Monitoring WiFi devices from the command line
Programming Snapshot – Go WiFi Monitor
© Lead Image © Sergey Nivens, 123RF.com
To see when clients are joining and leaving the wireless network, Mike Schilli writes a command-line utility that uses an object-relational mapping interface to store metrics in SQLite to later display historical data.
"What I don't know won't hurt me," as the saying goes, but the reverse is true for my wireless network. What are all my household gadgets doing? After all, no newly released device seems to be able to manage without a wireless network connection nowadays. Or are there actually some devices that I don't even know about? This definitely worries me and keeps me tossing and turning in my sleep.
On top of that, I am interested in more than the current situation. Curious by nature, I would like to know how long a device, once discovered, has been operating on the network, when it joined the network, and whether it is permanently active or occasionally lets its assigned IP address lease expire and then picks up a new one later. Let's build a data logger in Go to find out.
To detect active devices on the wireless network, it makes sense to call up the nmap scanner. This hacking tool is included with every good Linux distribution and knocks on the door of all potentially usable IP addresses in a subnet to see if a host responds. On a typical 192.168.0.0/24 subnet of a router for home network use, you can use 255 IP addresses, and nmap scans them with a barrage of probes at lightning speed (Figure 1).
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 43 Has Finally Landed
The Fedora Linux developers have announced their latest release, Fedora 43.
-
KDE Unleashes Plasma 6.5
The Plasma 6.5 desktop environment is now available with new features, improvements, and the usual bug fixes.
-
Xubuntu Site Possibly Hacked
It appears that the Xubuntu site was hacked and briefly served up a malicious ZIP file from its download page.
-
LMDE 7 Now Available
Linux Mint Debian Edition, version 7, has been officially released and is based on upstream Debian.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Reaches EOL
Linux kernel 6.16 has reached its end of life, which means you'll need to upgrade to the next stable release, Linux kernel 6.17.
-
Amazon Ditches Android for a Linux-Based OS
Amazon has migrated from Android to the Linux-based Vega OS for its Fire TV.
-
Cairo Dock 3.6 Now Available for More Compositors
If you're a fan of third-party desktop docks, then the latest release of Cairo Dock with Wayland support is for you.
-
System76 Unleashes Pop!_OS 24.04 Beta
System76's first beta of Pop!_OS 24.04 is an impressive feat.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.