Weird machine names in Network Map vs DNS?

[vibroverbus]

So I just switched over to ASUSwrt-Merlin on an AC3200 after many many years of being on DD-WRT and getting tired of giving up raw performance in return for configurability. System is working great, still on the learning curve, but going well... here's quick question....

Any idea why the GUI management screens might not show the same client names as DNS reports?

Situation is this - have a few devices that are 'enterprise managed' in the household... and these generally have real helpful machine names assigned like "29823948u729387u42983u74r9028u2".

Which is not helpful when managing a small home network when you're trying to figure out "is that machine connected the wife's work computer? Or an interloper? Or her company mobile phone? or...?"
So for ages I have used dnsmasq.conf entries like this (details change but you get the idea... yes I know hex notation doesn't got to 'X' )

dhcp-host=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,MyFriendlyDeviceName1
dhcp-host=XX:XX:CF:20:XX:XX,WifesFriendlyDeviceName2​

So coming over to ASUSWRT-Merlin, I plug my good old dd-wrt entries into dnsmasq.conf.add...

Then I go into the management GUI, look at "Network Map" and for "WifesFriendlyDeviceName1" instead I see "29837429387429" - the dopey enterprise name her device is given.

Huh. So SSH into the router, do a couple dnslookups and arps, both show the correct friendly name as I have put into dnsmasq.conf.add. That seems all good... So go back to the GUI and hit the DHCP log - also shows my preferred friendly name from dnsmasq.conf name perfectly. Go to Wireless Log - again shows the preferred friendly name from dnsmasq.conf. Back to "Network Map" and refresh and still - stupid "29839784972497" number-name... WTF.

Any idea how come that network map doesn't show the right DNS device name, when everything from the DHCP & Wireless log pages to console arps and dnslookups all show the correct name? Does it bypass DNS somehow to get machine names?

Minor thing but trying to be sure I"m not missing a trick in my conversion from DD-WRT-land...

TIA

 

[netwrks]

So I just switched over to ASUSwrt-Merlin on an AC3200 after many many years of being on DD-WRT and getting tired of giving up raw performance in return for configurability. System is working great, still on the learning curve, but going well... here's quick question....

Any idea why the GUI management screens might not show the same client names as DNS reports?

Situation is this - have a few devices that are 'enterprise managed' in the household... and these generally have real helpful machine names assigned like "29823948u729387u42983u74r9028u2".

Which is not helpful when managing a small home network when you're trying to figure out "is that machine connected the wife's work computer? Or an interloper? Or her company mobile phone? or...?"
So for ages I have used dnsmasq.conf entries like this (details change but you get the idea... yes I know hex notation doesn't got to 'X' )

dhcp-host=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,MyFriendlyDeviceName1
dhcp-host=XX:XX:CF:20:XX:XX,WifesFriendlyDeviceName2​

So coming over to ASUSWRT-Merlin, I plug my good old dd-wrt entries into dnsmasq.conf.add...

Then I go into the management GUI, look at "Network Map" and for "WifesFriendlyDeviceName1" instead I see "29837429387429" - the dopey enterprise name her device is given.

Huh. So SSH into the router, do a couple dnslookups and arps, both show the correct friendly name as I have put into dnsmasq.conf.add. That seems all good... So go back to the GUI and hit the DHCP log - also shows my preferred friendly name from dnsmasq.conf name perfectly. Go to Wireless Log - again shows the preferred friendly name from dnsmasq.conf. Back to "Network Map" and refresh and still - stupid "29839784972497" number-name... WTF.

Any idea how come that network map doesn't show the right DNS device name, when everything from the DHCP & Wireless log pages to console arps and dnslookups all show the correct name? Does it bypass DNS somehow to get machine names?

Minor thing but trying to be sure I"m not missing a trick in my conversion from DD-WRT-land...

TIA

Not sure why, but if you click o the device in network map you should be able to change the hostname and icon for it..

 

[vibroverbus]

thanks for reply... yeah... i noticed that was an option... but I guess it's one of those cases where "I want to understand why to be sure I have everything right" as much as "just wanting it to show something different on the screen". y'know, the usual router-hacker "gotta know how it works and why as much as solve the problem" kinda thing. LMK if you have any other ideas...

 

[ColinTaylor]

The Network Map function is a sprawling set of code developed by ASUS that is being continuously updated. I'm not sure anyone truly understands everything about how it works, but suffice it to say it uses multiple techniques to determine client details. These include querying the client directly, NetBIOS broadcasts, etc. So it isn't just restricted to DNS lookups.

I think one could argue that the Network Map names are correct because they are the "real" names returned by the clients rather than the aliases you have put into dnsmasq.conf. Obviously other parts of the routers interface are just using DNS resolution.

I would suggest that the normal method of creating aliases would be to use the routers DHCP Manual Assignment function rather than dnsmasq.conf.add. That way they will also be stored in an NVRAM variable where the router expects them to be.

 

[RMerlin]

The whole "name" situation is kinda messy in Asuswrt, as we have to deal with hostnames (as shown on the DHCP page) and "description labels" as shown on the Networkmap. Asus will assign a default description label based on a series of different lookups it does - I don't know which information has priority over which. Amongst these different naming method, it uses Netbios, UPNP, OUI lookups on the MAC, etc...

You can change that description name on the networkmap by clicking on a device, and changing what's shown in the name field.

 

[vibroverbus]

Thanks guys. So the network map indeed is more "low level" and buried in the oem code and prob is some netbios thing then... I dont mind seeing both but i guess if i had my way there would be more specific indication of what "name" is being shown, DNS hostname or "machine name"...

For the manual DNS entries, doesnt seem to matter which way i do it honestly, whether its in the GUI or the .add file its still being held in NVRAM and being updated before dnsmasq start. Using .add and .postconf files and being able to easily edit config files is a plus IMO, sometimes its nicer to backup and maintain a text file than to wade through 7 GUI entries that you cant backup and edit and restore in bulk as easily as your text file. Converting from my DD-WRT files took 1 minute this way instead of 10 minutes of typing MAC addresses over....