Bug: Clients count on Network Map

[David Cavalli]

Upgraded to 3006.102.5. Everything working fine since the day it was released. Then today, strange behavior. I clicked the "View List" button on the Network Map, looking to see if a device was connecting on the right network. (It was.) Clicked "Show by" / Network, to sort it by network to find the specific device. Found it, then clicked "Show by" / All to put it back the way it was.

Upon closing the "Client List" dialog, my "Clients: #" count was going up constantly. I exported the client list to get a count of how many devices I have online (currently, 41). In the time it has taken me to type this, it's already up to a count of 221 clients. It will be more when I go to the screen shot to show what I mean.

By the time I cropped the screen shot, it was over 250. I thought logging out and logging back in would reset it. Nope. Now over 260 and climbing steadily. Any ideas of what to do would be great. I really don't want to mess up my router. Interesting, as I finished that last sentence, it reset to 41 and is once again climbing (52+ now).

Anyway, hope that is enough to describe the problem and enough to show how it once started. I think I documented all the actions I took after logging in. Can do anything requested to help debug. Thanks!

 

[ColinTaylor]

There are many reports of this problem in recent beta/release threads. Can't remember if there was ever a solution so I suggest you search in those threads.

 

[bennor]

The issue, climbing connected client count, has been mentioned a couple of times in the 3006.102.5 Beta discussion:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-3006-102-5-beta-is-now-available.95115/#post-960904
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-3006-102-5-beta-is-now-available.95115/page-8#post-962914
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-3006-102-5-beta-is-now-available.95115/page-14#post-963734

One user reported the issue stopped when they downgraded to the 3006.102.4 firmware.
Try a router reboot to see if the issue persists.

 

[Analog-1]

There are many reports of this problem in recent beta/release threads. Can't remember if there was ever a solution so I suggest you search in those threads.

Has Merlin chimed in about this annoying issue ?

 

[David Cavalli]

Try a router reboot to see if the issue persists.

Router reboot didn't seem to make a difference.

Sorry I missed this problem mentioned in the beta thread. Either got too many search results on the terms, or too few (i.e. none) on the title. At least there's a thread that might be central control for the bug now instead of the beta thread.

Thanks!

 

[dave14305]

How many devices are actually listed in the Cilent List when the count is high? Is any one device showing up suspiciously? If so, what if anything is unique about that device?

 

[kernol]

In my case the number of clients counted BEFORE you click on the "View List" tab remains fairly static and indeed accurate as regards the clients I actually have connected at the time.

HOWEVER - click on the "View List" Tab ... and it's "game on" with the counter rolling up to 10 times and more than the actual number of clients within a few minutes. The screen listed clients in itemized format - does not change [no duplications etc.] but the numerical counter just continues increasing until you reboot the router.

Cosmetic in all probability - but mildly annoying.

 

[Aiadi]

I reported this issue on the latest stable firmware release thread when it first came out. A couple of factory resets including hard ones (WPS) have unfortunately failed to get rid of this annoying bug.

 

[Analog-1]

I reported this issue on the latest stable firmware release thread when it first came out. A couple of factory resets including hard ones (WPS) have unfortunately failed to get rid of this annoying bug.

Crickets from the developer. Since this issue is not present in current stock firmware it must have been introduced in the Merlin build.

 

[dave14305]

Crickets from the developer. Since this issue is not present in current stock firmware it must have been introduced in the Merlin build.

Don’t be a jerk. Stock firmware is older than the unreleased code used in Merlin 102.5.

 

[Analog-1]

Don’t be a jerk. Stock firmware is older than the unreleased code used in Merlin 102.5.

Not being a jerk. I was just pointing out the facts. So the code is unreleased ok, acknowledge the issue at least. And you need to RELAX.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Crickets from the developer. Since this issue is not present in current stock firmware it must have been introduced in the Merlin build.

The number of clients is provided by the closed source networkmap process. So it's something Asus will have to fix.

 

[Kingp1n]

Not being a jerk. I was just pointing out the facts. So the code is unreleased ok, acknowledge the issue at least. And you need to RELAX.

Recommended you stop looking at the Router client list GUI for awhile or go back to previous firmware. I'm sure a fix will be available at a later time. Problem solved!

 

[dave14305]

Someone experiencing the problem and with enough knowledge to debug JavaScript needs to debug this loop that increments totalClientNum.online

asuswrt-merlin.ng/release/src/router/www/client_function.js at ed4904e957f9b9701eef584e498ab17dcaec99e3 · RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

Third party firmware for Asus routers (newer codebase) - RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

Why is the array so large? Is it double-counting anything?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Someone experiencing the problem and with enough knowledge to debug JavaScript needs to debug this loop that increments totalClientNum.online

asuswrt-merlin.ng/release/src/router/www/client_function.js at ed4904e957f9b9701eef584e498ab17dcaec99e3 · RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

Third party firmware for Asus routers (newer codebase) - RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

Why is the array so large? Is it double-counting anything?

I looked at that (and other) code and the relevant parts are identical AFAICT to that used in 388.9_2, which AFAIK doesn't have the problem. If you kill the networkmap process the count should go down to zero, until the process is restarted. I'd guess that it's somehow related to the addition of SDN, but that's just a guess.

 

[dave14305]

I looked at that (and other) code and the relevant parts are identical to that used in 388.9_2, which AFAIK doesn't have the problem. If you kill the networkmap process the count goes down to zero, until the process is restarted.

Really I want someone to review the arrays and objects being returned by networkmap in update_clients.asp which should be updating in the F12 console Network tab when on the main page. The responses are also available there. Some clues must exist. I don’t see that problem on an ax88U Pro that @David Cavalli uses, so it might be topology related.

But then again, I’m a simple man who needs to relax more.

 

[dave14305]

I'd guess that it's somehow related to the addition of SDN, but that's just a guess.

Yes, that’s a likely scenario, since I have no SDNs defined.

 

[JGrana]

Really I want someone to review the arrays and objects being returned by networkmap in update_clients.asp which should be updating in the F12 console Network tab when on the main page. The responses are also available there. Some clues must exist. I don’t see that problem on an ax88U Pro that @David Cavalli uses, so it might be topology related.

But then again, I’m a simple man who needs to relax more.

You are far from a simple man, but yes, you do need to relax more ;-)
(as most of us should!!!)

 

[JGrana]

I'm not running any Guest networks or any SDN. I tried multiple times on a AX88U Pro. Did everything thing the OP described.
In all cases my Client Count remained accurate.

Maybe it is SDN related.

 

[David Cavalli]

I'm not running any Guest networks or any SDN. I tried multiple times on a AX88U Pro. Did everything thing the OP described.
In all cases my Client Count remained accurate.

Maybe it is SDN related.

I *am* running multiple networks on my system, if that's of help. I have a "Wired" group, a 2.4G group, a 5G group, a Guest group (which is currently empty), an IoT group, and a "Bryan" (stepson) group.

The "Clients" count is going up, but the Client status counts (Wired (8) and Wireless (32)) look right. The router does seem to have a good grasp of exactly how many units are online because when I "Export" from the Client List, it outputs the exact same machines online.

Again, hope that helps. *NOT* knowledgeable about lots of the internals discussed in this thread, but always happy to give it a shot to do anything needed (if well defined). I'm assuming the Clients # growing isn't a danger, as everything else seems to work fine, so I will not downgrade to help anyone with any answers my system can provide.

Thanks!