UniFi Topology indicating a false(ghost) hardware icon

[bslow47]

Hello all,

On my topology, one of my switches (US-8-150W Unifi) will show, sometimes, one or two extra devices hooked up to it.
The switch is already filled up with cameras and a access point to it and all of my ports are used except the two extra
ports that are titled SFP.

So why do I get these ghost hardware readings that are ethernet(ed) and nothing else is plugged into the switch? An IP address will
not be given but a mac address will. After about 10 minutes they are gone.

Thanks,

 

[TonyR]

Just for grins and giggles, enter the MAC below to find out who makes the networking part of the NIC; it might shed some light for you if compared to the MAC of the Unifi :

MAC Address Lookup

Find the manufacturer of a device by its MAC address.

macvendors.com

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

Hello all,

On my topology, one of my switches (US-8-150W Unifi) will show, sometimes, one or two extra devices hooked up to it.
The switch is already filled up with cameras and a access point to it and all of my ports are used except the two extra
ports that are titled SFP.

So why do I get these ghost hardware readings that are ethernet(ed) and nothing else is plugged into the switch? An IP address will
not be given but a mac address will. After about 10 minutes they are gone.

Thanks,

Whilst annoying I get this from time to time. When you search for the MAC addresses via the web it usually reports no such vendor. Over time I have manged to capture all of the ghost MAC addresses that appear for me it was a Apple watch and Sky Digital Setup Box (through a lot of tail and error of switching things off then back on and see when the ghost appears) The Sky box has some strange built in Wifi transmitter which is used to connect to other Sky boxes you can have around the house (bit like a mesh network)

 

[bslow47]

Just for grins and giggles, enter the MAC below to find out who makes the networking part of the NIC; it might shed some light for you if compared to the MAC of the Unifi :

MAC Address Lookup

Find the manufacturer of a device by its MAC address.

macvendors.com

Well TonyR, I took your advise and looked up a MAC. While viewing my topology, only this time, a ghost device appeared on my access point very briefly and by briefly I mean maybe10-15 seconds.
I was able to capture the MAC and look it up. It came up as an Texas Instrument devise. Pretty sure we have no such animal here. Since this appeared on my Access Point could this be a devise that is
in range of my access point and just not connected to our wifi?

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

Well TonyR, I took your advise and looked up a MAC. While viewing my topology, only this time, a ghost device appeared on my access point very briefly and by briefly I mean maybe10-15 seconds.
I was able to capture the MAC and look it up. It came up as an Texas Instrument devise. Pretty sure we have no such animal here. Since this appeared on my Access Point could this be a devise that is
in range of my access point and just not connected to our wifi?

To connect to one of your access points it needs the credentials, think of it as putting the key in the door, turning the key and it opens... you have access! yet anyone can put a key in your door but they will not get access hence you will not see them in your home. (i.e. appear on your unifi network tree)
You may think you haven't got a Texas Instruments device, but the device on your network has a TI wifi chipset hence it reports it as such.

Example - Texas Instruments CC3100 & CC3200 Wi-Fi Processors