Cisco Meraki Data Source Plugin for Grafana

Description

The Cisco Meraki Data Source Plugin is a Grafana backend data source plugin that queries and visualizes Cisco Meraki network and device data directly in Grafana panels.

Cisco Meraki is a cloud-managed IT platform for wireless, switching, security appliances, SD-WAN and cellular gateways. The plugin connects to the Cisco Meraki Dashboard API v1 to retrieve device availability and status, device memory and CPU, power supplies, network and security events, clients, wireless statistics, switch ports, appliance uplinks and site-to-site VPN performance.

Features

• Query and visualize Cisco Meraki data directly within Grafana
• Eighteen query types spanning six groups:
  • Device Status
    • Device Availabilities — current status of each device, with an optional change history
    • Device Status Overview — count of online, alerting, offline and dormant devices
    • Device Statuses — status, IP addresses and last report time of each device
    • Power Module Statuses — status of each power supply slot
  • System Resources
    • Device Memory Usage History — memory usage per device over time, for all device types
    • Wireless CPU Load History — 5-minute CPU load per access point, in percent of all cores
    • Wireless Controller CPU Utilization — CPU usage per wireless LAN controller over time
    • Appliance Performance Score — load score of a primary MX security appliance
  • Events
    • Network Events — the event log of a network, per product type
    • Security Events — IDS/IPS and malware events from security appliances
  • Clients
    • Network Clients — clients seen on a network, with usage
    • Device Clients — clients connected to a device, with usage
  • Wireless
    • Wireless Client Count — wireless client count over time
    • Wireless Connection Stats — association, authentication, DHCP and DNS results
    • Wireless Latency Stats — wireless latency by traffic class
  • Switching & WAN
    • Switch Port Statuses — status, speed and duplex of each switch port
    • Appliance Uplink Statuses — WAN uplink status of each security appliance
    • VPN Stats — site-to-site VPN latency, loss, jitter and MOS
• Network, device and product type filters, with Network and Device dropdowns populated from the Meraki API
• Required fields marked in the query editor; queries that need a device are not run when none is available
• Per-query-type time range limits enforced before the request is sent
• Link-header pagination on every paginated endpoint, with no row cap
• Rate-limit handling that honours the Meraki Retry-After header
• Configurable Base URL for regional Meraki API endpoints
• Six pre-built dashboards covering device status, infrastructure, wireless and VPN, network events, security events and clients

Compatibility

Component	Version / Detail
Grafana	>= 12.0.0
Meraki API	Cisco Meraki Dashboard API v1
Authentication	Meraki Dashboard API key (Bearer token)
Base URL	Configurable per data source — defaults to https://api.meraki.com/api/v1

Installation

Requirements

• Grafana >= 12.0.0
• A Cisco Meraki organization with Dashboard API access enabled
• A Meraki Dashboard API key with read access to the organization
• Network egress from the Grafana backend to the Meraki API (api.meraki.com, or your regional endpoint) on TCP/443

Obtain a Meraki API Key

1. Sign in to the Meraki Dashboard.
2. Go to Organization → Settings and make sure API access is enabled.
3. Open your profile (top-right user menu → My profile).
4. Under API access, click Generate new API key.
5. Copy the key and store it securely — it is shown only once.
6. Note your Organization ID. Call GET https://api.meraki.com/api/v1/organizations with the API key as a Bearer token; the response lists the ID of each organization the key can access.

Install the Plugin

Grafana Cloud

1. Navigate to your Grafana Cloud stack.
2. Go to Administration → Plugins and data → Plugins.
3. Search for Cisco Meraki and click Install.

Self-managed Grafana

grafana cli plugins install crestdata-ciscomeraki-datasource

Restart the Grafana server after installation.

Configure the Data Source

Navigate to Connections → Data sources → Add new data source and select Cisco Meraki.

Field	Type	Required	Description
Base URL	String	No	The Meraki API base URL. Defaults to https://api.meraki.com/api/v1. Change it for regional endpoints (Canada, China, India, US FedRAMP).
Organization ID	String	Yes	The ID of the Meraki organization to query.
API Key	Secure string	Yes	Your Meraki Dashboard API key.

The API key is stored encrypted in Grafana's secure settings store and is never returned to the browser.

Click Save & Test. The plugin calls GET /organizations/{organizationId} to confirm that the API key, organization ID and network path work.

