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Assigning client names

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Rturnock

Regular Contributor
I did search for this but couldn't find it anywhere obvious.

I see two places where clients have a name or can have one assigned:

1) Under "Network Map" "View List" there is a "Client's Name" which can be changed
2) Under "LAN" "DHCP Server" under the Icon at the left is a "Name" which can be changed but also a "Device" which cannot and which has not relevance, e.g. my Windows Server is an Android Device for some reason.
3) When entering a manual/static IP address in DHCP the "Host Name" can be set.

The first two refer to the same "Name" but it doesn't seem to be the name recognized by the router DNS.

The DHCP "Host Name" seems to be different from the other name.

Also under the DHCP assignment

A few words would probably clear this up for me.

Thanks

Richard
 
For clients I've assigned a manual IP under the DHCP options, I've set their name there and that's what propagates to the network map.

For DHCP clients that automatically get an IP, I've set their name via their network map entry.

In my experience, both of these methods take precedence in the router admin pages, with the exception of the logs, over the name set in the client.

I use all uppercase for naming my manual clients and normal, leading capital case for auto clients, as this helps to quickly differentiate them when I'm in the router admin pages.
 
Sorry to resurrect this but I remain confused on the difference between Client Name and Hostname.

In the DHCP manual reservation, I can set a Hostname for a device. In the Network Map, sometimes that name appears as the Clients Name. Usually it is something else that comes from somewhere I haven't figured out. I can go back to the DHCP manual reservation, click to change the icon, and there specify a Client Name, which then shows up in the Network Map.

Are these two entirely separate things? If one wanted consistency, is it necessary to enter both a Client Name and a Hostname? And, where does the Client Name originally come from?
 
A hostname is used on the network, and must follow very specific rules as to what is allowed.

A client name is just a descriptive label used by the web interface.
 
Yes, so two separate things so I would need to make any conforming changes in the Client Name. Where does the web interface pull the client names from if I didn't?

By way of example, I have an old Seagate NAS on the network. I specify "SeagateNAS" as the hostname on the DHCP page. The client name is populated as "Segate Technologies Inc", no idea where that came from typo and all. I can change the client name in one place, and it changes in both places.

Another example, I have a Nest thermometer that populated the client name with the MAC address.
 
Yes, so two separate things so I would need to make any conforming changes in the Client Name. Where does the web interface pull the client names from if I didn't?

By way of example, I have an old Seagate NAS on the network. I specify "SeagateNAS" as the hostname on the DHCP page. The client name is populated as "Segate Technologies Inc", no idea where that came from typo and all. I can change the client name in one place, and it changes in both places.

Another example, I have a Nest thermometer that populated the client name with the MAC address.
I suppose that client name is populated by the web interface using the MAC address. That's the reason to identify your NAS by vendor name. The typo is because of the Asus FW - it is not the first time when Asus developers make typos :). Regarding the Nest thermometer probably the web interface cannot identify the vendor by MAC address so it populates the MAC only.

But there is one much more annoying issue. In Wireless log the android devices are identified with strange names like "android-d27e15...." while I want to have them with their client names I created in Network Map.
 
I suppose that client name is populated by the web interface using the MAC address. That's the reason to identify your NAS by vendor name. The typo is because of the Asus FW - it is not the first time when Asus developers make typos :).
For once it might not be Asus' fault. I think they just query the MAC vendors database. In there you can see the 00:10:75 is assigned to "Segate Technology LLC".

But there is one much more annoying issue. In Wireless log the android devices are identified with strange names like "android-d27e15...." while I want to have them with their client names I created in Network Map.
I used to have the same problem, and it's because the Wireless Log only shows the actual host names (not the "client name"). It was only really a problem with some very old Android phones and some embedded devices. The more recent versions of Android use a more sensible name which can be changed in the settings. For those devices that couldn't be changed I simply created a DHCP reservation for them on the router which also specified a different host name.
 
For once it might not be Asus' fault. I think they just query the MAC vendors database. In there you can see the 00:10:75 is assigned to "Segate Technology LLC".

:D :D :D That's funny.

I used to have the same problem, and it's because the Wireless Log only shows the actual host names (not the "client name"). It was only really a problem with some very old Android phones and some embedded devices. The more recent versions of Android use a more sensible name which can be changed in the settings. For those devices that couldn't be changed I simply created a DHCP reservation for them on the router which also specified a different host name.

The phones in my house are relatively new. Even my phone is rooted :) But I never found a way to see my phone with its "normal" name as I assigned it using the phone menu.

***EDIT***
Currently my phone has assigned the same name in the Network Map and in the phone menu. But I still see "android-bla-bla..." in wireless log. Of course I can assign the name in DCHP reservation, but prefer to not do this for any phone.
 
Last edited:
I decided to make the wireless log page report the hostname because everything else on that page is network-centric. It ensures that without manually configuring anything (i.e. you don't need to manually assign client names), each device will be uniquely identified. Otherwise, by default you might end up with multiple entries with the same manufacturer name, making it impossible to identify them.
 
I decided to make the wireless log page report the hostname because everything else on that page is network-centric. It ensures that without manually configuring anything (i.e. you don't need to manually assign client names), each device will be uniquely identified. Otherwise, by default you might end up with multiple entries with the same manufacturer name, making it impossible to identify them.

I understood. You have fully valid considerations. When I have some spare time I will try to solve the problem from the phone's side.
 
I understood. You have fully valid considerations. When I have some spare time I will try to solve the problem from the phone's side.

Simplest way is simply to add them to the DHCP page, which is what I've done here.
 
Simplest way is simply to add them to the DHCP page, which is what I've done here.
Yes is the best way.
But you need to be careful with the amount of devices you add because reduces the free NVRAM memory.
In my ac68 with just 4 devices are using 57312 out of 65536 bytes.
A couple months ago I needed to reset the router because ran out of NVRAM with 8 devices.
Using the 384.16 BTW.
 
Yes is the best way.
But you need to be careful with the amount of devices you add because reduces the free NVRAM memory.
In my ac68 with just 4 devices are using 57312 out of 65536 bytes.
A couple months ago I needed to reset the router because ran out of NVRAM with 8 devices.
Using the 384.16 BTW.

so we can only have a max of 8 static IPs defined?!
 
so we can only have a max of 8 static IPs defined?!
No. There had been a time when the list was limited to 2500 characters but then the list was split into two.
Also, there is a way to do it in dnsmasq if you need more room.
 
No. There had been a time when the list was limited to 2500 characters but then the list was split into two.
Also, there is a way to do it in dnsmasq if you need more room.
thanks. for future reference, can you point me to info on how to do it with dnsmasq? thanks
 

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