Network Device Location
Internal solution that shows, based on the MAC address, which switch and port a network device is connected to.
Internal company solution – presentation abstracted for confidentiality reasons.
- Problem
- Network devices have to be searched for manually on switches.
- Solution
- Central, MAC-based mapping shows a device's switch and port.
- Result
- No more manual searching across several switches.
Initial situation
To find a device on the network, you had to connect to several switches and search the port tables by hand.
Problem
The search was time-consuming, error-prone and slow during incidents – exactly when speed mattered.
Goal
One central view: enter the MAC address, see the switch and port.
Solution
An internal solution collects the mapping of MAC addresses to switch ports centrally and makes it searchable.
Result
Devices are located centrally; manually searching individual switches is no longer necessary.
Business value
Faster troubleshooting and documentation, less time spent on routine searches.
My contribution
Design and implementation of the collector service, data storage and search interface.
Technical details
Architecture
A collector service regularly reads the MAC tables of the switches and stores the mapping centrally; an interface makes the data searchable.
- Switches
- Collector service (MAC tables)
- Central database
- Search by device / port
Technologies
Integrations, APIs and authentication
Read-only access to the switches' management interfaces.
Security
Read-only access with a dedicated service account; access to the interface for IT only.
Technical highlights
- Central MAC-to-port mapping
- Regular refresh instead of manual queries