offline_logging.py

A Python 3 script to log data from the Meraki dashboard into an external database periodically.

The use case

This script is an example of how to cover use cases such as:

• A policy requiring data to be stored in a particular physical location, outside of the Meraki cloud
• A need for longer storage time than what the Meraki cloud provides
• A need for storing regular timestamped snapshots of particular data

Project overview

The project consists of a Python 3 script that interacts with a MongoDB database. While other types of deployment are also possible, the instructions in this document focus on how to install and integrate the script with a MongoDB Community Server running on the same server as the script.

Components

To use this project, you will need the following:

• A Meraki organization with API access enabled and a Dashboard API key: https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Other_Topics/Cisco_Meraki_Dashboard_API
• Python 3: https://www.python.org/downloads/
• The Requests module for Python 3: https://requests.readthedocs.io
• The PyYAML module for Python 3: https://pyyaml.org/
• The PyMongo module for Python 3: https://pymongo.readthedocs.io
• MongoDB. You can get the Community Server edition for free here: https://www.mongodb.com/try/download/community
• A tool to view your database. You can install MongoDB Compass along with the MongoDB Community Server

Installation and startup

• Install Python 3. If installing on Windows, it is recommended to select the "Add to PATH" option during installation
• Install the required third party Python 3 modules. The easiest way to do this is to run:

Windows:
pip install requests
pip install pyyaml
pip install pymongo

Linux/Mac:
pip3 install requests
pip3 install pyyaml
pip3 install pymongo

• Install MongoDB and MongoDB Compass
• Copy offline_logging.py and config.yaml into a folder on your server
• Open config.yaml with a text editor. It is a configuration file the follows the YAML 1.1 format (https://yaml.org/spec/1.1/). Edit the following items in it:
• ...find the meraki_dashboard_api section and modify the values for api_key and organization_id to match your environment. If you do not know the ID of your organization, you can use the interactive tools on this page to find it: https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-v1/#!get-organizations
• ...find the sources section and define which networks to include in scans. Networks can be included by name, id, network tag, or you can set the include_all_networks boolean flag to scan everything. Refer to the examples in the config file for the correct format
• ...find the endpoints section and see which items can be logged. Every item has a boolean attribute named enabled which can be used to turn the item on or off. To find out more about what exactly each item logs, search for its name on the Meraki Dashboard API documentation page: https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-v1/#!overview
• Save your changes to config.yaml
• Run the script:

Windows:
python offline_logging.py -c config.yaml

Linux/Mac:
python3 offline_logging.py -c config.yaml

Verifying results

Use MongoDB Compass to view the contents of your database.

Useful links

The official Meraki API developer page: https://developer.cisco.com/meraki