Monitoring Meraki: Track Ram And Cpu Usage

Monitoring RAM and CPU usage on Meraki access points is a topic of interest for many users, especially for troubleshooting and performance monitoring. While some users have suggested that CPU/RAM usage data is not particularly useful for purpose-built network devices like Meraki, others have encountered issues that would have been easier to troubleshoot with access to CPU usage data. Unfortunately, Meraki MS switches do not provide information on RAM and CPU consumption through the dashboard, API, or SNMP. However, it is possible to monitor port traffic and sample it over time as an alternative method for performance monitoring. Additionally, Meraki support representatives can provide average CPU load readouts over the last 1, 3, and 15 minutes. Third-party tools like LogicMonitor also offer comprehensive monitoring solutions for Cisco Meraki devices, including real-time insights and automation. While there are some limitations and challenges in monitoring RAM and CPU usage on Meraki access points, users can employ a combination of built-in tools, support from Meraki, and third-party solutions to gain insights into device performance.

Meraki MX Device Utilization can be viewed in the dashboard

The Device Utilization tool helps provide a better understanding of the device's load over time and can be used to assess the utilization level to determine if a higher-end device or a load reduction is required. For instance, if an MX device is consistently over 50% utilization during normal operation, upgrading to a higher-throughput model or reducing the per-device load through horizontal scaling should be considered.

While the Device Utilization tool provides insights into the overall load on the MX device, it does not provide a breakdown of CPU and memory usage. Some users have expressed interest in having access to CPU and memory utilization metrics, especially for troubleshooting purposes. However, as of 2021, these metrics were not available in the dashboard or through third-party monitoring tools.

Meraki MS switches don't provide RAM and CPU usage

Meraki MS switches do not provide RAM and CPU usage information, which is important for troubleshooting and determining the appropriate size for your deployment. This lack of visibility can make it challenging to identify issues related to resource utilisation. While Meraki support representatives can provide average CPU load readouts over the last 1, 3, and 15 minutes, this information is not readily accessible to end users.

The absence of RAM and CPU usage data in Meraki MS switches can be a concern for some users who want to monitor the performance and health of their network devices. However, it's important to note that these switches are purpose-built network devices, and CPU/RAM usage may not be as crucial for their operation as it is for other types of equipment.

Some users have expressed a desire for more transparency in resource utilisation, particularly for troubleshooting purposes. They suggest that having a simple CPU/memory graph or real-time reporting alongside other network metrics would be beneficial. This information could help identify devices that are heavily used or struggling to handle their workload.

While there have been discussions and requests for adding RAM and CPU usage metrics to the Meraki Dashboard, it is unclear if and when these features will be implemented. In the meantime, users can contact Meraki support to obtain specific CPU load readouts for their MS switches, which may assist in diagnosing performance issues.

It's worth noting that while RAM and CPU usage data may not be directly available in the Meraki Dashboard, there are other indicators and tools that can provide insights into device utilisation. For example, the MX Device Utilization tool helps understand the load on MX devices over time and can assist in assessing whether a higher-end device or load reduction strategies are necessary.

LogicMonitor offers real-time insights for Cisco Meraki monitoring

LogicMonitor offers real-time insights and automation for comprehensive, seamless monitoring with agentless architecture. It enables organizations to visualize, trend, and forecast the availability, health, performance, and capacity of Cisco Meraki devices in the context of a heterogeneous hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure.

The official LogicMonitor integration for Cisco Meraki enables monitoring of Security Appliances, Switches, Wireless Access Points, and Smart Cameras. LogicMonitor helps protect SD-WAN investments by monitoring VPN tunnels between Security Appliances in the same Meraki Organization, across organizations, and to non-Meraki SD-WAN Edges. The platform provides intuitive and insightful graphs and topology maps, so support personnel can triage whether an issue is related to a single device’s reachability, performance/load, poor internet connectivity or VPN tunnel quality, or if that issue is a symptom of a larger problem.

LogicMonitor can alert and create incidents if Security Appliances are at capacity, become unreachable, or experience an SD-WAN Underlay (Uplink) or Overlay (VPN Tunnel) failure. Furthermore, if the SD-WAN environment experiences an issue, the LogicMonitor platform can show what happened and why the incident occurred.

The official LogicMonitor integration provides availability, health, performance, wireless radio, wired interface monitoring, and topology mapping for Cisco Meraki and Meraki-managed Cisco Catalyst Wireless Access Points. Customers can get alerted if access points become unreachable, and LogicMonitor enables them to track key metrics over time, like connected users, interface traffic, and radio utilization, so they can intelligently forecast when bottlenecks are likely to occur and when they should budget to add capacity.

The official LogicMonitor integration provides availability, health, performance, interface monitoring, and topology mapping for Cisco Meraki and Meraki-managed Cisco Catalyst Switches.

The official LogicMonitor integration provides availability, health monitoring, and topology mapping for Cisco Meraki Smart Cameras.

Meraki Dashboard API has rate limits

The Meraki Dashboard API has a rate limit of 5 or 10 calls per second per organization. This means that an organization is limited to a certain number of API calls within a one-second interval.

The rate-limiting technique is based on the token bucket model. When the rate limit is exceeded, the Dashboard API will respond with a 429 status code (rate limit exceeded) error code. The response will also include a 'Retry-After' header, indicating the number of seconds to wait before making another request. This delay can range from 1-2 seconds but may be longer if a large number of requests were made within the timeframe.

To prevent hitting the rate limit, you can introduce a small delay between API calls. A 200ms delay is usually sufficient, but a smaller delay of 100ms may also work, depending on what else the code is processing.

You can also use action batches to optimize your workflow and reduce the number of API calls needed.

Meraki devices can be monitored by sampling port traffic over time

Step 1: Download the MIB file from Meraki and import it to PRTG

This will allow you to set up SNMP polling from the Meraki Dashboard.

Step 2: Configure SNMP polling

This can be done by going to Organization > Settings > SNMP in the Meraki Dashboard. Once SNMP has been enabled, you will be able to send SNMP requests to the host that is defined directly under the enable setting. The SNMP host and credentials will also be provided.

Step 3: Enable direct/local device polling

To do this, go to Network-wide > General > Reporting in the Meraki Dashboard. This will allow you to poll individual devices directly and choose between SNMP v1/v2c or v3. By default, Meraki devices cannot be polled from outside the network, but this can be configured by whitelisting remote IPs under Security appliance > Configure > Firewall & traffic shaping.

Step 4: Create a new device in PRTG with the SNMP Credentials

This will allow you to monitor the Meraki devices directly by their IP addresses.

Step 5: Add a new sensor and search for the SNMP Custom Table Sensor

During the creation of the sensor, you will be asked for the Table's OID. Enter 1.3.6.1.2.1.31.1.1 to render a table and display all the information available on the controller. Select all the available access points and configure the following:

• Meraki AP [rowidentifier]
• Identification Column
• Sensor Channel #1 Name
• Sensor Channel #1 Column
• Sensor Channel #1 Unit
• Sensor Channel #1 Value Lookup
• Prtg.customlookups.meraki.devstatus
• Sensor Channel #2 Name
• Sensor Channel #2 Column
• Sensor Channel #2 Unit

Step 6: Deploy the sensor for each selected interface

This will create a Traffic Sensor for each selected interface. Note that the sensor will not support the same features as the standard SNMP Traffic Sensor but can be used as a workaround.

Frequently asked questions