Usage

Query Editor

Select a Query Type first. Query types are grouped by category, and the editor then shows only the filters that query type supports. Fields marked with * are required; every other filter is optional and is left out of the request when blank. When a query type needs a device and none is available, the editor shows a warning and the query is not run.

Query types with history use the dashboard time range. Live query types return the current state and ignore it — the editor shows a note for each.

Available Query Types

Device Availabilities

Current status of each device: online, alerting, offline or dormant. Enable Historical Data to return the status change history instead.

• Filters: Product Type, Historical Data
• Time range: not applied (current state); with Historical Data, up to 31 days
• Frame: table, one row per device (or per status change)

Device Status Overview

Number of devices in each status.

• Filters: Network, Product Type
• Time range: not applied (current state)
• Frame: table, one row with Online, Alerting, Offline and Dormant counts

Device Statuses

Status, LAN and public IP, gateway and last report time of every device.

• Filters: Network, Device Serial, Product Type
• Time range: not applied (current state)
• Frame: table, one row per device

Power Module Statuses

Status of each power supply slot on devices with field-replaceable power supplies.

• Filters: Network, Device Serial, Product Type
• Time range: not applied (current state)
• Frame: table, one row per power supply slot

Device Memory Usage History

Memory used and free per device over time, for every device type.

• Filters: Network, Device Serial, Product Type
• Time range: applied, up to 31 days
• Frame: time series in long format, one row per device per interval

Wireless CPU Load History

The 5-minute CPU load average of each access point. CPU Load is the percentage of all cores in use, as Meraki Dashboard shows it: the raw cpuLoad5 value divided by 1,000 × CPU Count (Meraki reports the load average × 100,000). CPU Load (5 min avg) keeps the raw value.

• Filters: Network, Device Serial (access points only)
• Time range: applied, up to 1 day
• Frame: time series in long format, one row per access point per sample

Wireless Controller CPU Utilization

Average CPU usage of each wireless LAN controller.

• Filters: Device Serial (wireless controllers only)
• Time range: applied, up to 31 days
• Frame: time series in long format, one row per controller per interval

Appliance Performance Score

One performance score for a primary MX security appliance over the time range. Higher means the appliance is more heavily loaded.

• Filters: Network, Device Serial (required, MX appliances only)
• Time range: applied, up to 30 days; a range longer than 14 days uses its most recent 14 days
• Frame: table, one row

Network Events

The event log of a network for one product type.

• Filters: Network (required), Product Type (required)
• Time range: applied
• Frame: table, one row per event

Security Events

IDS/IPS and malware events from security appliances, for the organization or one network.

• Filters: Network
• Time range: applied, up to 365 days
• Frame: table, one row per event

Network Clients

Clients currently or recently seen on a network, with status, OS, VLAN and usage.

• Filters: Network (required)
• Time range: not applied (current state)
• Frame: table, one row per client

Device Clients

Clients currently or recently connected to a device, with VLAN and usage.

• Filters: Device Serial (required)
• Time range: not applied (current state)
• Frame: table, one row per client

Wireless Client Count

Wireless client count over time for a network or one access point.

• Filters: Network (required), Device Serial
• Time range: applied, up to 31 days
• Frame: time series

Wireless Connection Stats

Association, authentication, DHCP and DNS results for a network or one access point.

• Filters: Network (required), Device Serial
• Time range: applied, up to 180 days back with a window of at most 7 days
• Frame: table

Wireless Latency Stats

Average wireless latency for background, best-effort, video and voice traffic.

• Filters: Network (required), Device Serial
• Time range: applied, up to 180 days back with a window of at most 7 days
• Frame: table

Switch Port Statuses

Status, speed and duplex of each port on each switch.

• Filters: Network, Device Serial
• Time range: not applied (current state)
• Frame: table, one row per port

Appliance Uplink Statuses

WAN uplink status and IP addresses of each security appliance.

• Filters: Network, Device Serial
• Time range: not applied (current state)
• Frame: table, one row per uplink

VPN Stats

Site-to-site VPN latency, packet loss, jitter, MOS and usage between networks.

• Filters: Network
• Time range: applied, up to 31 days
• Frame: table, one row per peer and uplink pair

Time Range Handling

Eleven query types use the dashboard time range: Device Availabilities (with Historical Data), Device Memory Usage History, Wireless CPU Load History, Wireless Controller CPU Utilization, Appliance Performance Score, Network Events, Security Events, Wireless Client Count, Wireless Connection Stats, Wireless Latency Stats and VPN Stats.

