Add description to DHCP Leases???

lrossi · May 31, 2021, 10:11 AM

As mentioned on the title, i would like to know how to manually add a description for a device on the DHCP lease list.

The hostname of some of my devices are very cryptic and doesn't tell me enough about the device. For instance, below is a portion of my DHCP lease list with several devices that i don't know what they are.

Now, i know i can double check the MAC addresses with the physical devices and find out which hostname belongs to which device but i cannot possibly do that every time i want to the IP of my thermostat for example.

That is why i want to be able to fill up the "Description" field on the DHCP lease list. It seems it is the right tool to do what i want to do.

Does anyone knows how to manually put information on this field?

amarcino · May 31, 2021, 10:23 AM

If you click the + sign for static mapping in the right hand column of the DHCP lease table, the description will open up so you can edit it. You will have to do this with each and every device, that you want to name, and those devices will always get that IP address. Depending on the size of your network, this may or not be reasonable.

lrossi · May 31, 2021, 1:35 PM

@amarcino thanks for the response but I was hoping i could add a description without reserving a specific IP to the device

When i click the + sign for the static reservation i get the following screen

I mean, if i do the static mapping route, i can manually fill the description field just as i wanted but, what would happen if i leave the "IP Address" field empty? will the device keep leasing and automatically renewing an IP from the DHCP server?

Or, am i forced to assign a specific IP to this device if i want to be able to add a description to it?

Also, what would happen if i change the hostname to something different than what the internal network setting of the device has? for example, my printer's internal network settings has a hostname like "HP inkjet XXX". If i change the hostname in pfsense to something like "printer" what would happen?

Gertjan · May 31, 2021, 1:36 PM

@lrossi said in Add description to DHCP Leases???:

what would happen if i leave the "IP Address" field empty?

This :

!?!

Did you try it ?

lrossi · May 31, 2021, 2:17 PM

@gertjan, thanks for your response, I completely missed that reference. I guess I stopped reading after the first line.

Anyway, to answer your question, I haven’t tried it yet.

My network environment includes not only residential appliances but also supports 2 businesses and, the most demanding of all, a 4 year old that devours online content. What this means is that I cannot just experiment with settings without knowing the outcome and hope for the best.

Any idea on what would happen if I change the hostnames to something different than what the setting of the devices themselves have?

Gertjan · May 31, 2021, 2:29 PM

@lrossi said in Add description to DHCP Leases???:

if I change the hostnames to something different than what the setting of the devices themselves have?

That's what we all do ^^

Instead of using what the device is proposing, something like "HP4785HJYURDF-HJ" it's now know to the network as "Dave-PC-first-floor".

JKnott · May 31, 2021, 2:57 PM

@lrossi

Why are you hiding the MAC address? They're only relevant on the local LAN.

lrossi · Jun 1, 2021, 9:37 AM

So, i finally got a chance to give the static mapping a try. I used the OBI1022 as a test subject, added a description for it and left all other fields empty. Clicked save and apply changes.

(I even covered the MAC address to aggravate some people in this forum )

But when i went to the DHCP leases list i noticed that PFsense did not add the description to the OBI1022 lease. Instead, it created a new line item that had only the information that i indicated on the static mapping settings. This duplicated the OBI1022 in the DHCP list which is not the expected or desired result.

Does anybody know how to add a description to an item in the DHCP lease without duplicating such item?