200-901 Infrastructure and Automation Practice Question
A developer is writing a Python script that uses the Meraki Dashboard API to page through a very large organization's list of network devices. The developer wants to iterate through all pages of results without manually constructing page URLs. Which approach should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming pagination is controlled by a query parameter or rate-limit header rather than by the Link response header that Meraki actually returns.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Send a single GET request and read the HTTP Link response header to follow the next page URL until no Link header is returned.
Meraki paginates large collections and advertises the subsequent page through the HTTP Link response header with rel="next". A client that inspects headers and follows that URL iterates the entire collection robustly, which is the documented pattern for traversing large result sets. Approaches that assume a single oversized page, misuse POST, or repurpose rate-limit headers all fail to advance through the data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Send a POST request to the devices endpoint with a body containing a startingIndex field that the API uses to return the next slice.
Why it's wrong here
Meraki's list endpoints are read operations that use GET, not POST, and they do not accept a startingIndex body field. Posting to a collection endpoint is used for creation operations, so this approach would either create an unintended resource or return a 404/405 error rather than paginated data.
- ✓
Send a single GET request and read the HTTP Link response header to follow the next page URL until no Link header is returned.
Why this is correct
The Meraki Dashboard API returns pagination metadata in the HTTP Link response header, using rel="next" to point at the following page. A client that reads this header and keeps following the next URL will traverse every page without hand-building offsets or page numbers, which is exactly what the scenario requires.
- ✗
Send a single GET request with the query parameter perPage set to the organization's total device count so all devices return in one response.
Why it's wrong here
Meraki caps perPage at a maximum value (currently 1000) per response, so setting it to a larger organization-wide count does not return everything in one call. The API silently limits the result set, leaving the script with only the first chunk of devices and no indication that more remain.
- ✗
Rely on the X-RateLimit-Remaining response header; when it reaches zero, the API automatically returns the next page of devices.
Why it's wrong here
X-RateLimit-Remaining reports how many calls remain in the current rate-limit window; it has nothing to do with pagination. When the limit is exhausted, further calls receive HTTP 429 responses, so a script that treats this header as a paging signal would simply stall or fail instead of advancing through results.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
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