importing your access point data is now a simple, one-step task that quite frankly, we think you will enjoy. 

Here's how it works  

The new integration allows Purple customers to import all of their access point data into the Purple Portal, direct from their Meraki Dashboard. 

Using the connector function within Purple's Hardware Import Wizard, users can import hundreds of Meraki access points in a single batch, and then monitor the progress of the import through various stages.

To do this, users should select 'Venue Management' within the portal and click 'Import Hardware'. There are three import options: Third-party API, Paste / copy and Upload file. Choose 'Third-party API'. Users will then be prompted to enter their Meraki Cloud Dashboard API Key, at which point all of the access points belonging to their Meraki network are displayed and ready for import.

Key benefits

  • Purple customers that use Meraki hardware can easily import their Meraki networks and access points into the Purple Portal and send the configuration back to enable the service automatically.

Next steps

We will soon be working on building a two-way integration, whereby Purple will provision the users' wireless network with all the required settings to activate Purple on an SSID. The integration will also send the Purple Captive Portal, walled garden, and RADIUS configuration back to Meraki.

Frequently asked questions

How does automatic provisioning for Cisco Meraki hardware work with Purple?

Purple connects directly to the Cisco Meraki Dashboard API v1 using an organization API key. When an administrator initiates the Hardware Import Wizard in the Purple Portal, the integration pulls all access point serial numbers, MAC addresses, and venue tags in batch. It then configures the target wireless SSID with Purple captive portal URLs, walled garden domains, and primary/secondary RADIUS AAA parameters automatically.

What Cisco Meraki Dashboard API permissions are required to enable automatic provisioning?

To enable automated provisioning, generate a Meraki Dashboard API key from an administrator account with Full or Read-Write permissions for the target organization. This allows Purple to query device inventories and update wireless SSID settings across your networks.

How does Purple configure RADIUS servers and AAA authentication on Meraki SSIDs?

The automated provisioning connector configures Cisco Meraki MR access points with Purple's geo-redundant RADIUS authentication servers (port 1812) and accounting servers (port 1813). It inputs shared secrets, enables 802.1X or MAC-based splash authentication, and sets RADIUS accounting interim-update intervals to ensure accurate real-time visitor session reporting.

What walled garden domains are configured for the Purple captive portal on Meraki?

The automated integration populates the Meraki walled garden whitelist with required hostnames (including *.purple.ai and essential CDN endpoints) and identity provider domains for social login (such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook OAuth endpoints) to allow visitors to authenticate before receiving full network access.

Can I provision hundreds of Meraki access points across multiple venue networks simultaneously?

Yes. Enterprise organizations and managed service providers managing multi-site deployments can import and configure hundreds or thousands of Meraki MR access points in a single batch. The Purple connector respects Meraki API rate limits (10 requests per second per organization) to execute multi-venue rollouts reliably.

What are the primary operational benefits of API provisioning over manual Meraki SSID configuration?

Manual configuration typically requires 20 to 30 minutes per access point to copy MAC addresses, assign splash pages, and verify RADIUS shared secrets. Automated API provisioning eliminates manual data-entry errors, reduces deployment time to minutes across large venues, and ensures consistent enterprise security policies across all physical locations.

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