topic Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki in Cloud Networking Platform

In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

dayoder — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 16:42:25 GMT

Anyone else get wildly inaccurate Device types reported by Meraki on clients across multiple networks?

Some examples:

Meraki: Dell iPod In Reality: OptiPlex 9020 workstation

Meraki: Cisco Systems iPhone In Reality: Cisco Catalyst 2960X 48 Port Switch

Meraki: Cisco Systems iPad In Reality: Cisco IP Phone 8945

Meraki: Cisco Systems Cisco Catalyst 35xx In Reality: Cisco IP Phone 8945

Meraki: Hewlett-Packard iPod In Reality: HP LaserJet P2055dn printer

Meraki: Cisco Systems Cisco wireless phone In Reality: Cisco IP Phone 7942G

Meraki: CyberPower Systems Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card In Reality: CyberPower Systems UPS Remote management card

Meraki: Dell Windows Server In Reality: OptiPlex 9020 workstation

No matter how many times we Flag the device as inaccurate and put in the correct device it stays the same thing.

It is also very bizarre that all workstations are in Meraki Systems Manager which knows exactly what model the device is.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

Mr_IT_Guy — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 17:39:53 GMT

@dayoder We get these all the time. I think the one that stood out the most was a Cisco Apple, which was really a Mac Pro.

You may be crazy, but not about this.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

teague — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 21:12:03 GMT

Yep,

I see the same on my Meraki networks, so it is not just you.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

MRCUR — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 21:18:05 GMT

Wow - I've rarely had issues with inaccurate client types. Most of my networks with MXen are run as IP tracking so I expect the device types to be wrong or blank, but for those where I have a full stack I haven't noticed these things.

Dell iPod is pretty great though.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

BHC_RESORTS — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:56:22 GMT

I've noticed it to be around 60-75% accurate. For us, it seems to like identifying things as "Playstation 2". Another popular one is "Cisco/Linksys router". We average around 10-14k unique devices per month, so there is no way we're going to review them all and flag them as wrong. These are all guest devices, so I don't really care too much but for analytics to be more accurate it would be nice.

For our managed systems, however, we DO review the inaccurate types and flag them. I don't recall any have changed.

Off the top of my head, ones I've noticed that are wrong:

Sonos speakers: Labeled as Cisco/Linksys Router
iPod (any generation): Labeled as Apple iPhone
Linksys router (some goofball brought their own): Labeled as Playstation 2
Old Cisco AP (was converting over equipment): Labeled as Cisco Catalyst 35xx
Dell Optiplex 3010: Labeled as Dell Android
Synology NAS: Labeled as iPod. This is new. Used to say Generic Linux i believe.
Konica Minolta printers: Labeled as iPod
Windows Server 2016: Labeled as Windows 10
Windows Server 2012/R2: Labeled as Windows 8
Vizio Smart TVs: Labeled as Axis communications ab IPCamera, Generic Linux, or DD-WRT
ProCurve switches: Other or Generic Linux

Actually, just looking at the list, it seems like it is way more inaccurate than I remember. Was something changed recently? Even a ton of our managed workstations are showing "Other" when they are clearly Windows 7/8/10. Strange.

What is the method Meraki uses to determine the OS for the client view in dashboard?

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

dayoder — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 12:25:48 GMT

I'm glad to know it isn't just my network.

I seem to think a year ago it was fairly accurate then it went off the rails. I thought it was related to a Meraki MX update, but I'm not positive.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

MerakiJockey505 — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 15:21:01 GMT

I get a ton of devices showing up as XBOX's in our clinics and always seem to have a fun time trying to track down who is playing video games at work ha. They usually end up being WiFi USB modems or Non-Mainstream Mobile Devices.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

wsteele@conres.com — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 21:27:52 GMT

Meraki uses LLDP for automatic discovery of connected devices.

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Other_Topics/LLDP_Support_on_Cisco_Meraki_Products

LLDP is enabled by default on all Meraki devices with varying degrees of support. Keep in mind that if you are not a full stack customer you will likely have to enable and or configure LLDP your other network devices.

Note you can always suggest a new device type to Meraki if you find that the automatic discovery is incorrect.

Select the client in question under Network-wide > Clients

Click on the gray flag to the right of the existing device type

Enter the correct device type and click "Save"

This will not update the device type in your dashboard immediately but I have had success using this feature in the past.

Providing accurate feedback to Meraki should help them to identify and resolve any potential problems.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

BHC_RESORTS — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 23:34:37 GMT

@wsteele@conres.com wrote:
Meraki uses LLDP for automatic discovery of connected devices.
https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Other_Topics/LLDP_Support_on_Cisco_Meraki_Products
LLDP is enabled by default on all Meraki devices with varying degrees of support. Keep in mind that if you are not a full stack customer you will likely have to enable and or configure LLDP your other network devices.
Note you can always suggest a new device type to Meraki if you find that the automatic discovery is incorrect.
Select the client in question under Network-wide > Clients
Click on the gray flag to the right of the existing device type
Enter the correct device type and click "Save"
This will not update the device type in your dashboard immediately but I have had success using this feature in the past.
Providing accurate feedback to Meraki should help them to identify and resolve any potential problems.

