# "Invalid switch group JSON file" when moving from Cloud to On-Premises **URL:** \ **Category:** cnMaestro\ **Created:** [October 8, 2026, 9:36am UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096 "2026-10-08T09:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Giorgio\_Grassi](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Giorgio\_Grassi](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/Giorgio_Grassi)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 9:36am UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/1 "2026-10-08T09:36:33Z")
Hi all, I’m moving CNMaestro from cloud to onpremises instance but I’ve some problem with Switch Groups, I’ve correctly exported 2 groups, one is Default Switch ad other is Switch\_VLANs, but when I try to import them into the on-premises instance, I get an error, "invalid switch group JSON file, so I can’t import the configurations for most of the switches—15 out of 17. How should I proceed, and what do I need to check? I would also like to ask: once I have finished importing the templates—for both the Access Points and the switches—could I experience network disruptions during the onboarding process on the on-premises cnMaestro Anchor? Might the devices reset or lose connectivity? Thanks for the help; I’d like to secure the network as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![djdrastic](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@djdrastic](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/djdrastic)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/2 "2026-10-08T12:49:29Z")
Some of my old templates didn’t have management VLAN ticked or checked as they predated that feature in cnMaestro. Try and make a copy of those templates in cloud and look for a new default option like that. Worst comes to worst like I did with some you have to recreate it from scratch and use the cloud config as a blueprint. Regarding the reconfig, you can lose remote connectivity to them or not configure trunking parameters incorrectly. The APs I find are mostly dead easy but the switches require that you edit port parameters and don’t hit Apply Settings. You need to configure the ports on import, and then hit Monitor and Manage and go down to the switch and make sure advanced settings match what you had before if you had ips on specific mgmgt vlans. You technically don’t have to sync these devices on import but eventually you will have to get stuff synced for management purposes. My advice is do APs first and do switches afterwards very slowly. Screenshot every device’s pages in cnmaestro and on the switches access their direct mgt ips and go into L2 - VLANS that maps exactly how the switch was configured previously. ---
**Author:** ![Giorgio\_Grassi](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Giorgio\_Grassi](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/Giorgio_Grassi)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/3 "2026-10-12T13:49:51Z")
Hi djdrastic, thanks for your reply, I’m checking into the switch profiles, i’ve found management vlan “disabled”, but I’ve 186 Port Override in one profile and 38 in the other group. Do you think this port configuration is what’s causing the error? And do you think it’s possible to create a switch profile that already includes the switch names and ports? Sorry, but I’m not very experienced with the transition from cloud to on-premises. ---
**Author:** ![BradenMcG\_DC](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@BradenMcG\_DC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/BradenMcG_DC)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/4 "2026-10-12T19:58:03Z")
Giorgio, check out [my post in this other thread that explains how I have handled migrating cnMatrix switches](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/on-boarding-ex2052-from-cloud-to-on-prem-without-losing-configured-ports/109035/3). We had all of our switches configured with “port overrides”, but many of them did not need to be that way (so I converted many to use Switch Group-level port configuration instead). If you have a lot of “unique” switches with special configs this may not work as well for you though. ---
**Author:** ![Giorgio\_Grassi](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Giorgio\_Grassi](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/Giorgio_Grassi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/5 "2026-10-13T13:41:59Z")
Hi Braden, thanks for your reply, I just read your post and found it very accurate; however, in my case, I can’t export the templates from the cloud to the on-premises environment because the VM reports an “invalid switch group JSON file” error. Upon analyzing the files in the cloud—there are four in total, two applied and two unapplied—the differences lie primarily in the port override configurations and, above all, the creation or last-modified dates. The ones I can successfully export from the cloud and import on-premises were created in 2021 or 2022 and lack port overrides, whereas the cloud-based templates currently in production have a last-modified date of May 2026 and include port overrides. Do you think it would be better to create new ones from scratch? ---
**Author:** ![BradenMcG\_DC](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@BradenMcG\_DC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/BradenMcG_DC)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 11:03pm UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/6 "2026-10-13T23:03:56Z")
Giorgio, I’m assuming you are just looking at the Web UI in the cloud - per my other link, the “Port Override” section _does not get exported as part of the JSON download_, so the Port Overrides are **not** the cause of the “invalid switch group JSON file” error message. I have never seen this error, but I have noticed that the format for Time Zone is apparently different between the cnMaestro Cloud instance and the latest onPrem release. The OnPrem server wants the TimeZone to have underscores instead of spaces in the zone name (e.g., “America/New\_York”)… but this has not given me any errors when importing the JSON from the cloud side. I just have to fix the time zone name in the onprem configuration before I can apply it to a device. (I can’t remember if I saw this for switch groups but I was definitely seeing it for Wifi/AP Groups.) If you download the json file from the Cloud side, it’s just text, you can try running it through a JSON linter to see if it finds any errors or problems… I would NOT upload the file anywhere you do not trust though, as it includes the **unencrypted** device admin password. ---
**Author:** ![Giorgio\_Grassi](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Giorgio\_Grassi](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/Giorgio_Grassi)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 8:56am UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/7 "2026-10-14T08:56:03Z")
Hi Braden, I solved the issue by creating a new template on the on-premises cnMaestro instance with settings identical to the cloud version; I’m now setting up the port profiles for the devices and have resolved that particular problem. However, I’ve unfortunately run into another issue: we have an EasyPass SSID that uses Microsoft Entra ID, and I discovered that this cannot be configured on the on-premises instance. Is anyone else facing this problem? How can it be resolved? Should I use an intermediary RADIUS server? ---
**Author:** ![BradenMcG\_DC](https://d10gw3vjmzyp8.cloudfront.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@BradenMcG\_DC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/u/BradenMcG_DC)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/invalid-switch-group-json-file-when-moving-from-cloud-to-on-premises/109096/8 "2026-10-15T00:28:17Z")
Giorgio, happy to hear you solved the Switch Profile problem, but unfortunately I don’t have any suggestions or help for the Entra ID thing as we do not use it. I didn’t realize that onprem did not have that feature… ☹