Unable to see Kasa Smart devices on the client list in Asus ZenWifi XT8

[badshah]

Hello,
I observed something very puzzling yesterday while trying to set up Home Assistant as I wanted collect all my IoT/Smart devices onto one platform and view them.
Here's my set up-

• Asus ZenWifi XT8 in a mesh set up with two XT8 units + one Asus RT-AC68U (Total 3)
• Router and two nodes connected through ethernet backhaul using MoCA adapters
• A whole bunch of smart devices (40+) from various vendors - Tuya, TP-Link/Kasa, Wyze, Samsung, Amazon, Google.....
• Overall about 50+ devices - wired and wireless, connected to the mesh Asus network
• The IoT devices have been segregated on a guest wifi SSID with their own IP subnet so that they can't access my main network
• Everything has been working in unison for the past 2+ years and I would say that for the most part I have a decent/fast/steady operation maximizing the 1gigabit fiber connection from AT&T
• I have even been able to automate routines and integrate the various devices with Amazon Echo and Google

So, yesterday, after successfully integrating the Tuya plugs, lights, etc., into Home Assistant, I attempted to integrate the Kasa devices (7 of them including 6 switches and 1 plug). And when trying to find their respective IP addresses, I discovered that none of them were showing up on the Asus (connected) clients list, although all of them were online. I must not have missed them earlier as they installed very easily and connected to the network/internet after which I have never had a reason to troubleshoot them. Even the TP-Link Kasa app doesn't list the device IP address (this is a known thing) but the Asus router should definitely show them. And note that ALL of my other devices from other vendors show up on the clients list except these Kasa ones. This left me bummed and hence posting this to see if anyone else had a similar situation and how they addressed it. Even if you haven't encountered this (i.e. with Kasa specifically), the general question still is that how come certain devices wouldn't show on the client list on the Asus router although connected to the network? Are there any other logs that I can dig into and find out?
In summary, the questions -

1. Why would the Asus router leave out specific devices from showing on the client list although they are connected and online?
2. What is special/different about the Kasa devices that results in this strange situation?

Any pointers would be helpful! Thanks in advance for taking the time to read and respond.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Hello,
I observed something very puzzling yesterday while trying to set up Home Assistant as I wanted collect all my IoT/Smart devices onto one platform and view them.
Here's my set up-

• Asus ZenWifi XT8 in a mesh set up with two XT8 units + one Asus RT-AC68U (Total 3)
• Router and two nodes connected through ethernet backhaul using MoCA adapters
• A whole bunch of smart devices (40+) from various vendors - Tuya, TP-Link/Kasa, Wyze, Samsung, Amazon, Google.....
• Overall about 50+ devices - wired and wireless, connected to the mesh Asus network
• The IoT devices have been segregated on a guest wifi SSID with their own IP subnet so that they can't access my main network
• Everything has been working in unison for the past 2+ years and I would say that for the most part I have a decent/fast/steady operation maximizing the 1gigabit fiber connection from AT&T
• I have even been able to automate routines and integrate the various devices with Amazon Echo and Google

So, yesterday, after successfully integrating the Tuya plugs, lights, etc., into Home Assistant, I attempted to integrate the Kasa devices (7 of them including 6 switches and 1 plug). And when trying to find their respective IP addresses, I discovered that none of them were showing up on the Asus (connected) clients list, although all of them were online. I must not have missed them earlier as they installed very easily and connected to the network/internet after which I have never had a reason to troubleshoot them. Even the TP-Link Kasa app doesn't list the device IP address (this is a known thing) but the Asus router should definitely show them. And note that ALL of my other devices from other vendors show up on the clients list except these Kasa ones. This left me bummed and hence posting this to see if anyone else had a similar situation and how they addressed it. Even if you haven't encountered this (i.e. with Kasa specifically), the general question still is that how come certain devices wouldn't show on the client list on the Asus router although connected to the network? Are there any other logs that I can dig into and find out?
In summary, the questions -

1. Why would the Asus router leave out specific devices from showing on the client list although they are connected and online?
2. What is special/different about the Kasa devices that results in this strange situation?

Any pointers would be helpful! Thanks in advance for taking the time to read and respond.

I have four Kasa smart plugs which are directly connected to my AX86S ( no nodes ) and they all show up in my network map. I am running Merlin 388.2.2. The devices are connected to Guest Network 2 on the 2.4 Ghz radio. On my network all regularly connected devices including the Kasa plugs have a static IPs. My guest IP 2 is in the same subnet as the primary subnet.

I do not use nodes on my network but prefer to use Ethernet connected APs but as I said my Kasa devices connect by wifi directly to my primary router.

