These devices are set and working pretty fine with a nice amount of uptime. I realized a problem, which is;
When I assign a static IP on Mac Address in my DHCP server, I can see whether the device is active or not. But the problem is when I assign the static IP both on Mikrotik and device, I cannot see the device whether its active or not. I can ping or trace it but I want to see it on Mikrotik.
The thing is, in DHCP Lease, if I assign static IP both on Mikrotik and Device the status is always “waiting” instead of “bound”. I also cannot see the IP in Address Pool (Used Addresses) even if the device is active. But I can see whole active devices on ARP list.
Is there anything I am missing? ( enabled/disabled ARP, still the same. )
This is correct behavior for the DHCP-Server, the only way I have found to check if a static ip address is in use is to look in the ARP table. The ARP table will show all the devices currently on the broadcast space that the router is communicating with. I don’t know the exact timeout of the ARPs but I believe it is about 15 seconds. If the ARP is not present then your device is either not connected/has not passed traffic in more than 15 seconds/has not had a ping request to it in more than 15 seconds.
If you want to see if a device is present on the network ping (from any device on that broadcast space) to that ip address and check to see if an ARP appears (this is regardless of endpoints firewall configuration). If an ARP appears then you have connectivity on that local segment with it, if no ARP appears then it is time to check for IP addresses and layer 1 connectivity in between the devices.
But I couldn’t see active IP addresses on ARP all the time.
For example I have an access point, printer or a server in my network. I can ping the device, but both on ARP and DHCP list I couldn’t see the IP to check whether it is active or not. I am assigning its MAC ID or Client ID on Lease, shouldn’t I atleast see whether its bound or not without any time interval?
Are you making a static in the dhcp server or on the device itself?
Regardless of the above if you ping a device from your router (and it exists and is functioning properly) an ARP will be present for that IP address since this is how the devices make the layer 2 to layer 3 connection. If you watch the ARP after you stop the traffic for about half a minute you should see it disappear from the list as this is normal behavior for the Mikrotik ARP tables.
