Raspberry Pi Network Discovery Tool

A bash script to discover Raspberry Pi devices on your local network, whether they're connected via wired or wireless connections.

Features

• Automatically detects your network range or accepts a custom range
• Identifies Raspberry Pi devices by their official MAC address prefixes (OUI)
• Displays IP address, MAC address, vendor information, and hostname
• Color-coded output for easy reading
• Supports all Raspberry Pi models (including Pi 4, Pi Zero, etc.)

Requirements

• Linux-based operating system (tested on Debian/Ubuntu)
• Root/sudo access (required for network scanning)
• nmap - Network scanning tool
• iproute2 or net-tools - For network interface detection

Installation

1. Install dependencies:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nmap iproute2

2. Download the script and make it executable:

chmod +x discover-raspberry-pis.sh

Usage

Basic usage (auto-detect network):

sudo ./discover-raspberry-pis.sh

Specify a custom network range:

sudo ./discover-raspberry-pis.sh 192.168.1.0/24

Common network ranges:

• 192.168.1.0/24 - Scans 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254
• 192.168.0.0/24 - Scans 192.168.0.1 through 192.168.0.254
• 10.0.0.0/24 - Scans 10.0.0.1 through 10.0.0.254

How It Works

The script works by:

1. Network Scanning: Uses nmap to perform a ping scan across the specified network range

2. MAC Address Detection: Captures MAC addresses from discovered devices

3. OUI Matching: Compares MAC address prefixes against known Raspberry Pi Foundation OUI identifiers:

   • B8:27:EB (Original Raspberry Pi models)
   • DC:A6:32 (Raspberry Pi 4 and newer)
   • E4:5F:01 (Raspberry Pi 4 and newer)
   • 28:CD:C1 (Raspberry Pi Foundation)
   • D8:3A:DD (Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd)

4. Information Gathering: For each Raspberry Pi found, displays:

   • IP Address
   • MAC Address
   • Vendor information
   • Hostname (if available)

Example Output

==========================================
  Raspberry Pi Network Discovery Tool
==========================================

[INFO] Scanning network range: 192.168.1.0/24
[INFO] This may take a few minutes depending on network size...

==========================================
Raspberry Pi Devices Found:
==========================================

[SUCCESS] Found Raspberry Pi #1
  IP Address:  192.168.1.100
  MAC Address: B8:27:EB:12:34:56
  Vendor:      Raspberry Pi Foundation
  Hostname:    raspberrypi.local

[SUCCESS] Found Raspberry Pi #2
  IP Address:  192.168.1.150
  MAC Address: DC:A6:32:AB:CD:EF
  Vendor:      Raspberry Pi Foundation
  Hostname:    pi4-server.local

==========================================
[SUCCESS] Total Raspberry Pi devices found: 2

[INFO] Scan complete!

Troubleshooting

"This script must be run as root"

• Solution: Use sudo when running the script

"Missing required dependencies: nmap"

• Solution: Install nmap with sudo apt-get install nmap

No Raspberry Pis found but you know they're connected

• Make sure the devices are powered on and connected to the network
• Verify you're scanning the correct network range
• Some network configurations may block ICMP/ARP requests
• Try scanning a broader range or specific subnet

Permission denied

• Make sure the script is executable: chmod +x discover-raspberry-pis.sh
• Ensure you're running with sudo privileges

Use Cases

• Network Inventory: Quickly inventory all Raspberry Pi devices on your network
• Security Auditing: Identify unauthorized Raspberry Pi devices
• Network Management: Find Raspberry Pis that may have changed IP addresses
• Home Lab Organization: Keep track of multiple Pi projects
• Troubleshooting: Locate a Raspberry Pi when you've forgotten its IP address

Limitations

• Only detects devices on the local network (same subnet)
• Requires devices to be powered on and connected
• Some network security tools may flag network scanning as suspicious
• MAC address spoofing could potentially produce false results
• Some routers or firewalls may block scan requests

Security & Privacy

This tool is designed for legitimate network administration and security purposes only:

• Only use on networks you own or have permission to scan
• Network scanning may be logged by security systems
• Unauthorized network scanning may violate computer security laws

License

This is a defensive security and network administration tool. Use responsibly and only on networks you own or have explicit permission to scan.

Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome!