Connect a Versa MCP Server Using an MCP Client Desktop Application

Last updated
Save as PDF

For supported software information, click here.

The Versa Networks Agentic AI capability extends the VersaONE Unified SASE platform with AI-driven operations through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), transforming how network engineers, MSP partners, and end customers interact with the Versa SD-WAN, SSE, and SASE control plane.

Traditional network management requires manual navigation of Versa Director or Versa Concerto UIs, CLI access to appliances, custom scripting for bulk queries, and manual report assembly. AI-assisted operations replace these management methods with natural language queries that return structured analysis, ranked findings, and professional-grade reports in seconds. This solution is not a replacement for the network platform; rather, it is an intelligence layer on top of the existing Versa Director and Versa Concerto management infrastructures.

The Versa MCP server integrates with MCP-compatible AI clients, such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot. The MCP clients connect to the Versa MCP server, which translates requests to Versa Director and Concerto REST API calls. This system's primary strengths include reasoning, synthesis, report generation, cross-domain analysis, external integrations, and code generation.

This article describes how to connect an existing Versa MCP server using an MCP client desktop application.

Note: This document shows examples using the Claude MCP client, but other MCP-compatible clients can be used.

Prerequisites

You must create an OAuth client before performing the configuration. For information, see the Create a New OAuth Client section in Versa Director REST API Overview.

Configuration

To connect a Versa MCP Server using the MCP client desktop application:

Note: You only need to add the configuration for the MCPs that you need.

Download and install an MCP client desktop application for your operating system, such as https://claude.com/download.
Download and install Nodejs from https://nodejs.org/en/download.
Install the MCP remote bridge.
Verify the npm/npx installation by running the following commands:
1. npm --version
2. npx -–version
Go to Claude Settings > Developer > Edit Config, then launch and configure Claude Desktop to connect to the Versa MCP server:

Add the following JSON code to claude_desktop_config.json, and then click Save.

"mcpServers": {
    "versaDirector": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
            "mcp-remote",
            "https://<server_URL>"
        ]
    },
    "versaConcerto12": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
            "mcp-remote",
            "https://<server_URL>"
        ]
    },
    "versaConcerto13": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
            "mcp-remote",
            "https://<server_URL>"
        ]
    }
}

Exit and restart the Claude desktop application.
Return to Claude Settings > Developer and verify that the Versa MCP server was read from the Claude configuration and is running.

You can also ask Claude to check its connection to the Versa MCP server:
Complete OAuth authorization between the MCP server and Versa Director by asking Claude to display a list of tenants configured on Versa Director to force OAuth authentication between the MCP server and Versa Director:
Follow the link that Claude provides to complete MCP to Director authentication.
Pass the following details to complete authentication:
- Your Director Username
- Your Director Password
- Director_FQDN:PORT
  - https://<director-FQDN>: port_number
  - https://<concerto-FQDN>
- OATH Client_ID: <client_id>
- OATH Client_Secret: <client_secret>
  
  If the authentication succeeds, a screen similar to the following one displays:
  
  Note: The same process is required for other (Concerto) MPC servers. Concerto MPC server connections should point to port 443 in the URL by default. Director MCP server connections should point to port 9183 in the URL by default.
Return to the Claude desktop application to communicate to and from the MCP server and Versa Director using natural language.