Discovering IoT Devices on the network

Question

I'd like to discover as much information about IoT devices on a network as possible. I've seen code to enumerate the devices, find the IP Addresses and MAC Addresses, but what else can I find? In particular, I'd like to know that something is a lamp, and more importantly, what the manufacturer is.

I've been looking through some documentation for IoTivity and AllJoyn as well as the various Zero Configuration protocols. From what I understand, these things are more concerned with the services exposed rather than exactly what the device is.

Do I misunderstand this? Is there some way to map out a local network and know exactly what each device is?

Answer 1

AllJoyn offers About Announcement service through which you can get what you are looking for:

• App and Device Friendly Names
• Make, Model, Version, Description
• Supported Languages
• App Icon
• Supported objects and interfaces
• ...