I'm pretty sure it uses more than LLDP for device identification. The majority of connected devices do not support LLDP, which is more designed for network infrastructure hardware. My guess would be it uses a combination of LLDP, SNMP, WMI, and MAC vendor lookup.

Flagging the device type as inaccurate has never resulted in any changes for me. We have like 100 Vizio smart TVs that show up as Axis cameras, and I've flagged a ton of them. Since they all have the same MAC Vendor OUI, it should be a pretty easy fix. For this example, looking up the MAC returns "Vizio, INC". Sure, it doesn't identify it as a TV, but at least it gets the right manufacturer.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

cfraysier — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 15:46:05 GMT

Yes we've had some very amusing ones... like one device showed as an xbox but wasn't at all

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

blinkylight — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 22:29:46 GMT

would love to find out if someone at meraki is even checking the corrections we enter and have entered for past 4 years. Based on the response or lack of updates I'd guess no. My favorite one is carrier tstat shows up as xbox. I know iot devices have generic wifi boards but it is true that if you can cross-correlate MAC address to manufacturer you can correct the low hanging fruit that @dayoder suggested. I have tons of inaccurate ones on my network and have always tried to submit feedback - never seen it changed however. sigh.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

blakekrone — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 01:58:17 GMT

The base of device fingerprinting is OUI lookup tables. You can also profile a device based off of the DHCP request that it might send up, or if it does a Captive Portal detection that makes a request to a web page you can intercept the request and grab the User-Agent string. From my experience Meraki is matching on OUI and maybe DHCP fingerprinting, then also using LLDP if the device supports that.

I've put in a ton of changes and have never seen improvements there.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

Shaun Bender — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 01:47:22 GMT

This is something that has bugged me from day one also, but, have learned to just ignore it, as it never is close to being accurate, even for "high profile" devices(i.e. things like an Apple device). I'm pretty sure I even did the "Make A Wish" process to have my own list/database, that could be very specific, just for my dashboard.

Maybe this database could even be shared among other dashboards(i.e. trusted group of companies, educational verticals etc...). A good example could be a group of colleges in a state could all share the "device type" database among themselves, plus also have the Meraki device-type database be a secondary source. This way they could tag devices more correctly and faster.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

daviscot — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 04:28:22 GMT

@blakekrone is correct that Meraki devices will attempt a combination such as OUI lookup, DHCP fingerprinting via option 55 in the DHCP request, HTTP snooping for the User-Agent string, LLDP if available, and of course NONE of those methods are close to perfect. I've also seen "amusing" results (like my Honeywell thermostat is reported as an XBOX 360) and I have often flagged incorrect device types. I'll ask around too and report back with any updates.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

Lia1 — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 17:08:08 GMT

ours is so screwy and it's gotten so bad...we tried to use the apply policy by device type feature in meraki. All hell broke loose because Meraki was flagging all our devices as iPhones....turned that crap off real quick. Flagging the device as inaccurate doesnt do anything. Reached out to Meraki they told us Meraki determines a deice type based on the HTTP GET request it sends to clients.

Asked what our options are to get this fixed since we're trying to block personal devices from our network. They just said to try and upgrade to the latest beta firmware because the feature "MAY" have been improved. Doesn't really inspire much confidence when the support isn't 100% sure what's what and asking you to run a beta firmware on production systems...but okay...i guess??

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

enmartinson — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 18:38:10 GMT

So I have a weirder one on my network - my Meraki access points show up as Polycom 335 phones. That makes zero sense to me...

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

BHC_RESORTS — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 01:56:48 GMT

@Lia1 wrote:
ours is so screwy and it's gotten so bad...we tried to use the apply policy by device type feature in meraki. All hell broke loose because Meraki was flagging all our devices as iPhones....turned that crap off real quick. Flagging the device as inaccurate doesnt do anything. Reached out to Meraki they told us Meraki determines a deice type based on the HTTP GET request it sends to clients.
Asked what our options are to get this fixed since we're trying to block personal devices from our network. They just said to try and upgrade to the latest beta firmware because the feature "MAY" have been improved. Doesn't really inspire much confidence when the support isn't 100% sure what's what and asking you to run a beta firmware on production systems...but okay...i guess??

It's also LLDP. But yeah, it's not particularly accurate.

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

Shanec1 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 12:40:33 GMT

we have had a few xbox too. seems like a poor feature

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

PBS_IT_DIrector — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:25:51 GMT

What I find frustrating besides all of the above is when it DOES identify some of my devices correctly and the exact same device with the exact same makes, models, configurations, and even the purchase dates somehow are misidentified? Makes no sense to me at all and fixing them changes nothing I'm afraid. My OCD can't take it!

Re: In accurate Device type reported by Meraki

MattinVegas — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 00:23:31 GMT

Vizio Smart TVs: Labeled as Axis communications ab IPCamera.

Ah Ha, Thank you for that. Its a little uneasy thinking there was a hidden cam in my house. LOL.