[macintologist]

When the iPhone is connected via Wifi to a corporate or university network, does it identify itself as simply a Mac or as some sort of different mobile device? How do you go about pinging an IP address and then seeing what the Mac address is and what OS it is running?

[Earth Mk. II]

It's an Apple MAC address, iirc, if that's what you're asking.

Aside from that, it makes a DHCP request like any other network device attaching itself to a network. Client ID is configurable like any other network device.

Basically, iPhone should be transparent on a network.

[Cold Warrior]

If you mean its browser user agent, I found this:

iPhone user agent

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by Earth Mk. II 

It's an Apple MAC address, iirc, if that's what you're asking.

Aside from that, it makes a DHCP request like any other network device attaching itself to a network. Client ID is configurable like any other network device.

Basically, iPhone should be transparent on a network.

My Uni has this messed up registration scheme where you have to download a binary and launch it. On Windows, the binary actually scans for virus protection software, but on Mac it effectively does nothing. Since I can't download a run a Mac binary on an iPhone, and since their "game console" registration is limited to just game consoles, I was wondering if they the IT people had the capability to know that the iPhone was an iPhone and not just simply a type of Mac.

[Earth Mk. II]

It probably automagically adds your computer's MAC to the network's access control list.

Without an official SDK, there's probably not much they can do in the way of automatic configuration; but I'm willing to bet they can manually add the device to the ACL if you give them a call. Never hurts to ask, at least.

[CorpITGuy]

I get what you're saying... I think you're asking how it identifies itself in DHCP.

For instance, a laser printer made by Acme Corp might read, "ACME-00347" in a description field.

I'll look at work tomorrow and let ya know.

[Nodnarb]

Yeah, my new school has 802.1x connection (username/password required) which took forever to get working right on my macbook, yet alone on my iPhone. A quick search told me that the iPhone doesn't support 802.1x but that it could be available with an update to the software.

I sure hope so, because going from Wi-fi all the time at home/school before to now living at school and having no wifi connectivity is a real shell shock.

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by nstehle 

I get what you're saying... I think you're asking how it identifies itself in DHCP.

For instance, a laser printer made by Acme Corp might read, "ACME-00347" in a description field.

I'll look at work tomorrow and let ya know.

Thanks a lot i really appreciate it!

[Earth Mk. II]

Originally Posted by nstehle 

I get what you're saying... I think you're asking how it identifies itself in DHCP.

For instance, a laser printer made by Acme Corp might read, "ACME-00347" in a description field.

I'll look at work tomorrow and let ya know.

DHCP ID is user configurable, but by default it's the same as the devices name in iTunes. Conceivably it could have "iPhone" in the ID, but there's no guarantee.

[macintologist]

Right now the iPhone is "unsupported" for registration which is bull. There is no security issue. They are "looking into it" which means they don't give a rats ass. I'm thinking of spoofing my MAC address to mimic the iPhone's, register on the network that way, and then voila! Just as long as they can't tell I'm using an iPhone. Do you think this is wrong? After all I and many others are paying big bucks to come to this school.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by macintologist 

Right now the iPhone is "unsupported" for registration which is bull. There is no security issue. They are "looking into it" which means they don't give a rats ass. I'm thinking of spoofing my MAC address to mimic the iPhone's, register on the network that way, and then voila! Just as long as they can't tell I'm using an iPhone. Do you think this is wrong? After all I and many others are paying big bucks to come to this school.

It is not bull when you take the security of the network into consideration. Sure, a real iPhone is no threat. But what about Johnny Hacker's Linux laptop that SAYS it's an iPhone? Once there is an app or something that can conclusively demonstrate to the network that "this really is an iPhone" and moreover that the user can provide real credentials through, THEN not supporting the iPhone's networking capability will be bull.

[Earth Mk. II]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

It is not bull when you take the security of the network into consideration. Sure, a real iPhone is no threat. But what about Johnny Hacker's Linux laptop that SAYS it's an iPhone? Once there is an app or something that can conclusively demonstrate to the network that "this really is an iPhone" and moreover that the user can provide real credentials through, THEN not supporting the iPhone's networking capability will be bull.

Still, manually inspecting the phone (to verify that it is, in fact, a phone) and allowing it on the network should be acceptable. Might need to wait for the IT dept. to have the whole 5 mins free to do it, but who says it needs to be an automated process? There can't be that many iPhones on campus yet.

[CorpITGuy]

I think Earth Mk. II answered the question...

User configurable. Name in iTunes. Mine is "Commander Sexy".

[Earth Mk. II]

Originally Posted by nstehle 

Mine is "Commander Sexy".

Awesome... and yet, disturbing.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Earth Mk. II 

Still, manually inspecting the phone (to verify that it is, in fact, a phone) and allowing it on the network should be acceptable. Might need to wait for the IT dept. to have the whole 5 mins free to do it, but who says it needs to be an automated process? There can't be that many iPhones on campus yet.

Sure, one of the Help Desk folks could fondle the iPhone, check its MAC and verify that it is indeed not some nasty intruder. But that's not the issue. The guys at the Help Desk counter are NOT the ones you need to convince. The CIO and his staff are fairly high level executives who are charged with making policies. THEY make the decision about how to qualify a computer for use on a network. This is something to bring up to the dean or student affairs or similar function-getting some executive involvement for one student can actually get things done for a lot of them. Also, if this particular campus supports smartphones and other nontraditional computer devices, there should already be a policy in place, which should make it much simpler to get iPhones approved for use on the network.

[macintologist]

ghporter, what happened is before this academic year, you could register a device just through a web browser. Are you familiar with NetReg? We just used that. No downloading an app to run on your computer to complete the process. An iPhone last year would have registered on the network in 2 minutes. Now they have this silly process that involves downloading a small app that, on the Mac would effectively do nothing anyway because they don't scan Macs for viruses. So actually, no smartphone or any mobile device that uses an ARM processor, even a mobile version of Windows, couldn't run that .exe file or .app file and register.

Oh well, I'll just use the EDGE network for now. It's actually only half terrible when you have iPhone websites bookmarked ready to go and email is fast enough.

[stuffedmonkey]

You will either need to get the IT folks to manually whitelist the MAC - or to add some sort of check for the browser string of Safari (shich they wont do..)