Is there a way to improve OS detection on Meraki dashboard?

KamranN
Conversationalist

Is there a way to improve OS detection on Meraki dashboard?

Meraki APs identify clients using a technique called OS fingerprinting. It is understood that Meraki passively watches the traffic (such as DHCP and HTTP requests) for hints as to what kind of device it is.  Once it gets enough hints then it can assign it a device type.

 

This functionality is there but it is not useful. 

 

How can we improve this?

 

  1. Is there something we can enable on the client side?
  2. What other options do we have to improve detection on the Meraki side?

Thank you,

Kamran

3 Replies 3
alemabrahao
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Some clients may misidentify themselves when specifying the User-Agent string field of an HTTP GET request. Device type policy enforcement is done on a best-effort basis, dependent upon the information that the client provides. When needing to enforce security-focused policies based on device type, please leverage solutions such as Meraki Systems Manager, or Cisco ISE. 

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.
KamranN
Conversationalist

The goal of this query is to improve the visibility of the client OS in the Meraki dashboard without adding any complexity (MDM, ISE) to the network management.  

 

What can be done to improve this process? 

 

"Some clients may misidentify themselves when specifying the User-Agent string field of an HTTP GET request. Device type policy enforcement is done on a best-effort basis, dependent upon the information that the client provides."

PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

I don't think there is anything that can be done, apart from what @alemabrahao mentions, to improve the accuracy of detection.

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