Interface based device discovery

The interface based device discovery task is a discovery method that attempts to discover devices connected to a specific PC-network interface. The image below display the typical user interface for this task.

Interface Elements

Network Interface selector

This element lists the available network interfaces on the PC, with each entry containing the following data:

• A list of CIDR-notation network addresses associated with the interface.
• An indicator for whether or not the interface has a link local address.
• The interface name, seen as, for example Ethernet 5 at the top entry in the image above.
• The device name associated with the interface, for example Realtek USB GbE Family Controller #4 in the image above.
• An edit button.

Edit button

The edit button, attached to each individual network interface listed, allows a user to bring up an editor for that interface which appears roughly as per the image below:

This editor allows the user to specify either a number of static CIDR-notation addresses for the interface, or set DHCP assignment for the interface.

Additionally, the editor allows the user to configure a default gateway for the specific interface, in order to ease routing access.

info

Using the editor functionality requires at least NET ADMIN or Administrator priviligies. WeConfig will request these priviligies as needed.

Discovery Methods

This element allows control over which methods of interface discovery that will be used in the discovery process. The options are as follows:

Option	Description	Limitations
mDNS	Multicast domain name resolution, a protocol that broadcasts a request for devices to identify themselves on the specified interface.	mDNS calls do not jump across routes, and thus will only discover layer 2 connections.
IPConfig	A Westermo specific protocol used to discover WeOS 4 units,	Provides a fairly limited amount of metadata, limited similarly to mDNS to only layer 2 connections.
Discover Neighbours	Checks the PC's ARP-table and runs recursive discovery based on that information, along with any information gathered from the other protocols.	Requires either a populated ARP table on the local PC, or at least one of the other two methods to be used.

Warnings:

The following actionable warnings may appear during the task, each with a remediation link that can be clicked:

Warning	Explanation
No Link local address	The selected interface does not have a link local address, which may hamper it's ability to communicate with identified devices
IPConfig is blocked	The PC's firewall does not allow IPConfig packets to be sent or recieved, which will prevent device discovery using this protocol
mDNS is blocked	The PC's fireall does not allow mDNS packets to be sent or recieved, which will prevent device discovery from using this protocol

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All of the remediation links require escalated priviligies to resolve, WeConfig will request these as nesssecary. NET ADMIN is sufficient to add link local addresses, but Administrator is required for any firewall editing.

Log

This box contains a log window of the discovery process. The log will indicate which addresses respond to the different protocols used, the data about the devices as they are being discoverd, as well as the current state of the discovery process.