If you have an Ethernet connected device that is working properly but is not being shown on the HomePass app, it is probable that it has a Locally Administered MAC Address (LAA).
How does an LAA get assigned to a device?
These MAC addresses are normally assigned to a device by a network administrator. Often this is useful when creating virtual machines or virtual network interfaces.
How to determine I have a device with an LAA?
You can easily recognize if your device has an LAA by looking at the 2nd character from the left in the MAC address. If the second character is one of the following, it has an LAA:
2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | a | b | e | f
Examples of Locally Administered MAC Addresses:
- 4E:34:69:E0:01:25
- A6:50:C1:DC:06:C1
But, why aren't these devices showing up?
We filter out the Ethernet connected devices with LAAs because in the past we ran into issues where random devices would show up in the topology. To mitigate this behaviour we filter out such Ethernet connected devices, but that won't affect the proper functioning or performance of the device. Wi-Fi connected devices with LAAs are not filtered in this way and will still show in the topology and device list.
Even though these filtered Ethernet devices cannot be assigned to a person and have specific Content Access rules assigned to them at the device level, network level Content Access rules and AI Security will still apply.