Network Map "Client List" moving elsewhere due to low NVRAM

[bengalih]

I've seen this discussed in multiple threads, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer.

Is populating the "Client List" names in the Network Map with a friendly name (as opposed to what gets populated by default...seemingly an OUI lookup on the mac) possible without clicking on the entry and typing it in so that it gets stored in the nvram custom_clientlist value?

I see scattered information stating that setting a dhcp-host reservation or adding to a hosts file, etc., would allow this list to populate with the name specified there, but I can't get anything else to work.
If seems the only option if you don't want to accept the worthless names that are auto populated, is to type them in manually and eat up NVRAM.

For instance, this post states from @ColinTaylor

Request: move custom_clientlist, dhcp_staticlist, and dhcp_hostnames from NVRAM to jffs

Is it possible to move custom_clientlist and dhcp_hostnames from NVRAM to jffs in a future enhancement to AsusWrt-Merlin?? I just upgraded my RT-AC68P to AsusWrt-Merlin 384.17 and I'm now getting the following message in the UI: "Your router is running low on free NVRAM, which might affect its...

www.snbforums.com

With dnsmasq.conf.add you are setting host names and doing it this way will not consume nvram but they will also not appear in the GUI (LAN - DHCP Server).

But a post right under it from @David Cavalli that states:

. I used smart reference names in dnsmasq.conf.add that show up in the GUI with no effect on NVRAM and cleared out custom_clientlist

So can one use dnsmasq entries to populate the Client List in the GUI with friendly names or not?

thanks

 

[bennor]

Have you looked into using YazDHCP?

YazDHCP - YazDHCP - feature expansion of DHCP assignments (increasing limit on the number of DHCP reservations)

v1.0.6 Updated 2023-11-18 Feature expansion of DHCP assignments using AsusWRT-Merlin's Addons API to read and write DHCP assignments, increasing the limit on the number of reservations. YazDHCP is free to use under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL 3.0). This project is hosted on...

www.snbforums.com

Seems to work with bringing in custom names when exported (or manually created) then imported.

 

[bengalih]

Have you looked into using YazDHCP?

YazDHCP - YazDHCP - feature expansion of DHCP assignments (increasing limit on the number of DHCP reservations)

v1.0.6 Updated 2023-11-18 Feature expansion of DHCP assignments using AsusWRT-Merlin's Addons API to read and write DHCP assignments, increasing the limit on the number of reservations. YazDHCP is free to use under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL 3.0). This project is hosted on...

www.snbforums.com

Seems to work with bringing in custom names when exported (or manually created) then imported.

You sure you are meaning the Client Names in the Network Map screen? Seems that tool is meant for moving DHCP client reservations.

Have you used it to do this task? I'll post over in that thread for specifics, bit it would be nice to know someone has confirmed that it does this before I ask them for specifics.

Thanks

 

[bennor]

Yes the tool is used for importing/exporting manual DHCP IP addresses and expanding the number of manual IP addresses. But it also exports/imports the Hostname (or what you are calling friendly name) too for those manual DHCP IP addresses.
Edit to add: Example of exported YazDHCP CSV file with custom hostnames:

MAC,IP,HOSTNAME,DNS
CC:40:D0:3A:XX:XX,192.168.1.10,NetgearGS908E,
7C:61:66:34:XX:XX,192.168.1.20,AmazonFireTV4K,
B8:27:EB:23:XX:XX,192.168.1.30,PiZeroW,
C8:3A:6B:23:XX:XX,192.168.1.40,RokuUltra,
40:A2:DB:B8:XX:XX,192.168.1.50,AmazonFireHD10,

I use YazDHCP to import my manual IP addresses and their hostnames after a hard factory reset and install of the YazDHCP script. Its a simple script install, if it doesn't do what you want you can uninstall it.

 

[bengalih]

Yes the tool is used for importing/exporting manual DHCP IP addresses and expanding the number of manual IP addresses. But it also exports/imports the Hostname (or what you are calling friendly name) too for those manual DHCP IP addresses.
Edit to add: Example of exported YazDHCP CSV file with custom hostnames:

MAC,IP,HOSTNAME,DNS
CC:40:D0:3A:XX:XX,192.168.1.10,NetgearGS908E,
7C:61:66:34:XX:XX,192.168.1.20,AmazonFireTV4K,
B8:27:EB:23:XX:XX,192.168.1.30,PiZeroW,
C8:3A:6B:23:XX:XX,192.168.1.40,RokuUltra,
40:A2:DB:B8:XX:XX,192.168.1.50,AmazonFireHD10,

I use YazDHCP to import my manual IP addresses and their hostnames after a hard factory reset and install of the YazDHCP script. Its a simple script install, if it doesn't do what you want you can uninstall it.

