Device Discovery

Manual Device Discovery

When automatic mDNS discovery fails or is unavailable, you can manually discover and connect devices using their IP addresses. This method is useful for enterprise networks, VLANs, or troubleshooting connectivity issues.

Use mDNS First

Automatic mDNS discovery is recommended for most setups. Only use manual discovery as a fallback when automatic discovery fails. See the Automatic Discovery (mDNS) guide first.

Manual Discovery Process

Prerequisites

Before starting manual discovery, you need:

  1. TOMMY Instance IP: The IP address where TOMMY is running
  2. Device IP Address: The IP address of your device
  3. Network Access: Both addresses must be reachable from each other

Step-by-Step Process

1. Access Manual Discovery

  1. Open the TOMMY dashboard
  2. Click "Discover" in the 'Available Devices' section
  3. Enter the IP address of the TOMMY instance and the IP address of your device
  4. Click "Discover Device"

2. Discovery Process

When you click "Discover Device", TOMMY will:

  1. Verify the TOMMY instance is reachable
  2. Confirm the device is online and reachable
  3. Send connection details to the device
  4. Verify the device can reach the TOMMY instance
  5. Complete device registration

DHCP Reservation

For consistent IP addresses, set up DHCP reservations in your router to bind device MAC addresses to specific IPs, then use these reserved IPs for manual discovery.

Finding Device IP Addresses

Router Administration Panel

  1. Access your router's web interface (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1)
  2. Look for "Connected Devices", "DHCP Clients", or "Device List"
  3. Find your device's assigned IP address

Network Scanning Tools

Use network discovery tools to find devices:

# Linux/macOS - scan local network
# Replace 192.168.1.0/24 with your network's IP range (e.g., 192.168.0.0/24)
nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24

# Windows - scan local network
arp -a