Odd devices showing connected to the router

[jnelsoninjax]

So I was attempting to reserve DHCP address' for my PoE camera's, and according to the router when I filter the network map to just ethernet, I have a Galaxy-Tab-A-8 connected... well that tablet is my nieces, and it is connected via WiFi, no way to connect it to ethernet ,and it also appears listed as connected via WiFi... Also only one of my PoE camera's shows up,  yet they are both connected and I am viewing them live right now, so I am not sure how it can not be connected.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

You did have multiple PoE ports on your switch, right?

[jnelsoninjax]

14 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

You did have multiple PoE ports on your switch, right?

 Yes, 4

[+BudMan MVC]

A map of where mac address are connected from, be it ethernet or wifi doesn't always work correctly - especially on some soho wifi router..

 

You could have a loop, where macs are showing up to the router via its ethernet ports.  A loop could explain some of the really slow performance you were seeing.  Did you ever check your gig speed with iperf?  Or was that someone else?

 

Can you map out how you have everything connected?

 

Your only wifi is on the router, and not some other AP as well? You don't have multiple ports from your switch or other AP connecting into your router?

 

What does where your router think some mac is connected via wireless or wired have to do with setting a dhcp reservation?

[jnelsoninjax]

3 hours ago, BudMan said:

A map of where mac address are connected from, be it ethernet or wifi doesn't always work correctly - especially on some soho wifi router..

 

You could have a loop, where macs are showing up to the router via its ethernet ports.  A loop could explain some of the really slow performance you were seeing.  Did you ever check your gig speed with iperf?  Or was that someone else?

 

Can you map out how you have everything connected?

 

Your only wifi is on the router, and not some other AP as well? You don't have multiple ports from your switch or other AP connecting into your router?

 

What does where your router think some mac is connected via wireless or wired have to do with setting a dhcp reservation?

No AP's, there is a total of 2 switches plus the PoE one. 1 switch is only being used on BIL PC so he can control his UPS (apparently it is a network/rack grade UPS)

The Mac address issue came up when I was trying to find my cameras, it has nothing to do with DHCP reservation it was simply an oddity that I noticed.

I have not gotten a chance to run iperf yet.

[+BudMan MVC]

Yeah I don't see how you could have a loop there.. Unless your switches are connected together?  Does any of your say nas/desktops have both wireless and wired interfaces? Or say your laptops/desktop at some point have been wired and wireless at the same time and doing any sort of bridging?

 

Are you running just 1 SSID?  Or do you have say a guest network setup on the wireless?

 

I would guess just some bug/issue/glitch in your routers presentation of where the devices are via mac.  Since they just bridge the wifi to the lan ports its possible its just confused to where the mac address was.

[jnelsoninjax]

4 hours ago, BudMan said:

Yeah I don't see how you could have a loop there.. Unless your switches are connected together?  Does any of your say nas/desktops have both wireless and wired interfaces? Or say your laptops/desktop at some point have been wired and wireless at the same time and doing any sort of bridging?

 

Are you running just 1 SSID?  Or do you have say a guest network setup on the wireless?

 

I would guess just some bug/issue/glitch in your routers presentation of where the devices are via mac.  Since they just bridge the wifi to the lan ports its possible its just confused to where the mac address was.

We have 2 SSID's one for the 2.4 and one for the 5ghz. No guest network enabled. All 3 of the desktops have the ability to run WiFi, but they are not enabled. Two of he switches are located beside the router, the third is on the back wall next to the other desktop, and I have physically traced the wires and they are all terminate at the router.

[+BudMan MVC]

Is it still there? Or has it gone away and only show on the wifi now?

[jnelsoninjax]

1 hour ago, BudMan said:

Is it still there? Or has it gone away and only show on the wifi now?

It only shows WiFi now.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

Just to check, do you have any devices on your wireless network which have the option to randomize their MAC address each time they connect?

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[jnelsoninjax]

15 hours ago, goretsky said:

Hello,

 

Just to check, do you have any devices on your wireless network which have the option to randomize their MAC address each time they connect?

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

I have no idea, I don't think that it sounds like anything I have ever heard of.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

A couple of examples:  Android and Apple.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[+BudMan MVC]

Yeah random mac is very common these days - mostly in mobile devices.  I personally think its solution looking for a problem.. If your that worried about xyz tracking you while your connecting to some network - just don't connect to that network vs creating random mac addresses.. Its a headache for sure for anyone trying to manage their own network while some iphone wants to change its mac every time it connects..

 

Not sure why your router would place this mac - be it random or not on ethernet side vs wifi side..  And the odds of even a random mac produced by say a phone - the odds of it matching up with another mac that was on your wired side are just astronomical.. The random macs are normally always some unregistered mac, the first 3 numbers of any mac are registered to company xyz, etc.  The randoms I have seen are always start with numbers that have not been registered so them matching up to some known device on our wired seems a bit out there for sure.

 

Unless you continue to see this sort of issue where devices are being seen on wired when they are wireless - I would just chalk it up to a glitch/bug/whatever in the routers code placing this mac on this network in its reporting..   If you do notice it more and more - then yeah I would investigate to "why"  just incase you have something that is bridging your wireless to to your wired network that you are not aware of.

[jnelsoninjax]

10 hours ago, BudMan said:

Yeah random mac is very common these days - mostly in mobile devices.  I personally think its solution looking for a problem.. If your that worried about xyz tracking you while your connecting to some network - just don't connect to that network vs creating random mac addresses.. Its a headache for sure for anyone trying to manage their own network while some iphone wants to change its mac every time it connects..

 

Not sure why your router would place this mac - be it random or not on ethernet side vs wifi side..  And the odds of even a random mac produced by say a phone - the odds of it matching up with another mac that was on your wired side are just astronomical.. The random macs are normally always some unregistered mac, the first 3 numbers of any mac are registered to company xyz, etc.  The randoms I have seen are always start with numbers that have not been registered so them matching up to some known device on our wired seems a bit out there for sure.

 

Unless you continue to see this sort of issue where devices are being seen on wired when they are wireless - I would just chalk it up to a glitch/bug/whatever in the routers code placing this mac on this network in its reporting..   If you do notice it more and more - then yeah I would investigate to "why"  just incase you have something that is bridging your wireless to to your wired network that you are not aware of.

I'll keep an eye on the network and see if this issue persists. Thanks for the help!