Import network devices

The Import Devices feature enables administrators to create or update multiple devices simultaneously by importing a spreadsheet. This capability simplifies device onboarding, inventory management, and bulk administration tasks, eliminating the need to configure each device individually.

Cloudi-Fi provides a standardized import template to ensure that device information is formatted correctly before import.

Before you begin

To import devices:

1. Navigate to Networks.
2. Go to the Devices tab.
3. Click Import / Export.
4. Select Import.

The Devices Import dialog opens.

From this dialog, you can:

• Access the import documentation.
• Download the latest device import template.
• Select the spreadsheet to import.
• Choose whether existing devices should be updated during the import.

Cloudi-Fi supports the following spreadsheet formats:

• .ods
• .xls
• .xlsx

Download the import template

Always use the latest import template to ensure compatibility with the current version of Cloudi-Fi.

To download the template:

1. Click Download the template.
2. Save the Excel template to your computer.
3. Populate the spreadsheet with your device information.
4. Save the completed file before importing.

Import devices

Once the template has been completed:

1. Click Choose file.
2. Select the completed spreadsheet.
3. (Optional) Enable Update existing entries if you want to modify devices that already exist.
4. Click Start.

Cloudi-Fi validates the uploaded file before processing the import.

Update existing entries

The Update existing entries option controls how Cloudi-Fi handles devices that already exist in the selected network.

Disabled

Only new devices are created.

Existing devices are ignored and remain unchanged.

Enabled

Existing devices are updated using the values provided in the spreadsheet.

Fields left empty in the import file are ignored and do not overwrite existing values.

Supported fields

The device import template contains the following columns.

Import validation

Before importing any data, Cloudi-Fi validates the uploaded spreadsheet.

Validation includes:

• Supported file format
• Required fields
• MAC address format
• Field length constraints
• Existing Locations
• Existing Groups
• Existing Security Profiles
• Data consistency

Only records that pass validation are imported successfully.

If one or more records contain errors, Cloudi-Fi generates an import error report to help identify and correct the issues.

Import error report

If the import process detects one or more errors, Cloudi-Fi automatically generates an Import Report in Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) format.

The report is available for download once the validation process completes and provides detailed information about each failed record.

Each row in the report corresponds to a single validation error and contains the following information:

Example

After correcting the reported errors, update the original spreadsheet and import the file again.

Best practices

To ensure a successful import:

• Always use the latest import template.
• Verify that every MAC Address is unique and correctly formatted.
• Ensure referenced Locations, Groups, and Security Profiles already exist in the network.
• Test imports with a small dataset before importing a large inventory.
• Enable Update existing entries only when existing devices should be modified.

Notes

• The MAC Address is mandatory and uniquely identifies each device.
• Existing devices can be updated without recreating them by enabling Update existing entries.
• Cloudi-Fi supports .ods, .xls, and .xlsx spreadsheet formats.
• If validation errors are detected, an Import Report (.xlsx) is generated to help identify and correct invalid records before retrying the import.