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    Register custom hostname by MAC address

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • S
      sdugoten
      last edited by sdugoten

      Here is the issues, I have like 40+ light switches and 30+ IoT devices connected to the LAN. However, none of those provide their hostname. So, I just see a bunch of IP address which I have no clue what they are.

      Now, I do not want to use static IP for each of these IoT devices just because I need to give them a hostname. I still want them to get the IP address from the DHCP pool. I did some google search and found out that the DNS forwarder custom fields can add something like below would map the mac address to the hostname. (This is a setting use by Dnsmasq actually)

      dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,your_custom_host_name

      Problem is, it doesn't seems like the DNS forwarder (Dnsmasq) is reading the custom config. I wonder if there is any easy way to assign a hostname by MAC address for these IoT devices? Thanks.

      JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JKnottJ
        JKnott @sdugoten
        last edited by

        @sdugoten

        You don't have to use a static address. You use static mappings. This means the devices still use DHCP, but the address won't change. While you're setting up the mapping, you can also assign a host name.

        PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
        i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
        UniFi AC-Lite access point

        I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          sdugoten @JKnott
          last edited by

          @jknott said in Register custom hostname by MAC address:

          @sdugoten

          You don't have to use a static address. You use static mappings. This means the devices still use DHCP, but the address won't change. While you're setting up the mapping, you can also assign a host name.

          @JKnott
          Could you please point me to which screen that would do the static mapping? Thanks.

          JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • JKnottJ
            JKnott @sdugoten
            last edited by

            @sdugoten said in Register custom hostname by MAC address:

            Could you please point me to which screen that would do the static mapping? Thanks.

            Bottom of the DHCP server page.

            22781824-e8e8-47a2-a8b6-2d91a794a058-image.png

            Also, the easy way to make a static mapping is to connect the device and find it in Status / DHCP leases and convert it to static mapping, to add the desired address and host name.

            PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
            i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
            UniFi AC-Lite access point

            I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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