Adding Meraki API doc

tech_docs/networking/meraki_api.md

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+Here's a comprehensive list of all the topics Todd Simmons covers across the two transcripts you provided, categorized for clarity:
+
+**I. Cisco Meraki Specifics:**
+
+* **Meraki Dashboard Access & Configuration:**
+    * Accessing the Meraki dashboard.
+    * Enabling API access for an organization.
+    * Creating an API key.
+    * Understanding organization settings and IDs.
+    * Identifying network names and IDs within an organization.
+    * Viewing existing networks in the dashboard.
+    * Creating new networks via API (including required parameters like `orgId`, `name`, `productTypes`, `timeZone`, and optional `tags`, `notes`).
+    * Meraki product types (Appliance, Switch, Camera) and "combined networks."
+    * Meraki device data structure (e.g., `Lan IP` vs. `Wan ip1`/`Wan ip2`, `notes` section availability).
+    * Limitations of Meraki dashboard export (CSV, single tab, limited common data).
+
+**II. Python Programming & Libraries:**
+
+* **Core Python Concepts:**
+    * Variables and variable assignment.
+    * For loops for iterating through data.
+    * List manipulation (appending, unique values, list comprehension, popping, inserting).
+    * Dictionaries (printing using `p print`).
+    * String manipulation (joining list items with a delimiter).
+    * Conditional statements (`if/else`).
+    * Function calls (`.get()`, `.dashboard API()`, `.organizations.getOrganizationNetworks()`, `.createOrganizationNetwork()`, `.sheets.sort()`, `.join()`).
+    * Error handling/defaults (`n/a` for missing keys).
+* **Python Libraries/Packages:**
+    * `os` (for environment variables).
+    * `pprint` (for pretty printing dictionaries/JSON).
+    * `meraki` (the official Cisco Meraki Python package).
+    * `requests` (mentioned as an alternative to `meraki` package).
+    * `decouple` (for secure configuration management, specifically `.env` files).
+    * `ic` (Ice Cream for debugging/printing, preferred over `print`).
+    * `pandas` (for data manipulation and Excel integration).
+    * `openpyxl` (engine used by pandas for Excel writing).
+* **API Interaction & Best Practices:**
+    * Authenticating with API keys.
+    * Using environment variables for secure API key storage (`OS.environ.get()`).
+    * Suppressing API logging (`suppressed_logging=True`).
+    * Handling API rate limiting.
+    * Paginating API results (`total_pages='all'`).
+    * Converting API responses (JSON) to Python data structures.
+
+**III. Automation & Workflow:**
+
+* **Networking Automation:** The overarching theme of using Python to automate Meraki networking tasks.
+* **Exporting Device Data:**
+    * Getting all devices within an organization via API.
+    * Writing API response data to JSON files.
+    * Processing raw JSON data to prepare for Excel export.
+* **Excel Integration:**
+    * Creating Excel workbooks (`.xlsx` files).
+    * Creating multiple worksheets (tabs) within an Excel workbook based on network names.
+    * Dynamically generating Excel headers from device data keys.
+    * Writing data to specific sheets.
+    * Appending new data rows to existing sheets (`start_row=writer.sheets[sheet_name].max_row`).
+    * Overwriting vs. appending to an Excel file (`mode='w'` vs. `mode='a'`).
+    * Handling the existence of sheets (`if_sheet_exists='overlay'`).
+* **Debugging & Troubleshooting:**
+    * Importance of API logs for debugging.
+    * Troubleshooting "invalid API key" issues (VS Code variable loading).
+
+**IV. General Advice & Personal Touches:**
+
+* **Community Engagement:** Special video request acknowledgment (Chris Krueger).
+* **Encouragement:** "Hey nerds," "appreciate the likes, love the subscribes," "Happy New Year."
+* **Personal Context:** Mention of moving to Memphis, wife's PA school.
+* **GitHub:** Mention of linking code on GitHub.
+* **Video Suggestions:** Encouraging viewers to suggest future video topics.
+
+This detailed breakdown highlights the breadth and depth of Todd Simmons's expertise in network automation with Meraki and Python.