How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

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BartSr
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How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#1 Post by BartSr » 01 Dec 2021, 10:34

Hi, having lots of wifi devices with e.g. espeasy it is hard to simple select a device after fing did a networkscan as such devices shows up as espressif.

Is it possible to have custom names for recognizing the devices?
TIA
Bart

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Ath
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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#2 Post by Ath » 01 Dec 2021, 11:44

Hm, I'm a bit confused, when manually setting up devices to use on WiFi, I'd do them one by one, not trying to do several at the same time.
You can also configure them from serial, by using the appropriate commands, setting WiFi credentials and device name.
After they are connected to WiFi, they are required to have a unique name, so then you shouldn't have that issue.

What Fing is trying to do is classify them based on their mac address, and the range of these chips is, obviously, from Espressif. So that's not wrong, but also not very helpful, indeed.
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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#3 Post by TD-er » 01 Dec 2021, 12:40

The hostname of the unit can be set.
Not sure whether Fing does query the device's hostname, but if it does for other devices then we may have to look into perhaps a specific call that Fing makes for this that we're missing?

I know that the Android app I often use, Network Analyzer, does show the hostnames next to the found devices, but I guess it does do a reverse DNS lookup and my router happens to keep track of the given hostnames in a DHCP request.
So in my network all devices are shown like "hostname.lan" in a scan.
Maybe you have not configured your DHCP settings in your network to have the IP of the router as main DNS server?

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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#4 Post by BartSr » 01 Dec 2021, 21:56

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your insights!

@Ath
In normal I add just one device a time. But I don't know how to distinquish the devices others than using the IP#.
All my devices are having a hostname together with the unit number but made less sense for hooking up if IP# was not known.

@TD-er
My homenetwork is based upon the KPN experiabox V9. As wifi of that modem/router is relative poor I added a 2nd network using 6 off Deco's M5.
After I read your reply I configurated a unit for the KPN network. Taking a look at the router I indeed saw the hostname with unit number. Never realised before to find a unit this way.
By the way, once I gave the NODEMCU3 a static IP# it was not listed in the experiabox in the list with allocated addresses but DHCP did the job.
All my 45 home-automation devices are connected to the DECO's and guess : The deco don't shows up the hostnames..... But all devices where listed just by ID's like e.g. ESP_A5330, Sonoff-5966, tasmota-0693........
So no IP#, No MAC# and no hostnames. So for that I used to use FING with also FING's shortcomings.
Any possible suggestions?

As a sidestep, recently I found on your website a handy way to flash direct from your website. But sorry to say I can't find it back.

Best regards and thanks for your help again.

-Bart

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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#5 Post by Ath » 01 Dec 2021, 22:13

BartSr wrote: 01 Dec 2021, 21:56 All my devices are having a hostname together with the unit number but made less sense for hooking up if IP# was not known.
I use the last octet of the (fixed) IP address as my unit numbers, making them even more easy to find. ;)
BartSr wrote: 01 Dec 2021, 21:56 As a sidestep, recently I found on your website a handy way to flash direct from your website. But sorry to say I can't find it back.
https://td-er.nl/ESPEasy/
/Ton (PayPal.me)

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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#6 Post by TD-er » 01 Dec 2021, 22:25

I wonder how those Deco AP's are configured.
Are they just plain bridges to your Experiabox network?
In other words, are the IP-ranges the same regardless if they are plugged into the Experiabox directly, or connected to the Experia's WiFi, or connected to the Deco APs?

If those are NOT the same, then these Deco units act as another router.
This is a really undesirable network setup as it may cause lots of issues with a NAT router behind a NAT router.

If these are just configured as a bridge and thus use the same IP subnet all over the network, then the ESP nodes should get an IP from the Experiabox DHCP server.

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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#7 Post by BartSr » 01 Dec 2021, 23:55

@ Ath
I also used to do so but recently changed due to the fact that there are still some devices having build 147. Those can only have unit# to (as far as I remember) max 41.
Thanks for the URL

@TD-er
The deco's are forming a meshnetwork in another segment.
I don't know if, in case of AP the meshwork still works.
What kind of problem do you expect having separate network segments? You mentioned NAT after NAT.
In the past (same configuration as current )I had the experiabox V10. But out of the blue there was no internet access possible from the deco's. Changing back to experiabox V9 solved that problem. This is what you expected (no internet access in my current network config?

