How does the router recognize each device in the background? Unknown and 192.168.1.100 There are a lot of them. I relied on the top six MAC names to get my name.

Last month, I counted 37 devices online on the backend of my Redmi AX3000T, and less than 10 of them could actually be named. The rest is all Unknown-01 , android-3a9f2c , ESP-xx-38 This type is followed by a 192.168.31.100 address around. I originally wanted to set a speed limit for the TV, but after scrolling through the device list for a long time, the more I looked at it, the more I looked like a blind man touching an elephant. I almost kicked out the camera in my mother's bedroom as a device for surfing the Internet. Later, I spent two nights identifying the devices one by one, marking them with names, binding them to fixed IPs, and then doing speed limiting and blacklisting became much easier. This article will explain this stupid method clearly. Don’t focus on management first, first recognize the people.

Where is the device list? First distinguish between the "Connected" and "DHCP Client" pages.

The device-related pages in the router backend are often split into two parts, and many people click the wrong page at first sight. A page called "Connected Devices", "Terminal Management" or "Device List" displays the currently connected devices. ； The other page is called "DHCP Client", "Address Allocation Table" or "Static Allocation", which displays the devices that have received IP addresses from the router. There may also be cameras that were turned off yesterday.

At first, I only looked through "Connected Devices", but the old sweeper on the balcony had just been recharged and the WiFi was disconnected for a while, so it disappeared from the list. When it came online again, it changed its IP and its name was still Unknown. I thought for a while that there was an unfamiliar device in my home. Later, I checked on the DHCP client page. EC:FA:BC:xx:xx:xx Yesterday's lease was still hanging on the back. As the lease expired, it was revealed that it was a sweeper. So don’t rush to judge. Read both pages, especially the MAC address. That is the real “ID card” of the device. It is not the same thing as the IP. What is the difference between MAC address and IP address This article goes into more detail.

I’ll list the common backstage entrances so that you can save yourself two rounds by looking for them.:

Some old firmwares will hide "Device Management" in the system tools. If you can't find it, use the search at the top of the background and type the word "Device". I really can’t find it. The router’s app may also have a device list, but the app usually only provides the ability to change notes and kick people. To bind a fixed IP and check the lease, you still have to go back to the web version.

Don’t click on kicking people or limiting the speed first. It’s more troublesome to admit the wrong device than disconnecting from the Internet.

My first reaction was to kick away the equipment that I didn’t like, but I finally held back. There are "dumb devices" such as cameras, doorbells, TVs, speakers, and gateways at home. They don't say "Who am I?" and their names are often just the chip model or Unknown. You look like a stranger, maybe it’s your door lock that reports its status regularly every day.

What's even more embarrassing is that if you kicked the wrong piece of your own equipment, you have to re-distribute the network when you come back. For things like Xiaoai speakers, Mijia doorbells, and sweeping machines, you have to go through the respective app to configure the network again to reconnect to WiFi. In some cases, you have to re-enter the WiFi password. If the password contains symbols, it is easy to get stuck. The same goes for setting speed limits on devices. What you want to use is the TV, but it turns out to be a NAS, and the backup of family photos is so slow that it stops.

So the rule I made later was: First change the notes on all recognized devices, and then check the speed limits and blacklists. . This way, everyone's name will be clear to everyone in the future, so you don't have to guess at the MAC every time. I have written about the specific steps for speed limiting. How does the router limit the speed of the device? , the difference between blacklisting and kicking offline is How to block devices on router That article. But the premise of these two articles is that you must first recognize the equipment, otherwise you will not dare to start no matter how clear the form is.

How do mobile phones and computers report MAC and IP by themselves? It took me two nights to get them right.

Just looking at the backend, there are only MACs and IPs, but if there are too many, it still won’t be enough. The easiest thing is to let each device report its MAC. When I check the whole house equipment, I mainly use the following entrances::

The easiest thing to overturn here is the random MAC of Apple and Android. For the sake of privacy, the mobile phone will send a fake MAC to each WiFi by default, and the string seen in the background 7A:xx It's probably your phone, but it doesn't match the real MAC in your "About This Mac". The switch on iPhone is called "Private Wireless LAN Address", and on Android it is called "Use Device MAC" or "Random MAC". Turn it off before identifying the device, or simply remember "the fixed fake MAC in the background is this phone."