So do you know what it is doing under the hood? (if not I'll go post in that thread...),
But that format looks like a normal dhcp-host format that gets added into dnsmasq.conf.

I have tried adding manual entries like that into my dnsmasq.conf (via startup scripts) and it does not appear to populate the "Client Names" with anything.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yes the tool is used for importing/exporting manual DHCP IP addresses and expanding the number of manual IP addresses. But it also exports/imports the Hostname (or what you are calling friendly name) too for those manual DHCP IP addresses.
Edit to add: Example of exported YazDHCP CSV file with custom hostnames:

MAC,IP,HOSTNAME,DNS
CC:40:D0:3A:XX:XX,192.168.1.10,NetgearGS908E,
7C:61:66:34:XX:XX,192.168.1.20,AmazonFireTV4K,
B8:27:EB:23:XX:XX,192.168.1.30,PiZeroW,
C8:3A:6B:23:XX:XX,192.168.1.40,RokuUltra,
40:A2:DB:B8:XX:XX,192.168.1.50,AmazonFireHD10,

I use YazDHCP to import my manual IP addresses and their hostnames after a hard factory reset and install of the YazDHCP script. Its a simple script install, if it doesn't do what you want you can uninstall it.

You are confusing the Client Name (Network Map/GUI friendly name) with the hostname (DNS). They are two different things (as can be seen in the LAN - DHCP Server tab).

YazDHCP had a recent update where it can backup and restore the Client Names, but it cannot move them to a dnsmasq config file because they are nothing to do with dnsmasq.

 

[bengalih]

You are confusing the Client Name (Network Map/GUI friendly name) with the hostname (DNS). They are two different things (as can be seen in the LAN - DHCP Server tab).

YazDHCP had a recent update where it can backup and restore the Client Names, but it cannot move them to a dnsmasq config file because they are nothing to do with dnsmasq.

Thanks Colin. I think I quoted you above where you seemed to indicate what I want to do is not possible, but that seemed contradicted by someone just a couple of posts below who claimed to have done it. Were they mistaken too?

To the best of your knowledge, is the case still that "Client Names" (Network Map) can't be stored anywhere but NVRAM?
(including that they can't be pulled from another non NVRAM setting and populated there at will).

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thanks Colin. I think I quoted you above where you seemed to indicate what I want to do is not possible, but that seemed contradicted by someone just a couple of posts below who claimed to have done it. Were they mistaken too?

It's unclear what he meant by "smart reference names". I think he meant that he created DNS host names that were meaningful (e.g. kindle instead of android342134F321D8). The Network Map function which creates the Client Name for GUI elements will probably use this host name if there hasn't been a Client Name explicitly set. The Network Map function is closed source so it's unclear exactly what it will display and when.

To the best of your knowledge, is the case still that "Client Names" (Network Map) can't be stored anywhere but NVRAM?
(including that they can't be pulled from another non NVRAM setting and populated there at will).

That is correct for the non-HND routers.

 

[bengalih]

It's unclear what he meant by "smart reference names". I think he meant that he created DNS host names that were meaningful (e.g. kindle instead of android342134F321D8). The Network Map function which creates the Client Name for GUI elements will probably use this host name if there hasn't been a Client Name explicitly set. The Network Map function is closed source so it's unclear exactly what it will display and when.


That is correct for the non-HND routers.

I didn't try host names because a host entry only correlates name/ip, has nothing to do with mac address, and I assumed that mac address was important to this list.

I just tried it by creating a host record for one entry based on IP. Restarted dnsmasq and verified host record works.
Unassociated my client from WiFi, and then reconnected to refresh entry in client list.
It doesn't appear that it shows.

So, based on my testing, neither setting a host name (name/IP) or setting a dhcp-host reservation (mac/IP/name), seems to be used at all for the "Client Name" list in Network Map. It appears that you either use the auto populated names (likely retrieved by simply using the first half of the OUI to map vendor code) or you set them manually so they populate the NVRAM entry.