-Bart

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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#8 Post by Ath » 02 Dec 2021, 07:54

BartSr wrote: 01 Dec 2021, 23:55 The deco's are forming a meshnetwork in another segment.
I don't know if, in case of AP the meshwork still works.
I'm using a Deco M9 Plus mesh set (5 units as of today) as pass-through AP's for my main Netgear router, so all equipment, either (WiFi-)connected to the Netgear or Deco's all are getting their IP from the Netgear (that has been connected to a KPN box ever since I got this internet connection), works like a charm. Let's hope the software of your M5 mesh set is equivalent to the M9, then you should be fine :)
Last edited by Ath on 02 Dec 2021, 10:00, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#9 Post by TD-er » 02 Dec 2021, 09:50

About the NAT-NAT situation.
Let's first make clear that the most obvious issues with such a setup does occurs when you have devices in both subnets.
For example:
Experiabox (NAT1) -> subnet A -> router2 (NAT2) -> subnet B

Maybe devices in subnet B can communicate with devices in subnet A if the connection is initiated from the device in subnet B.
Device in subnet A can only initiate communication with a device in subnet B if router2 has some port forwarding configured.

But also devices in subnet B can have some issues with every-day internet access.
For example services relying on uPNP may have issues to either initiate their service or to keep it running.
VPN connections already have some issues with NAT routers inbetween. Those can be "fixed" with a change in configuration of the VPN service. But when using more than 2 NAT hops it may cause issues to keep the connection up.
I've had these problems myself when I moved into this temporary house which had a Ziggo internet connection with CG-NAT (Carrier Grade NAT), meaning you don't have your own IPv4 address.
For me it was next to impossible to keep a VPN connected to a client of mine.
CG-NAT is essentially the same as having 2 NAT routers in your network, with one big difference; You can't control the settings of the CG-NAT router.

Another factor might be that each NAT hop needs to re-calculate the headers of each packet which may cause some delay.
This may affect your total network throughput, but it may be hard to predict whether it is noticable since it depends on various factors.

A WiFi mesh network is not working on Layer 3, but more like layer 2. (not exactly, but let's keep it simple)
Layer 2 communication is about what packet should be sent to what network port (or access point) and is based on MAC address.
Layer 3 is about IP-routing. Thus when talking about IP-subnets (e.g. 192.168.1.x / 255.255.255.0) and routers, we're talking about layer 3.
Since the WiFi mesh has nothing to do with layer 3, you can also apply it as a bridge to your local network. Just consider it as if you plug in your computer using a cable into a switch, or using a (wireless ;) ) cable into an access point. (regardless whether it is a normal AP, or part of a WiFi mesh)

If your "Mesh setup" also allows to setup a different IP subnet compared to your network when connected directly to your Experiabox, then this setup also implements a router.
But just keep in mind that routing and an access point act on different layers so they can also be seen as separate entities.

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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#10 Post by BartSr » 02 Dec 2021, 15:09

@Ath
As deco's m5 and m9 can be mixed used whereas the m9 must be hooked up to the router I don't think this will be an issue.
Had a look at netgear routers but all of them seems to be quit expensive for domestic use. Nevertheless I need to overthink to change the m5's mode to AP.
Problem I am facing is to update the devices having static IP#. But given the fact that I can see the hostnames of the devices I can , at least for those having espeasy, change to use DHCP. Also some sonoffs are having static IP#. Meanwhile good moment to switch from wemos to nodemcu. (Or can wemos handle espeasy as well?)

@td-er
Thanks for your compehensive information about network config. Need to refresh my knowlege at this subject to full understand your clarifications.

Thanks to both of you again for sharing your knowledge.
Bart

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Re: How to change Espressif to custom name in networkscan

#11 Post by TD-er » 02 Dec 2021, 15:15

Any ESP8266/ESP8285 or ESP32 (and ESP32-S2) can be used with ESPEasy.
The only Espressif ones not (yet) supported are ESP32-C series (ESP32-C3/C6) and ESP32-H series (those will be in mass production end Q2 next year as I have been told by Espressif)
So there is a lot to choose from :)

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