When a wireless client joins the wireless network, in most scenarios, it requests an IP address from a DHCP server. After DHCP packets are exchanged, the DHCP server will provide the wireless client with an IP address, default gateway and DNS server. During the packet exchange the DHCP server can learn a lot more about the wireless client.
The DHCP Fingerprinting feature on WAC720 & WAC730 access points uses these DHCP packets to identify the hostname, operating system and device type of wireless clients associated to the wireless networks they are broadcasting. This information can be useful, especially in a BYOD environment where the administrator does not control what devices are connecting to the wireless network
The WAC720 & WAC730 access point can only provide DHCP Fingerprinting information for devices that are associated to it. It cannot provide this information from wired devices, or wireless clients connecting to other access points operating on the same network.
To view the device information login to your access point's admin interface and navigate to Monitoring > Wireless Stations.
In the following example we can view the Host Name, OS and Type of device for devices associated to the access point
