Bug: Clients count on Network Map

[bennor]

For those having issues, perhaps it would help @RMerlin if you provide more detailed information about your setup. Some are experiencing this issue, it appears most others are not due to how few have reported this specific issue.

If possible, include information like the following:
Are you using Guest Network Pro Profiles, if so which type, how is it configured, and how many.
If you are using VLAN's, which type and how many.
Are you using AiMesh. if so what are the AiMesh nodes and what firmware are they running.
How many clients are on the network, and what type are they.
Does the client count rise if you remove all but the local computer directly connected to the router by Ethernet.
What do the logs indicate, any errors, does it list these extra clients MAC addresses, is the log showing double counted clients, etc.
Are you using VPN, if so is it active and of what type (serve or client).
Are you using any other features like AiProtection, Dual WAN, AiCloud, USB drive, addon scripts, custom scripts, etc.
Are you using manual IP reservations.
What troubleshooting steps have you tried other than power cycle the router or restart the networkmap service, have you tried a hard factory reset followed by manual configuration (no saved router.cfg import).

As of right now not seeing the rising client count on a RT-AX86U Pro with 3006.102.5, have 2 Guest Network Pro IoT Profiles, no VLAN configured in the LAN > VLAN tab. PS: Also have all my clients, including Guest Network Pro clients (using dnsmasq-x.conf.add), set with manually reserved IP addresses.

 

[JGrana]

From a release Asus did a few days ago, it appears they might have fixed the client issue. Maybe.
Here is a snippet from the release notes:

 

[Clark Griswald]

What is AiDetection, or was that a typo?

 

[RMerlin]

Crickets from the developer.

That's BS, as I already adressed it during the beta cycle.

Beta - Asuswrt-Merlin 3006.102.5 Beta is now available

105 beta2 working as expected can not find any problems , nobody in the house is screaming for my head / Thanks again

www.snbforums.com

 

[ColinTaylor]

What is AiDetection, or was that a typo?

More AI word salad from Asus' marketing department.

• Flexible WAN/LAN Options​

  The router offers versatile WAN inputs, including a 10 Gigabit WAN/LAN port and 2.5 Gigabit WAN/LAN port. Its advanced AI detection* features streamline setup for efficiency.
  *To use the new AI Detection feature, please update your firmware to version 3.0.0.6.102_33911 or later.

 

[dave14305]

Since I’m wound up like a cheap watch, I’d ask anyone that can reproduce the issue to run this via ssh when it’s happening:

jq '.[] | select(.online=='1') | .mac' /jffs/nmp_cl_json.js

Does the number of MAC addresses match the bloated count in the GUI?

 

[David Cavalli]

jq '.[] | select(.online=='1') | .mac' /jffs/nmp_cl_json.js

Does the number of MAC addresses match the bloated count in the GUI?

No. The output of your jq command listed 35 individual MAC addresses. 30 seconds later, "Client Status" shows 37 devices online (Wired (7) and Wireless (30)). (Lots of devices join / leave, so that sounds right.) The Clients count was 158 when I used SSH to get into the Asus. It now shows 198.

 

[David Cavalli]

For those having issues, perhaps it would help @RMerlin if you provide more detailed information about your setup. Some are experiencing this issue, it appears most others are not due to how few have reported this specific issue.

If possible, include information like the following:
Are you using Guest Network Pro Profiles, if so which type, how is it configured, and how many.
If you are using VLAN's, which type and how many.
Are you using AiMesh. if so what are the AiMesh nodes and what firmware are they running.
How many clients are on the network, and what type are they.
Does the client count rise if you remove all but the local computer directly connected to the router by Ethernet.
What do the logs indicate, any errors, does it list these extra clients MAC addresses, is the log showing double counted clients, etc.
Are you using VPN, if so is it active and of what type (serve or client).
Are you using any other features like AiProtection, Dual WAN, AiCloud, USB drive, addon scripts, custom scripts, etc.
Are you using manual IP reservations.
What troubleshooting steps have you tried other than power cycle the router or restart the networkmap service, have you tried a hard factory reset followed by manual configuration (no saved router.cfg import).