Have you looked at the system log and confirmed Kasa devices have an IP from the router and are connected to the node? Since you have segregated the Kasa devices from your primary network this might be the cause of your problem

I did confirm as you said the the Kasa app shows the devices MAC address but not its IP on the LAN.

Also if you somehow assigned the Kasa devices static IPs using their firmware and instead of the router it is more likely that they won't show up at all or at least consistently on your network map. This seems unlikely because I have never seen a way to do so on mine.

 

[badshah]

I have four Kasa smart plugs which are directly connected to my AX86S ( no nodes ) and they all show up in my network map. I am running Merlin 388.2.2. The devices are connected to Guest Network 2 on the 2.4 Ghz radio. On my network all regularly connected devices including the Kasa plugs have a static IPs. My guest IP 2 is in the same subnet as the primary subnet.

I do not use nodes on my network but prefer to use Ethernet connected APs but as I said my Kasa devices connect by wifi directly to my primary router.

Have you looked at the system log and confirmed Kasa devices have an IP from the router and are connected to the node? Since you have segregated the Kasa devices from your primary network this might be the cause of your problem

I did confirm as you said the the Kasa app shows the devices MAC address but not its IP on the LAN.

Also if you somehow assigned the Kasa devices static IPs using their firmware and instead of the router it is more likely that they won't show up at all or at least consistently on your network map. This seems unlikely because I have never seen a way to do so on mine.

Thank you, @CaptainSTX for your reply. To answer your questions -

I am running Merlin 388.2.2.

I use the standard (but latest version) firmware from Asus

Have you looked at the system log and confirmed Kasa devices have an IP from the router and are connected to the node? Since you have segregated the Kasa devices from your primary network this might be the cause of your problem

I pulled up the Wireless Log in the System Log tab and could see the Kasa devices listed by their MAC addresses. However, there was no corresponding IP address listed there. In fact, there's no IP addr listed in that log at all for any devices. There's a bunch of other info but no IP addr.

Also if you somehow assigned the Kasa devices static IPs using their firmware and instead of the router it is more likely that they won't show up at all or at least consistently on your network map. This seems unlikely because I have never seen a way to do so on mine.

No, I haven't assigned any static IPs to these devices.

And to add to my original post, I am unable to see these devices listed as 'Clients' either on the admin page in the browser or the Asus app on the phone. Tried that since both have very different UIs.

 

[drinkingbird]

Thank you, @CaptainSTX for your reply. To answer your questions -


I use the standard (but latest version) firmware from Asus


I pulled up the Wireless Log in the System Log tab and could see the Kasa devices listed by their MAC addresses. However, there was no corresponding IP address listed there. In fact, there's no IP addr listed in that log at all for any devices. There's a bunch of other info but no IP addr.


No, I haven't assigned any static IPs to these devices.

And to add to my original post, I am unable to see these devices listed as 'Clients' either on the admin page in the browser or the Asus app on the phone. Tried that since both have very different UIs.

Client list relies heavily on the devices having replied to an ARP request from the router every so often. The fact that you see no IP associated implies that isn't happening. Either the routers pereodic ARP scans aren't hitting them or they are not responding. Generating some traffic to/from them should work though, i.e. pinging them, checking status in the app, cycling the plug in and off in the app, etc.

Client list isn't perfect but it has gotten better in 386 code base for me, to the point that there is almost never anything missing on mine and if it is, pinging or waking the device up makes it pop right up.

 

[badshah]

Client list relies heavily on the devices having replied to an ARP request from the router every so often. The fact that you see no IP associated implies that isn't happening. Either the routers pereodic ARP scans aren't hitting them or they are not responding. Generating some traffic to/from them should work though, i.e. pinging them, checking status in the app, cycling the plug in and off in the app, etc.

Client list isn't perfect but it has gotten better in 386 code base for me, to the point that there is almost never anything missing on mine and if it is, pinging or waking the device up makes it pop right up.

Thank you, @drinkingbird for the response. As I had mentioned, the devices themselves are all working fine (on/off states) and also working with other automation and integration scenarios such as with Amazon Echo, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings. So it is puzzling why just these devices from Kasa don't appear on the client list, whereas all others (from Tuya, Samsung, Amazon, etc.) do.

 

[drinkingbird]

Thank you, @drinkingbird for the response. As I had mentioned, the devices themselves are all working fine (on/off states) and also working with other automation and integration scenarios such as with Amazon Echo, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings. So it is puzzling why just these devices from Kasa don't appear on the client list, whereas all others (from Tuya, Samsung, Amazon, etc.) do.

Unplug and replug them, will probably show up for a while then disappear again after a while. They probably go into power save and don't respond to the normal ARP scans.