 

[bennor]

You are confusing the Client Name (Network Map/GUI friendly name) with the hostname (DNS). They are two different things (as can be seen in the LAN - DHCP Server tab).

Yes I was confusing what the OP was actually looking for ("Client Name"). Their terms "Client list" and "friendly name" is what threw me into mentioning YazDHCP. Sorry for the confusion of mentioning YazDHCP which doesn't appear to address what the OP is actually looking for.

 

[bengalih]

Yes I was confusing what the OP was actually looking for ("Client Name"). Their terms "Client list" and "friendly name" is what threw me into mentioning YazDHCP. Sorry for the confusion of mentioning YazDHCP which doesn't appear to address what the OP is actually looking for.

No worries. You wouldn't be the first to confuse them, which is why I posted this thread - due to all the conflicting info likely due to misunderstanding intent.

Hopefully others looking for a conclusive answer for now will find this thread.

 

[k2kx]

You can use dnsmasq to configure the client name and then empty out the custom_clients file from NVRAM. Just remember that after you add all your custom entries to the dnsmasq file you need to reboot the router so all your clients renew it IP and the new name will display in network map.

Here is sample of my dnsmasq file. You don't have to use all the options like I did. You can just use MAC address and map it to the custom name only. Also here is a detail information about dnsmasq usage. https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/docs/dnsmasq-man.html
## IOT
## --dhcp-host=[<hwaddr>][,id:<client_id>|*][,set:<tag>][,tag:<tag>][,<ipaddr>][,<hostname>][,<lease_time>][,ignore]
dhcp-host=CC:F4:11:BF:A4:3D,10.0.0.10,LivingRoom_Mini,infinite
dhcp-host=30:FD:38:91:75:AB,10.0.0.11,Bedroom_Mini,infinite
dhcp-host=38:8B:59:26:43:19,10.0.0.12,Hallway_Mini,infinite

 

[ColinTaylor]

@k2kx Your sample won't work because you have typo's at the start of each line (i.e. hdcp-host).

 

[BluJacket]

You can use dnsmasq to configure the client name and then empty out the custom_clients file from NVRAM. Just remember that after you add all your custom entries to the dnsmasq file you need to reboot the router so all your clients renew it IP and the new name will display in network map.

Here is sample of my dnsmasq file. You don't have to use all the options like I did. You can just use MAC address and map it to the custom name only. Also here is a detail information about dnsmasq usage. https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/docs/dnsmasq-man.html
## IOT
## --dhcp-host=[<hwaddr>][,id:<client_id>|*][,set:<tag>][,tag:<tag>][,<ipaddr>][,<hostname>][,<lease_time>][,ignore]
dhcp-host=CC:F4:11:BF:A4:3D,10.0.0.10,LivingRoom_Mini,infinite
dhcp-host=30:FD:38:91:75:AB,10.0.0.11,Bedroom_Mini,infinite
dhcp-host=38:8B:59:26:43:19,10.0.0.12,Hallway_Mini,infinite


View attachment 49781

K2kx: This worked perfectly. Thank you for posting.

 

[bengalih]

Here is sample of my dnsmasq file. You don't have to use all the options like I did. You can just use MAC address and map it to the custom name only. Also here is a detail information about dnsmasq usage. https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/docs/dnsmasq-man.html
## IOT
## --dhcp-host=[<hwaddr>][,id:<client_id>|*][,set:<tag>][,tag:<tag>][,<ipaddr>][,<hostname>][,<lease_time>][,ignore]
dhcp-host=CC:F4:11:BF:A4:3D,10.0.0.10,LivingRoom_Mini,infinite
dhcp-host=30:FD:38:91:75:AB,10.0.0.11,Bedroom_Mini,infinite
dhcp-host=38:8B:59:26:43:19,10.0.0.12,Hallway_Mini,infinite

This did not seem to work for me. However I do not actually use the dhcp server of the Asus (I do have dnsmasq running, just not doing dhcp).
Since you say you need to reboot so all clients get their leases so this works it sounds like the router is then not pulling this information from the dnsmasq file but rather from the .leases file?

So, while this may work, it apparently will only do so for users who use the DHCP on the router.