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Cisco Meraki Connector

This connector imports hosts from Cisco Meraki into Alvao as objects, and creates a related ticket in Alvao whenever an event is detected in Meraki. It can also resolve the Alvao ticket on resolution of the Meraki event.

The connector periodically (every hour) reads the information in Meraki and updates the corresponding objects representing the devices in Alvao.

When the import is running for the first time, Alvao objects are paired with Meraki devices by the BIOS serial number or Hostname object property.

If no Alvao object is found for a given hostname, or serial number respectively, a new Alvao object is created in the Imported objects folder in the object tree. Alvao automatically chooses the best-fitting object type for the new object. Check the content of the folder regularly. If necessary, change the type of newly created objects, and move the objects to appropriate places in the object tree.

For all objects paired with a device in Meraki, the connector sets the Cisco Meraki device ID object property and uses the property instead of the Hostname property.

In the Cisco Meraki last check-in property, you will find the date and time of the last Meraki discovery check (ping, agent check, SNMP check)

The connector can update the following object properties:

  • Hostname
  • Operating system
  • Model
  • Serial number
  • Object type
  • Mac adresses
  • Manufacturer
  • Cisco Meraki Device ID
  • Cisco Meraki Last check-in

The properties are automatically added to the mentioned object types on the initial run of the connector. If you plan to use some other object types with this connector, add these properties to them manually.

Requirements​

  • ALVAO Asset Management or ALVAO Service Desk and ALVAO Monitoring Connectors module
  • Cisco Meraki
  • If Meraki is deployed on-premises and Alvao is running as SaaS, the Meraki API must be exposed to the internet.

Importing assets from Cisco Meraki to Alvao​

To use this feature, you need the ALVAO Asset Management Monitoring Connector.

Getting the Cisco Meraki token​

  1. In the Cisco Meraki** dashboard click on the Organization menu and go to the API & Webhooks page.
  2. Go to the Tab API keys and access tab.
  3. Click on Generate API Key and copy the key to clipboard.

Setting up Alvao​

  1. Go to Administration – Applications and select the Cisco Meraki Connector application.

    Manual download: CiscoMerakiConnector.xml

  2. Configure the following application settings:

    • CiscoMeraki.Token – enter the key token created in previous steps.

  3. Enable the application using the Enable command.

  4. In one hour, new objects representing Meraki hosts will be created in the Imported objects folder on the Objects page.

Creating and resolving Alvao tickets based on Cisco Meraki events​

To use this feature, you need the ALVAO Service Desk Monitoring Connector.

Setting up Alvao​

  1. Go to Administration – Settings – Advanced settings and create New setting – select name CiscoMeraki.WebhookSharedSecret and as the value enter the Shared secret from the Webhook.

  2. Create a new Service for the ticket creation (fill the Name and Description fields).

  3. Create an application account, set its password and assign it the main solver and requester role of the previously created service and permission to read objects in Asset Management.

Setting up Cisco Meraki​

  1. In the Cisco Meraki dashboard click on the Organization menu and go to the API & Webhooks page.
  2. Go to tab Webhooks and within it go to the Templates tab.
  3. Click the Create template and fill the form it as follows:

    • Template name: Alvao

    • Liquid body:

      {
      "version": "0.1",
      "sharedSecret": "{{sharedSecret}}",
      "sentAt": "{{sentAt}}",
      "organizationId": "{{organizationId}}",
      "organizationName": "{{organizationName}}",
      "organizationUrl": "{{organizationUrl}}",
      "networkId": "{{networkId}}",
      "networkName": "{{networkName}}",
      "networkUrl": "{{networkUrl}}",
      "networkTags": {{ networkTags | jsonify }},
      "deviceSerial": "{{deviceSerial}}",
      "deviceMac": "{{deviceMac}}",
      "deviceName": "{{deviceName}}",
      "deviceUrl": "{{deviceUrl}}",
      "deviceTags": {{ deviceTags | jsonify }},
      "deviceModel": "{{deviceModel}}",
      "alertId": "{{alertId}}",
      "alertType": "{{alertType}}",
      "alertTypeId": "{{alertTypeId}}",
      "alertLevel": "{{alertLevel}}",
      "occurredAt": "{{occurredAt}}",
      "alertData": {{ alertData | jsonify }},
      "alvaoServiceId": 123,
      "alvaoRequesterId": 123
      }
      • alvaoServiceId = ID of Alvao service, where ticket will be created. You can view it in the url of the Administration - Service Desk - Services - Service page of the particular service.
      • alvaoRequesterId = ID of ticket requester. You can view it in the url of the Administration - Users – User page of the particular user.

    • click Save

    • In the Webhooks tab go to tab Recievers

    • Click Add receiver and fill it as follows:

    • Click Save

    • Set created webhook as a receiver for a desired alerts.