Quit Blinking at Me!!

Is the .gif above what it feels like when you look at your Meraki dashboard?!?!  

In this blog, we're going to talk about what End-of-Support (EoST) means in the world of Meraki and even more importantly, how to silence those annoying blinking alerts.

First and foremost, the device will continue to work as intended and can be managed in the dashboard just as before the EoST date.  Did you know that dashboard management licenses for hardware that is already End-of-Support can still be purchased today?  The MS220s were End-of-Sale'd on July 29, 2017, with an End-of-Support date of July 29, 2024.  The license below would allow you to renew management licensing for MS220s through 2031, 6 years (and counting) beyond the series official End-of-Support date.

So, what happens after the End-of-Support date? Primarily 3 things

1. Hardware replacements might no longer be provided by Cisco.
2. Software Updates might no longer be provided by Cisco.
3. TAC support might no longer be provided by Cisco.

Don't panic!  The FUD monster might just be trying to scare you into a forced upgrade!  Seriously, though, let's talk about each potential concern.

How can I get rid of the blinking notifications for End-of-Support (EoST) hardware?

Well, Meraki doesn't allow you to completely disable EoST notifications globally, but you can get rid of the visual noise by:

1.  Move your EoST assets to a newly created network within in your org.  The EoST switches can still be managed within your dashboard,  but they will no longer be in your primary network, which eliminates the blinks!

   • Create a new network called 'Production EoST'
   • Move all EoST devices into that network
   • Remove that network from dashboards and views used for daily operations.
2. Modify Email Alert Settings
   • Go to Network-wide -> Alerts
   • Disable "Hardware end-of-life alerts
   • You can also do this in Organization ->Settings -> Alerts

And that's it!

Thank you for reading!