What we can and cannot restore.
We tell you before you buy, not on the night you need it.
How a restore works
You choose what to put back: selected settings, or the whole organisation.
When you put back selected settings:
You see what will change before anything changes.
A preview shows exactly which settings will be overwritten.
Every setting is checked.
After a setting is written back, Backup Vault reads it from Meraki again and checks that it matches.
If something goes wrong on the way, everything is undone.
If one setting does not match, the network is put back the way it was before the restore started.
Whatever you put back:
Backup Vault does not guess.
If a setting refers to a specific switch that is not there in the place you restore to, it is skipped rather than applied to the wrong device.
What is not in the backup
This is not configuration, so it does not belong in a copy of it.
Logs and history: commands sent to sensors, devices moved or migrated, scheduled firmware upgrades
Why It is a record of events. Putting it back would repeat the actions, not restore a setup
Packet captures
Why It is troubleshooting data, not settings
Changes waiting in Meraki's queue
Why It is work in progress, not a finished setup
Privacy requests
Why It is a separate process, not network configuration
The state of individual clients, such as which policy one particular laptop has been given
Why It belongs to one user's device, not to the network
Camera onboarding status
Why It is status, not settings
Uploaded model files for camera analytics
Why They are large files, not settings
Systems Manager (mobile device management)
Why It is a separate product that Backup Vault does not cover
Custom exceptions to individual intrusion prevention (IPS) rules at organisation level
Why Meraki offers no way to read them. The policies themselves are backed up
What is backed up, but cannot be put back
This is in the backup, so you can see it, compare it and export it. But it cannot be written back.
The list of devices, and what is registered to the organisation
Why Meraki does not allow it to be written. Devices are added in Meraki Dashboard
Licences
Why Licences belong to your agreement with Cisco and cannot be written by any tool
The list of features Cisco offers in early access
Why It is Cisco's catalogue, not your setup
Administrators
Why On purpose. A backup from before someone left would give them access again
Mobile subscriptions tied to eSIM
Why They belong to your agreement with the carrier and cannot be moved
Switch stacks
Why A stack can only be built from the physical switches. Routing within a stack is put back when the same stack is there
Configuration templates, and the switch profiles in them
Why A template controls every network bound to it. Overwriting it would change more than you asked for
What comes back, but needs a step from you
Passwords and secrets: wireless pre-shared keys, RADIUS secrets, PPPoE and mobile data passwords, keys for VPN to third parties, passwords for Meraki users
What you do afterwards Enter them again in Meraki Dashboard. Meraki never shows them, so no backup can contain them. Backup Vault tells you which ones
Images and files: floor plans, themes and images on the guest welcome page
What you do afterwards Upload them again. The settings are put back; the files are not
Settings that refer to specific switches: spanning tree priority, MTU exceptions, aggregated ports and warm spare
What you do afterwards Put back when the same switches are there. If a switch is missing, the setting is skipped rather than applied to the wrong device. If you restore into the same organisation the backup came from, everything comes with it
What is not put back automatically today
This is in the backup and can be compared and exported, but it is not put back automatically today. It can be entered by hand from the backup.
- Adaptive policy: groups, access lists and settings
- Policy objects and groups of them
- Dashboard branding policies and their order
- Camera settings for quality, retention, video and analytics, and camera roles
- Receivers for location data from the wireless network
- Wireless device provisioning
- Certificate authorities for RADSEC
- Which early-access features you have switched on, and for which networks
- Packet capture schedules
- Alert profiles at organisation level
- Bluetooth settings on wireless access points
Some network-level settings are put back as part of restoring the whole organisation, but cannot yet be chosen one by one.
What this means for you
Everything above applies to Meraki in general. What is actually in your network depends on the equipment and features you use.
So before you sign, we test in your own environment. For each feature you use, we make a controlled change, put it back with Backup Vault, and check that it came back. You get the result in writing: what is put back automatically, what needs a step from you, and what cannot be put back. Then you know what you are getting, before you need it.
Know what comes back before you need it.
We test restore in your own Meraki environment and give you the result in writing before you sign.