How do I see my DHCP clients list on my new Airport Extreme AC?

I've been searching through and I've seen a lot of discussions about seeing your DHCP clients. The problem I have is that they are older discussions, 2012 and older.

I just purchased a new Airport Extreme AC to replace my very trusty Cisco NAT. I'm trying to get better range (new job required re-configuration of tech items in house) and not as much buffer bloat/rebuffers while streaming video. (I have a very solid Verizon FiOS 50/25 connection). The one thing I'm not finding is a list of wired & wireless DHCP clients and their information.

While I most certainly appreciate Apple's "Set it and forget it" capability and reputation, the network admin, techy, geek, engineer side of me would like to know more. I run back ups, stream video, have a lot of home automation wireless, kids on iPad's, iPhone's, work PC (bad words I know...), remote desktoping, remote desktop over the internet, Network Attatched Storage device, etc happening here (not all at the same time usually). Oh yeah, I'm a perfectionist too. So needless to say I crave more information.

Any help is appreciated. Or am I just at a point where I'll need to push the "I believe" button?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Aug 24, 2013 6:25 PM

45 replies

Oct 29, 2014 5:01 PM in response to Steveorevo

Steve, glad the tip was helpful and useful! Hopefully others will find it helpful too. I setup two more wired devices on my network today, (for a total of 47 devices) with arp, and liked your update to it as well. Cool - thanks!

Dec 9, 2014 2:10 PM in response to Tesla147

Telsa147

Holding option is nothing new in seeing "wireless" clients. It's already known, and I believe mentioned early on.

While there's been debate over "how" to see all DHCP clients (more specifically wired) because that's the root reason for this forum topic. I don't think there's ever been a question of seeing wireless, nor the ability to do so with the option key option?

It's already been stated though... the ability to see "wired" clients is no longer available in the newer versions of Airport Utility. So I realize this post is kind of redundant, but this should answer your not knowing if you can see wired clients on a network with the never version airport Utility.

Oct 15, 2016 8:26 AM in response to sailingtwidget

I know that this is an old thread but I have previously had this issue with my Time Capsule. I've just come across a possible solution while replacing my old 1TB unit with a new 3TB tower.

There is in Mac AirPort Utility the option to export the configuration ( File > Export Configuration File ). Run this option and make sure the encryption checkbox is unchecked. This generates an XML file that you can open with TextEdit. Search the file for 'leases' and following this is a list of all the DHCP leases with hostname, IP, MAC address.

Not sure if this works for AirPort Extreme, etc. Maybe some else can confirm?

Hope this helps future folks looking for an answer to this question.

Jul 26, 2017 9:17 AM in response to sailingtwidget

Old question but perhaps this answer may help some others...

When opening the Airport Utility application and clicking once on the Airport Extreme icon, for example, you can already see all connected devices in the popup window. But when you hold down the Alt key and then double click on the Airport Extreme station's icon, you will view more details of these connected devices.

Tesserax

Level 10

157,860 points

Aug 25, 2013 3:12 PM in response to sailingtwidget

The PC version gives me a complete DHCP clients list. I find it rather ironic.

That is correct and for Macs that can support running version 5.x of the AirPort Utility that is true as well.

Dec 2, 2013 12:39 PM in response to Smuca.ap

It is simpler to click Manual Setup, then click directly on Wireless Clients on the Summary Page that appears. 😉

This will take you directly where you want to go.

Jan 7, 2014 9:03 AM in response to pelicani

I get a nice list of all the DHCP clients,

Not all DHCP clients, only the wireless clients are displayed. Wired are not.

Stunning that Apple took away the ability to see a wired client on the network.

May 7, 2014 10:27 AM in response to thequoth

Try Fing - Network Scanner on the App Store on iTunes on an iPhone or iPad.

thequoth

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2014 10:44 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Holy cow! That's a nice app (and free!). It does show my ethernet connected devices (totally confirmed). If you have an iphone/ipad, this is a perfect solution.

gcabau

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2014 2:27 PM in response to Bob Timmons

This solved my problem! Thanks!

ibilln

Level 1

8 points

Jul 24, 2014 8:26 AM in response to Bob Timmons

On android too... Great....

Oct 20, 2014 8:04 AM in response to sailingtwidget

Open Terminal. Type:

arp -na

And that will show all your wired connections.

Jul 21, 2015 1:13 PM in response to sailingtwidget

You could use in terminal the ping command

ping xx.xx.xx.255

which pings all machines in your subnet.

thensley

Level 1

14 points

Oct 20, 2016 6:07 PM in response to RichWatkinson

Yes, it does. Thanks!

Nov 30, 2017 9:19 PM in response to RichWatkinson

Export configuration File works on an AirPort Extreme.

Thanks Rich.

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How do I see my DHCP clients list on my new Airport Extreme AC?