Devices & Wake-on-LAN
A device is a machine you want to power on remotely. NetIgnite wakes it with a Wake-on-LAN magic packet that an agent in the same network broadcasts.
Preparing a device
Wake-on-LAN is a hardware feature and usually disabled by default.
- BIOS/UEFI. Enable the option called Wake on LAN, Power On by PCI-E or Resume by LAN. Disable ErP/EuP power saving if your board has it, because it cuts power to the network card.
- Operating system.
- Windows: in Device Manager, open the network adapter's properties. Enable Wake on Magic Packet, and under Power Management allow the device to wake the computer. Turning off Fast Startup helps on many systems.
- Linux: check with
ethtool <interface>thatWake-onisg. Enable it withethtool -s <interface> wol gand make it persistent through your network configuration.
- Wired connection. Use Ethernet. Most computers can't be woken over WiFi.
- Note the MAC address of the wired network card, for example with
ip link(Linux),getmac /v(Windows) or in your router's client list.
Adding a device
Open Devices → Add New Device and fill in:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A name to recognize the device by. |
| Device Type | Server, Desktop PC, Laptop, Printer or NAS Storage. Only used for display. |
| Description | Optional notes. |
| MAC Address | The MAC address of the device's network card, as AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF or AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF. |
| Port | The UDP port of the magic packet. Use 9 (the default) unless your device expects 7. |
| Agent | One of your agents, in the same network as the device. |
MAC addresses must be six pairs of hex digits separated by : or -. Other notations such as
AABBCCDDEEFF or AABB.CCDD.EEFF are rejected when you save the device.
Powering on
Click Power On on the dashboard or in the device list. NetIgnite reports:
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Wakeup command sent | The agent sent the magic packet. The device should start within a few seconds. |
| Agent is offline | The device's agent isn't connected. Check the agent first. |
| Failed to send wakeup command | The agent didn't answer within 5 seconds. |
| Wakeup command failed: … | The agent rejected the request, for example because of an invalid MAC address or port. |
Wakeup command sent means the packet left the agent. It doesn't confirm that the device turned on. Watch the device's status turn online, or check Troubleshooting.
Device status
NetIgnite asks the device's agent to ping the device. The ESP32 agent pings the device's IPv6
link-local address, which it derives from the MAC address. See
How It Works for what the statuses mean and when this
check reports a running device as offline.
Statuses refresh every 20 seconds. The Ping button checks a device right away.
Editing and deleting
Click Edit to change any field, including the agent. Delete a device with the trash icon in the device list; you'll be asked to confirm.