The Honor tablet I have at home can't match the backend, so it's stuck here. Turn off the random MAC, forget about WiFi and reconnect, and there will immediately be a corresponding address in the background. This action is only used on home routers. For public WiFi, it is still recommended to turn on a random MAC. Don’t try to save trouble by one size fits all.

You can check the manufacturer with the top six MAC numbers. Unknown and camera can be distinguished in this way.

The MAC given in the background usually looks like this: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF . The first six digits are not garbled characters, they are the network interface number applied by the manufacturer, which is called OUI in the industry. Copy the first six digits, search "MAC manufacturer lookup" or "OUI lookup" in the browser, put it in the query box, and you can see whose chip this device probably is.

I tried it on several devices at home, and the pattern was quite obvious. for example 28:6C:07 At the beginning, when I checked, it was Xiaomi series. ； DC:A6:32 At first, I found out it was a Raspberry Pi ； For some devices that start with ESP, the first six digits often point to Espressif's WiFi modules, which are mostly smart hardware that you have saved yourself, such as sockets and thermometers and hygrometers. The manufacturer can only tell you who it "looks like", not exactly whether it's a camera or a speaker, but it's very useful for narrowing down the range.

Finding the manufacturer is not enough, so we continue to exclude based on the device name and IP segment. Cameras and doorbells generally only connect to 2.4G, and many of them will be online for a long time. ； TV boxes and TVs are often connected to 5G ； NAS, computers, and game consoles generally use network cables and are online for the longest time. The one I couldn't identify in the end was because it only connected to 2.4G, was online 22 hours a day, and uploaded more than downloaded. I guessed it was a camera. When I went to the balcony to take a look, it was indeed plugged in.

After changing your name, you can easily do two things: Turn off random MAC and fix IP so that your name is not lost

Changing your name is not a one-and-done thing. Once the device is restarted, the IP sent by DHCP may be changed. Some routers will not automatically recognize the note. You will have to check it again in two days. What's even more annoying is that the phone has a random MAC enabled, and every time it reconnects, it is treated as a new device in the background, and the notes are changed in vain.

So now every time I recognize one, I do two things:: First, change devices such as mobile phones and tablets that have random MAC addresses to "device MAC" on the home WiFi.” ； Second, bind fixed IPs to long-term devices such as cameras, TVs, NAS, and printers. Fixed IP not only makes the name stable, but also allows for port forwarding, speed limiting, and blacklisting in the future so that the rules will not deviate due to the IP. I have written the specific operation 192.168.1.1 How to bind a static IP to a device , the process of that article can be copied. The entrance names of Xiaomi, Mercury, and Tenda are different, but the logic is the same.: Bind MAC and IP together in DHCP static allocation.

When binding IP, don’t confuse manually filling in the IP with changing the static IP in the device. Home devices are prioritized for "static allocation" on the router's DHCP page, and the device maintains "obtain an IP automatically". This way the router knows who it is and the device itself is less likely to mismatch the gateway and subnet mask.

What should I do if I really can’t recognize the device? Three stupid ways to check online time, traffic and power outages

There will always be one or two that just don't match up. The name of the backend is Unknown, and the MAC manufacturer is also unfamiliar with it, and even after browsing through mobile phones and computers, it is not the same. The last three stupid methods I used had a higher success rate than I imagined.:

• View online time: After the router is restarted, which device remains uninterrupted is the device with normal power, such as cameras, gateways, and NAS. ； Those that only appear at night are mostly mobile phones or tablets that were not at home during the day.
• Look at the upstream and downstream traffic: Those that continue to receive large amounts of traffic are usually TVs, downloaders or computers. ； A few KB per day may be low-frequency reporting equipment such as door locks and temperature and humidity meters.
• Power outage troubleshooting: Disconnect the suspicious device from the Internet first, then refresh the background to see which records disappear. Pulling one out and looking at each one is faster than guessing blindly.

Cutting off the power is the trick I use the most. That unrecognizable device ended up being me turning off the power to the living room camera, and in the background Unknown-09 It disappeared immediately and was completely settled. Don't underestimate this stupid method, it costs zero and won't correct wrong settings. Once the whole house is marked with names, and then you can set speed limits and block people, you will feel confident.

I’ll give you a sequence at the end: First read two pages to get the MAC, then let the device report the MAC by itself, check the manufacturer to narrow down the range, and finally change the name and fix the IP. . If you don't recognize it, cut off the power. Don't rush to kick it off, let alone restore it to factory settings. The more complete the device name is, the less likely it is to cause accidental damage due to subsequent speed restrictions and blacklisting.