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How to Set Up a Cisco Meraki Camera with Genea Video Gateways

Step-by-step guide to enabling External RTSP on a Cisco Meraki MV camera and connecting it to a Genea Video Gateway.

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Written by Michael Maxsenti

This guide walks through getting a Cisco Meraki MV camera streaming into a Genea Video Gateway over RTSP.

Meraki cameras work differently from Axis and Hanwha: there's no local admin login on the camera itself. Everything - enabling RTSP, checking firmware, finding the camera's IP - happens through the Meraki Dashboard, since Meraki cameras are cloud-managed. If you're coming from the Axis or Hanwha guides, expect a different setup flow here.

This is also a different integration from Genea Access Control + Meraki Camera Integration. That article covers linking an existing Meraki VMS deployment into Genea Access Control via API key, for viewing footage alongside access events. This guide covers pulling a Meraki camera's live feed directly into a Genea Video Gateway over RTSP - a different product, a different setup.

If your camera is already streaming and you just need to add it to Genea Video, skip ahead to How to Add a Camera on Gateway.

Before You Start

You'll need:

Item

Why

Admin access to the Meraki Dashboard

RTSP is enabled and the camera is managed here, not on the camera itself

A supported camera generation on firmware 4.2+

Older firmware and a couple of models don't support RTSP at all (Step 1)

A Genea Gateway already installed and online

Every camera in Genea Video connects through a gateway

Network access from the gateway to the camera's local IP

Meraki cameras are cloud-managed, but RTSP is a local LAN connection - the gateway needs a direct path to the camera, not just internet access

VLC (or another RTSP-capable player)

Lets you confirm the stream is correct before wiring it into Genea

A few limits worth knowing going in: Meraki's RTSP feed is live-only (no historical playback through it), one stream per camera, carries no metadata, and isn't encrypted. Recording, retention, and AI search still happen on the Genea side once the feed is in.

Step 1: Confirm RTSP Support

Not every Meraki MV camera can do RTSP. Check both the model and the firmware before going further:

  • Supported: second-generation cameras (MV2, MV12, MV22, MV32, MV52, MV72), third-generation cameras (MV13, MV23, MV33, MV53, MV63, MV73, MV93), and fourth-generation MV84X.

  • Not supported: MV21 and MV71, regardless of firmware.

  • Firmware: 4.2 or newer. If your camera is behind, schedule the upgrade from the Dashboard before continuing.

If your camera isn't on this list, RTSP isn't an option for it - you'd need the existing Genea Access Control + Meraki Camera Integration instead, which works through Meraki's API rather than a direct feed.

Step 2: Enable External RTSP in the Meraki Dashboard

RTSP is off by default and has to be turned on per camera:

  1. In the Meraki Dashboard, go to Cameras > Monitor > Cameras and select the camera.

  2. Go to Settings > Video Settings.

  3. Under External RTSP, select Yes.

  4. The Dashboard displays a stream link once this is enabled - note it down, you'll use it in Step 4.

If you're enabling this on many cameras, it can also be done through the Meraki Dashboard API with a PUT to /devices/{serial}/camera/video/settings and a body of {"externalRtspEnabled":true}, which returns the stream URL in the response. Useful for bulk rollouts; the Dashboard toggle is simpler for one-off cameras.

Step 3: Confirm the Gateway Can Reach the Camera

This is the step that trips people up with Meraki specifically. Meraki cameras only need internet access to work normally, since everything is managed through the cloud - but RTSP is a direct LAN connection, and the camera is often sitting on a network segment that wasn't set up with local device-to-device traffic in mind.

Before going further, confirm your Genea Gateway can actually reach the camera:

  1. Find the camera's local IP address in the Meraki Dashboard (on the same Cameras > Monitor > Cameras page as Step 2).

  2. From the gateway (or a device on the same network as the gateway), ping that IP.

  3. If it doesn't respond, check whether the camera is on a separate VLAN or subnet from the gateway, and get your network team to open a path between them. This is a network configuration issue, not a Genea or Meraki setting.

Step 4: Note the RTSP URL and the Camera's Serial Number

Unlike Axis or Hanwha, you don't build this URL by hand - the Dashboard gives it to you directly when you enable External RTSP in Step 2. It follows this pattern:

rtsp://<camera-ip>:9000/live

The important detail: Meraki uses port 9000, not the 554 you'd expect from Axis or Hanwha cameras. If you're used to those, this is the easiest thing to get wrong here.

While you're on the camera's Dashboard page, also note its serial number (shown on the device details page, formatted like Q2XX-XXXX-XXXX). You'll need it in Step 6.

Step 5: Test the RTSP URL in VLC

Confirm the stream works on its own before wiring it into the gateway:

  1. Open VLC.

  2. Go to Media > Open Network Stream.

  3. Paste in the RTSP URL from Step 4 and click Play.

  4. Confirm video loads within a few seconds. Since the stream isn't encrypted or password-protected at the protocol level, VLC shouldn't prompt you for credentials here.

If VLC can't connect, it's almost always the network path from Step 3, not the URL itself - double check that before anything else.

Step 6: Add the Camera to Genea Video

Once the RTSP URL is confirmed working, add it in Genea Video:

  1. Go to Video Management > Device Management > Cameras and click + Add.

  2. Select Manually.

  3. Enter the camera name and the RTSP URL from Step 4.

  4. For the credential fields, use:

    • Username: admin

    • Password: the camera's serial number from Step 4

    Meraki cameras don't have a device-level admin password like Axis or Hanwha - this username and serial-number pairing is what Genea's onboarding flow expects for a Meraki camera today.

  5. Enter the camera's IP and MAC address, assign it to your gateway, set retention and indoor/outdoor placement, then click Save.

The camera should show Online within a few minutes. Full details on all three add methods are in How to Add a Camera on Gateway.

Troubleshooting

Issue

Likely Cause

Fix

No stream link shown, or VLC gets nothing

External RTSP not enabled for this camera

Recheck Cameras > Monitor > Cameras > Settings > Video Settings > External RTSP - it's per camera, not account-wide

VLC can't connect even though RTSP is enabled

Wrong port assumed (554 instead of 9000), or no network path to the camera

Confirm the URL uses :9000; re-run the ping test from Step 3

Camera doesn't support RTSP at all

Camera is an MV21 or MV71, or firmware is below 4.2

Confirm model and firmware against Step 1; unsupported cameras need the API-based Access Control integration instead

"Add Camera" fails or camera won't authenticate in Genea

Wrong username/password pairing used

Use admin as username and the camera's serial number as password, not a Dashboard login

Camera shows Offline in Genea after adding

Gateway lost network access to the camera's local IP, or the camera's IP changed

Re-test the URL in VLC; confirm the camera's local IP hasn't changed in the Dashboard

Questions or something not covered here? Reach out to Genea Support at acsupport@getgenea.com.

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