How to Clone a Switch in the Meraki Dashboard
Overview
Switch cloning copies all port-level and some switch-level configuration settings from a source Cisco Meraki MS switch to another. Cloning requires the source and destination switches to be the same model, with the exception of cloning an MS210/225 configuration to an MS250. The source and destination switches must also have identical port layouts, including the same number and type of ports.
For example, Cloning between the MS355-48X and MS355-48X2 is not supported. While both switches belong to the same model family and share overall port density, their port layouts are different:
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The MS355-48X has 32 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) Registered Jack 45 (RJ45) ports.
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The MS355-48X2 has 24 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) Registered Jack 45 (RJ45) ports.
In addition, neither the source nor the destination switch can be part of a switch stack. The API endpoint aligns with what the UI offers.
If the switches you are cloning are connected, the configuration will immediately take effect.
The following switch-level configurations are not cloned as part of this process:
- Management IP
- Switch Name
- Any Layer 3 Settings (such as: interfaces, DHCP, multicast, OSPF)
Any of these configs that need to be cloned will have to be copied and input manually after the cloning process.
Important Note: For Catalyst switches (including MS390) on CS firmware, power down the entire switch stack before adding or replacing a new member. This avoids packet forwarding or configuration sync issues.
This requirement applies only to stacks on CS firmware and is not required for stacks running IOS-XE firmware.
Step-by-step instructions
The switch cloning process copies configurations from one source switch to one or more target switches.
There is no way to revert cloning from the Meraki dashboard. Ensure you have selected the proper switch for both steps: select the target switch from the list under Switch > Switches, and select the source switch (device) from the Edit... dropdown.
Old dashboard version
In the example screenshots below, Switch 1 is the source and Switch 2 is the target.
- Navigate to Switch > Switches and select a checkbox next to your target switch (or switches)
- Select Edit, then Clone...
- Select the source switch that you want the target to match
- Select Clone to copy configurations from the source to the targets
New dashboard version
In the example screenshots below, MS120-8LP-SW1 is the source, MS120-8LP-SW2 is the target.
- Navigate to Switching > Switches and select a checkbox next to your target switch (or switches)
- Select Clone
- Type the name of the source switch that you want targets to match, then select the switch from the results
- Select Clone to copy configurations from the source to the target(s).
Verification
Verify that the destination switch contains the following cloned configuration settings.
Switch-level configuration
STP Bridge priority (Switch > Configure > Switch settings)
Port Mirroring (Switch > Configure > Switch settings)
Port-level configuration
- Port Name
- Port Tags
- Interface state
- Spanning tree
- Spanning tree protocol (STP) guard / Bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) guard
- Power over ethernet (PoE)
- Link
- Port schedules (access only)
- Interface Type
- Adaptive Policy Group
- Adaptive Policy Peer security group tag (SGT) Configuration
- Access policy (access only)
- (ignored if the source access policy doesn't exist in the destination network)
- MAC allow list (access only)
- Allow listed MACs (access only)
- Sticky MAC Allow list (access only)
- Allow list size limit (access only)
- Native VLAN (trunk only)
- Allowed VLANs (trunk only)
- VLAN (access only)
- Voice VLAN (access only)
If cloning a non-PoE switch to a PoE switch, the PoE state of 'disabled' will be applied to the clone destination.
Troubleshooting
Switch networks bound to templates
Switch networks bound to templates will not be able to clone using the Clone tool mentioned above. To duplicate switch configurations, use the Bind to profile tool. For more information, refer to the Switch Templates Deployment Guide.