Network Management Software for MAC Whitelist

[mattycakes]

Hey everyone!

 

I'm looking for some network management software that will allow me to Whitelist allowed users connected to my building's wifi network based on their MAC address. I'd also like it to have some form of temporary ban capabilities for each address, ie. Unchecking a box, ect. I know that you can do this with a router, but the ones I've tried either have limits on the number of MAC addresses you can have entered, or the system for adding, banning, and readding addresses is too tedious.

 

I'm well aware that MAC addresses aren't a proper way to secure a network. However, I'm the house manager of a fraternity house, and the only way to make sure that the guys do their house chores is basically to shut their internet off temporarily. A mac whitelist forces all the guys to register their devices with me, so I can ban them on a case by case basis.

 

Any suggestions for software that would make this a relatively simple task would be greatly appreciated.

[twin--turbo]

I take it you don't have a wireless lan controller based WIFI network.

 

 

 

Rob

[mattycakes]

No, I'm just using a wired router at the moment, connected to 3 wireless access points.

[twin--turbo]

No, I'm just using a wired router at the moment, connected to 3 wireless access points.

 

If your using a router. Then the rest of your network will not see the client MAC addresses anyway

 

Does the router not support mac whitelisting, L2 network blocking needs to be done as close to the edge as possible so in your case directly on the AP's if supported ( a pain if they are not centraly managed ) or on the first network device they connect to the router.

 

Rob

Edited September 15, 2013 by twin--turbo

[mattycakes]

The router supports mac filtering, in fact it has a pretty nice system which I tested and was working quite well, but only on a limited number of devices (16 I believe). Since I have upwards of 80 devices to manage, I can't form a whitelist on the router itself.

[twin--turbo]

The router supports mac filtering, in fact it has a pretty nice system which I tested and was working quite well, but only on a limited number of devices (16 I believe). Since I have upwards of 80 devices to manage, I can't form a whitelist on the router itself.

 

I ammended my response,

 

if your using a router then the network will not see the client MAC addresses.

 

Rob

[mattycakes]

The network does in fact see the client MAC addresses, since I have this whitelist policy on the router, it dictates that to each of my 3 repeaters. I guess I forgot to mention the actual splitting to the 3 repeaters is done by a switch, which also provides power over ethernet.

[twin--turbo]

The network does in fact see the client MAC addresses, since I have this whitelist policy on the router, it dictates that to each of my 3 repeaters. I guess I forgot to mention the actual splitting to the 3 repeaters is done by a switch, which also provides power over ethernet.

 

Is it actualy routing then? I.E. two different Subnets?

 

Rob

[mattycakes]

I'm not sure?

 

The wireless AP's connect to the router as the Primary/default gateway. Hence I have 3 access points that share a common SSID, properties, ect. This allows everyone to pass through the house without ever switching networks.

 

I'm thinking that I may be forced to upgrade my router to a version that supports more MAC entries. I tried to avoid this, because the system I installed is the first reliable wireless system we've ever had in our house, so I wanted to avoid messing with it. But I think I may be out of options.

[twin--turbo]

Your in a house with 80 devices? we don't even have 16.....

[mattycakes]

20 guys living in the house, each with 2 or 3 devices each, plus all of our members that don't live in the house but need access on their laptops..

[plexer]

What provides dhcp to these devices?

 

Ben

[mattycakes]

The setup is as follows:

 

Cable modem => Wired Router => Powered Switch => Access Points (x3)

 

DHCP is done by the wired router