mobile device management through web filter

[rhansen_83]

Hi all,

I work for a school district and we have around 400 iPads that, when not in use or using an internet-necessary application, aren't showing up in our ARP tables.  It's not only for security and inventory, but also to keep track of what  our students (grades K-8) are looking at, which is why we have  everything going through a configurable, bandwidth-tracking web filter.

Topology: Core server -> reporter -> web filter (iBoss) -> network

Our network works fine, and all the wired connections are  visible, but the iPads only connect when they're using an application for which they need web access. I though of changing  the ARP timer so the core server would look for mac addresses it doesn't  know more often, but that hasn't seemed to do anything.

I also considered 802.1x authentication but wouldn't the wireless  devices still have to ask for internet access to be seen? I'm hoping for  a solution that either

a. makes them ask for for something on a consistent basis so the ARP tables are updated, or

b. set something up in the core server that floods the network with packets (early in the morning, maybe before the load gets huge) once a day to discover all of the wireless devices.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Ross

[Eduardo Aliaga]

It seems strange because most devices are very chatty and always sending packet for updates and things like that.

Anyway you could use nmap to discover hosts by using icmp discovery (it has lots of other methods too).

Please rate if this helps

[rhansen_83]

Thanks eduardo, I'm looking into nmap now. I agree that usually most devices are chatty, but in my district the iPads are used mostly for word processing and non-internet based apps, which exacerbates our problem.

[Ravi Singh]

No doubt NMAP is good solution for your problem. But if you require deeper tracking of devices then I would suggest you to deploy BYOD solution and that can be implemented with the help of ISE. For more detail over ISE you can go to the below link

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11640/index.html

[rhansen_83]

Thank you, ravi. I will definitely have to investigate further. We are providing devices, but this may be a good management tool to enhance tracking and inventory on a daily basis without a lot of running around. Appreciate the post.