As of right now not seeing the rising client count on a RT-AX86U Pro with 3006.102.5, have 2 Guest Network Pro IoT Profiles, no VLAN configured in the LAN > VLAN tab. PS: Also have all my clients, including Guest Network Pro clients (using dnsmasq-x.conf.add), set with manually reserved IP addresses.

Happy to help where I can. Any question skipped is lack of technical knowledge. Give details on how to do it, and I'll fill in the blanks. Here are the answers:
Guest Network profiles:

• [guest] Guest - VLAN 52, 2.4G/5G, Password, WPA2-Personal, NOT enabled, 0 clients
• [IoT] IoT (Main Subnet) - 2.4G, WPA2, enabled, 20 clients
• [guest] Bryan - VLAN 53, 2.4G/5G, Password, WPA2, enabled, 1 client

VLAN's - None, except what was listed as Guest Networks
AiMesh - None
Clients (statically configured on the network):

• Windows desktops / laptops - 6
• Linux servers - 3
• Misc infrastructure - 3, Synology NAS, OBi200, HP OfficeJet
• Android phones / tablets - 5
• Apple tablet - 1
• Game consoles - 3, WiiU, Switch (x2)
• IoT - 28, Arlo, Kasa (x6), Feit (x2), Kwikset, Ecobee (x2), MyQ (x2), Ring (x4), Google (x3), Onn TV (x6), Visio TV

Can't remove all devices from the router. Multiple people working from home and kids playing games.
What do "the logs"...? Tell me where "the logs" are and I will do my best to help.
No VPN.
No other features like AiProtection, Dual WAN, AiCloud, USB drive.
Have addon scripts - AMTM installed but unused.
Have custom scripts

• smb.postconf - DOS attributes
• hosts.add - list of local machines cited above
• dnsmasq.conf.add - list of local machines cited above
• profile.add - my personal .profile configuration
• ./usericon - have hard links to .log files that have multiple devices (i.e. Kasa devices hard link MAC.log to zKasa icon file)

Manual IP reservations - NONE through GUI. All through config files listed above. Entire household manual IP, except Guest networks
Did all the troubleshooting listed in the question. Can't really reconfigure from scratch, given online users.

 

[David Cavalli]

No. The output of your jq command listed 35 individual MAC addresses. 30 seconds later, "Client Status" shows 37 devices online (Wired (7) and Wireless (30)). (Lots of devices join / leave, so that sounds right.) The Clients count was 158 when I used SSH to get into the Asus. It now shows 198.

After finishing my other post, I decided to figure out what "jq" and that json file are. Spitting out the MAC doesn't help me match what is / isn't online, so decided to try something out.

jq '.[] | select(.online=='1') | .name' /jffs/nmp_cl_json.js | sort

Switching to the device name of what is online (and sorting), I can confirm that the list exactly matches the machines I see online. Somehow, same of the machine names manually configured have somehow been removed while most persist. They *do* show in the GUI correctly, so I'm going to have to parse that .json file in more detail to learn what is going on.

THIS might be of use. Without logging out and no particular action on my part (except SSH and various GUI actions), the count reset at some point and was 38 (the lowest number I noticed). We're now back up to 67 in the time it took to type and proofread all this.

 

[dave14305]

We're now back up to 67 in the time it took to type and proofread all this.

When you’re on the main GUI page, and you see the number rising, press F12 to open the developer tools, switch to the console tab of that window, and enter these “commands”:

totalClientNum.online
clientList.length
originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist.length
originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist

 

[David Cavalli]

When you’re on the main GUI page, and you see the number rising, press F12 to open the developer tools, switch to the console tab of that window, and enter these “commands”:

totalClientNum.online
clientList.length
originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist.length
originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist

Here you go:
totalClientNum
{online: 121, wireless: 31, wired: 7, wireless_ifnames: Array(5)}
clientList.length
60
originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist.length
128
originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist
(134) <redacted list of IP addresses unless you really need it>

FYI, 121, 128 and 134 were matching the Clients number as it happened. Now 147.