 

[drinkingbird]

Thank you, @drinkingbird for the response. As I had mentioned, the devices themselves are all working fine (on/off states) and also working with other automation and integration scenarios such as with Amazon Echo, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings. So it is puzzling why just these devices from Kasa don't appear on the client list, whereas all others (from Tuya, Samsung, Amazon, etc.) do.

Also note that some devices do gratuitous ARP (sending their address without being asked) every so often. Those are the best ones for client list. For example I see 2 of my Wyze cameras (same model) are sending a gratuitous arp every 10 seconds (they're on an isolated guest network that I've added even more firewall rules to and AP isolation is on, so the only thing that hears them is the router, but they are always in client list with no issues). The other 3 don't do this, they are different models. Though they have no issues appearing in client list as they are always sending some sort of traffic.

I just fired up a sniffer and from what I can see, the router ARP scans the entire LAN subnet when you open the client list, and again every 3 minutes that you have it open. When you close it, it stops. In reality, if the device is generating traffic it should not need this ARP scan to show up in client list but ones that have gone into low power mode or sleep often aren't generating traffic so the ARP scan discovers them, assuming they respond.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Thank you, @CaptainSTX for your reply. To answer your questions -


I use the standard (but latest version) firmware from Asus


I pulled up the Wireless Log in the System Log tab and could see the Kasa devices listed by their MAC addresses. However, there was no corresponding IP address listed there. In fact, there's no IP addr listed in that log at all for any devices. There's a bunch of other info but no IP addr.


No, I haven't assigned any static IPs to these devices.

And to add to my original post, I am unable to see these devices listed as 'Clients' either on the admin page in the browser or the Asus app on the phone. Tried that since both have very different UIs.

To help narrow down where the problem is occurring take one of you Kasa devices and connect it to a non guest Wifi and see if it then shows up in the network map. If that helps then put it back on the guest network but DO NOT disable its ability to connect to the intranet.

Based on my Kasa devices I don't believe it is an ARP issue nor do I believe that Kasa devices have a power saving mode.

 

[badshah]

Also note that some devices do gratuitous ARP (sending their address without being asked) every so often. Those are the best ones for client list. For example I see 2 of my Wyze cameras (same model) are sending a gratuitous arp every 10 seconds (they're on an isolated guest network that I've added even more firewall rules to and AP isolation is on, so the only thing that hears them is the router, but they are always in client list with no issues). The other 3 don't do this, they are different models. Though they have no issues appearing in client list as they are always sending some sort of traffic.

I just fired up a sniffer and from what I can see, the router ARP scans the entire LAN subnet when you open the client list, and again every 3 minutes that you have it open. When you close it, it stops. In reality, if the device is generating traffic it should not need this ARP scan to show up in client list but ones that have gone into low power mode or sleep often aren't generating traffic so the ARP scan discovers them, assuming they respond.

Thank you, @drinkingbird for the additional details.

 

[badshah]

Unplug and replug them, will probably show up for a while then disappear again after a while. They probably go into power save and don't respond to the normal ARP scans.

Thank you, @drinkingbird for the tips . I will continue to monitor this but unplugging and replugging is not an option as 6 of the 7 Kasa devices are switches that are wired into the wall.

 

[badshah]

To help narrow down where the problem is occurring take one of you Kasa devices and connect it to a non guest Wifi and see if it then shows up in the network map. If that helps then put it back on the guest network but DO NOT disable its ability to connect to the intranet.

Based on my Kasa devices I don't believe it is an ARP issue nor do I believe that Kasa devices have a power saving mode.

Okay, will try that on the smart plug as the rest of the devices are switches wired into the wall and wouldn't want to affect the lighting, etc. Thank you @CaptainSTX

 

[drinkingbird]

Thank you, @drinkingbird for the tips . I will continue to monitor this but unplugging and replugging is not an option as 6 of the 7 Kasa devices are switches that are wired into the wall.

You could "reboot" them by flipping the breaker but that's a bit excessive.

Back when the client list was even worse than it is now I found that SSHing into the router and pinging the device often made it show up. I think some people even had scripts to force the router to do ping scans or ARP scans (the second of which it now does when you open client list).

 

[jmpr]

You could "reboot" them by flipping the breaker but that's a bit excessive.

Back when the client list was even worse than it is now I found that SSHing into the router and pinging the device often made it show up. I think some people even had scripts to force the router to do ping scans or ARP scans (the second of which it now does when you open client list).

I'm sorry to answer so late. I have XT8 and 9 Kasa plugs and a camera, and 2 Tapo plugs. They always have run smoothy, so if I may help you or share settings, please answer me.