the_information_nexus/tech_docs/networking/meraki_api.md

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.