 

[dave14305]

Wired (7)

Is there a switch in the LAN?

redacted list of IP addresses unless you really need it>

What pattern, if any, is in the list? Anything duplicated many times over? You can PM the list if you want me to look, but I won’t know what is what.

originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist.sort()

Sorting might make it easier.

 

[David Cavalli]

originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist
(134) <redacted list of IP addresses unless you really need it>

I redacted it initially because I don't really want to publish all my MAC addresses. Looked at it with detail. The beginning of the list looks right. Each one unique. THEN, mid way through looking, all of a sudden, the MAC address for my Synology NAS seems to be repeating in quantity. No idea what makes my Synology unique, except that I use a combined dual ethernet for one MAC address. It's been that way since I bought it, so I know that itself isn't an issue, but maybe plays a role. This is the only MAC address that seems to repeat, and it does so from the middle to the end of the array.

 

[David Cavalli]

Is there a switch in the LAN?

What pattern, if any, is in the list? Anything duplicated many times over? You can PM the list if you want me to look, but I won’t know what is what.

originData.fromNetworkmapd[0].maclist.sort()

Sorting might make it easier.

Yes, there is a switch in the LAN. FYI, hasn't been a problem before.

Did sort the list. Have output and will figure out how to PM it to you (again, if important). Interesting update. Same as before, somehow, the count reset again. 40 was the lowest I saw, now 68. When I entered the sort(), it was only 44. Same as before, the Synology is the only repeating one, and it is the first 7 entries of the 44 listed. THIS correlates to the ~37 I think are actually online. Tell me if you need the PM list, but I think that fact is what you really want.

 

[dave14305]

Tell me if you need the PM list, but I think that fact is what you really want.

No, I don’t need it now that you have identified the bad MAC in your scenario.

Does the clientList remain stable compared to the maclist?

 

[David Cavalli]

More random info, in case it is of use.

Switch, TP-Link TL-SG108(UN) v3, is connected on the LAN4 port. For some reason, the LAN4 port is either Green or Yellow in the GUI. I'm assuming this is a 1G vs 100MB difference. No idea what makes it switch between the two, but is what it is. It's currently Yellow.

Synology DS920+ is connected on the LAN2 and LAN3 ports. Link aggregation is something that has been active since I first bought the NAS and hasn't been an issue with either Asus router running Merlin, historically.

 

[David Cavalli]

No, I don’t need it now that you have identified the bad MAC in your scenario.

Does the clientList remain stable compared to the maclist?

clientList=60 still, where "Clients" now are at 175, up from the 40 in the earlier post.

'bad' MAC in the sense of repeating, but fully functional and no errors seen any other way. It's the hub of *everything* done on the LAN for work, play and backup.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Synology DS920+ is connected on the LAN2 and LAN3 ports. Link aggregation is something that has been active since I first bought the NAS and hasn't been an issue with either Asus router running Merlin, historically.

Any chance you can temporarily disconnect one side of the link aggregation, just to see whether that stops the number counting up?

 

[David Cavalli]

About to leave the house to see the Liverpool FC game at my local OLSC for the noon game, but one more final observation. The Clients number *again* reset back to ~40, but this time while idly doing nothing. Maybe I closed that <f12> window, but from my side 'randomly' reset to the real number again. Can't figure out anything else I did, as I was closing things to get ready to leave for the game.

Can do more in 3-4 hours when I get home!

 

[dave14305]

This might be beating a dead horse, but let’s capture what networkmap is doing.

touch /tmp/NMP_DEBUG /tmp/NMP_DEBUG_MORE /tmp/NMP_DEBUG_FUNCTION
killall networkmap
networkmap | tee /tmp/networkmap_debug.log

You should see a lot of crap scroll by. Once it seems to slow down and pause after a bit, hit ctrl-c and review the /tmp/networkmap_debug.log file where the Synology MAC is mentioned.

Cleanup the debug with:

rm /tmp/NMP_DEBUG /tmp/NMP_DEBUG_MORE /tmp/NMP_DEBUG_FUNCTION
service restart_networkmap