The remaining query types report current state and ignore the time picker: Device Availabilities, Device Status Overview, Device Statuses, Power Module Statuses, Network Clients, Device Clients, Switch Port Statuses and Appliance Uplink Statuses.

When the selected range starts earlier than a query type supports, the query is rejected before it reaches Meraki and the panel explains the limit.

Error Handling and Retry Strategy

• HTTP 429 (rate limited): the plugin waits for the Retry-After interval and retries.
• HTTP 5xx and network errors: retried with exponential backoff, up to 3 attempts.
• Other HTTP 4xx errors: returned immediately without retry.
• Error messages never include credentials, URLs or Meraki response text. The detail is written to the Grafana server log.

Save & test

Condition	Message shown
Organization ID empty	Organization ID is required.
API Key empty	API Key is required.
Both empty	Organization ID and API Key are required.
HTTP 401	Authentication failed. Check the configured credentials.
HTTP 403	Access denied. Check the service account's permissions.
HTTP 429 (after retries)	Too many requests. Try again later.
Any other failure	Unable to connect, see Grafana logs for details.

Queries

Condition	Message shown
Data source not configured	Query failed, see Grafana server log for details
Query cancelled	The query was cancelled.
Request timed out	The request to Cisco Meraki timed out. Try again later or use a shorter time range.
TLS certificate cannot be verified	Unable to verify the Cisco Meraki TLS certificate. Check the Base URL.
Hostname cannot be resolved	Unable to resolve the Cisco Meraki hostname. Check the Base URL.
Connection refused or reset	Unable to connect to Cisco Meraki. Check the Base URL and that Grafana can reach it over the network.
HTTP 401	Authentication failed. Check the configured credentials.
HTTP 403	Access denied. Check the service account's permissions.
HTTP 404	Cisco Meraki could not find the requested resource. Check the Base URL, Organization ID and API Key, and that the selected network or device still exists.
HTTP 429 (after retries)	Too many requests. Try again later.
Other HTTP 4xx	Cisco Meraki rejected the request. Check the query's filter values.
HTTP 500	Cisco Meraki encountered an internal error. Try again later.
HTTP 502 / 503 / 504	Cisco Meraki returned an invalid response / is temporarily unavailable / did not respond in time. Try again later.
Response cannot be read, or unexpected failure	Query failed, see Grafana server log for details
Unknown query type	Unsupported query type "X". Select a query type from the list.
Time range starts too early	Selected time range exceeds the maximum supported lookback (N days) for this query type.
Wireless stats window longer than 7 days	Selected time range is too wide. Meraki wireless stats support a maximum window of 7 days.
Performance score for a non-MX device	Performance score is only available for primary MX security appliances
VPN Stats without site-to-site VPN	Site-to-site VPN not enabled in your organization
Security Events on a network without an MX	This endpoint only supports MX networks

Meraki returns 404, not 401, for a missing or incorrect API key in some cases. If a query shows the 404 message, check the API Key and Organization ID as well as the Base URL.

Resources Reference

Query Type	Meraki Dashboard API endpoint	Frame type
Device Availabilities	/organizations/{organizationId}/devices/availabilities (/changeHistory with Historical Data)	Table
Device Status Overview	/organizations/{organizationId}/devices/statuses/overview	Table
Device Statuses	/organizations/{organizationId}/devices/statuses	Table
Power Module Statuses	/organizations/{organizationId}/devices/powerModules/statuses/byDevice	Table
Device Memory Usage History	/organizations/{organizationId}/devices/system/memory/usage/history/byInterval	Time series
Wireless CPU Load History	/organizations/{organizationId}/wireless/devices/system/cpu/load/history	Time series
Wireless Controller CPU Utilization	/organizations/{organizationId}/wirelessController/devices/system/utilization/history/byInterval	Time series
Appliance Performance Score	/devices/{serial}/appliance/performance	Table
Network Events	/networks/{networkId}/events	Table
Security Events	/organizations/{organizationId}/appliance/security/events or /networks/{networkId}/appliance/security/events	Table
Network Clients	/networks/{networkId}/clients	Table
Device Clients	/devices/{serial}/clients	Table
Wireless Client Count	/networks/{networkId}/wireless/clientCountHistory	Time series
Wireless Connection Stats	/networks/{networkId}/wireless/connectionStats or /devices/{serial}/wireless/connectionStats	Table
Wireless Latency Stats	/networks/{networkId}/wireless/latencyStats or /devices/{serial}/wireless/latencyStats	Table
Switch Port Statuses	/organizations/{organizationId}/switch/ports/statuses/bySwitch	Table
Appliance Uplink Statuses	/organizations/{organizationId}/appliance/uplink/statuses	Table
VPN Stats	/organizations/{organizationId}/appliance/vpn/stats	Table

Included Dashboards

All six dashboards ship with auto-refresh disabled so you opt in explicitly.

Cisco Meraki - Device Status

Online, alerting, offline and dormant device counts, total, reachable and unreachable devices, a status distribution chart, device status by product type, and a device status table. Availability change analysis with status transition patterns, the devices with the most changes and the change history. A device statuses table with IP addresses and last report time, and power supplies by status with a power module table. Filtered by the Product Type variable.

Cisco Meraki - Infrastructure

Switch port totals, ports by status and a switch port table. Appliance uplink totals, active uplinks, uplinks by status and an uplink table. System resources with memory usage by device over time, peak memory by device, and the MX performance score and memory usage of a selected security appliance. Filtered by the Network and Security Appliance variables.

Cisco Meraki - Wireless & VPN

Wireless client count over time, average latency by traffic class and connection results. Site-to-site VPN latency, packet loss, MOS and peer count, latency by peer and a peer table. Access point CPU load over the last 24 hours and wireless controller CPU usage. Filtered by the Network variable.

Cisco Meraki - Network Events

Total events, unique devices and event types, events by category, and the devices, event types and client MACs with the most events, plus the full event log. Filtered by the Network and Product Type variables.

Cisco Meraki - Security Events

Total security events, events by type, the most frequent event types and a security event table. Filtered by the Network variable.

Cisco Meraki - Clients

Client totals, online clients and data sent and received for a network, the top clients by data sent and by OS, and a client table. Device client totals, the top device clients by data sent and by VLAN, and a device client table. Filtered by the Network and Device variables.

Limitations and Recommendations

Supported Time Range per Query Type

Limits follow the Cisco Meraki Dashboard API v1 documentation for each endpoint. Max lookback is how far back the selected range can start; Max window is the longest range one query can cover.

Query Type	Max lookback	Max window	Notes
Device Availabilities	—	—	Current state; the time range is ignored
Device Availabilities (Historical)	31 days	31 days
Device Status Overview	—	—	Current state; the time range is ignored
Device Statuses	—	—	Current state; the time range is ignored
Power Module Statuses	—	—	Current state; the time range is ignored
Device Memory Usage History	31 days	31 days
Wireless CPU Load History	1 day	1 day
Wireless Controller CPU Utilization	31 days	31 days
Appliance Performance Score	30 days	14 days	A longer range uses its most recent 14 days
Network Events	—	—	Time range applied; Meraki documents no fixed limit
Security Events	365 days	365 days
Network Clients	—	—	Current state: clients seen in the last day; the time range is ignored
Device Clients	—	—	Current state: clients seen in the last day; the time range is ignored
Wireless Client Count	31 days	31 days
Wireless Connection Stats	180 days	7 days
Wireless Latency Stats	180 days	7 days
Switch Port Statuses	—	—	Current state; the time range is ignored
Appliance Uplink Statuses	—	—	Current state; the time range is ignored
VPN Stats	31 days	31 days

Recommendations

• Rate limit: Meraki allows 10 requests per second per organization. This budget is shared with every other API client of the organization. Dashboards with many panels and short refresh intervals can reach it; keep refresh off or no faster than 1 minute.
• Device coverage: the Appliance Performance Score is reported only for primary MX appliances, and Wireless Controller CPU Utilization only for wireless LAN controllers.
• Large organizations: paginated endpoints return every page, so queries over large organizations or long time ranges may take several seconds.

Support

For issues, questions or feature requests, contact grafanalabs.integrations@crestdata.ai.

Authors and Acknowledgment

Developed by Crest Data.

License

This plugin is distributed under EULA License. See the LICENSE file for details.

References

• Cisco Meraki Dashboard API v1
• Meraki Dashboard API authorization
• Meraki Dashboard API rate limits
• Meraki Dashboard API pagination
• Grafana plugin tools