Identifying an Android device by its hostname

Question

Every Android device in our network has the hostname android_[some-hex-number].domain.local. I do have one device which requested 10 IP addresses (different MACs, but always the same hostname). Is there a way to get IMEI or serial number from that hostname?

I found different information about the hostname:

• http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/269827-identifying-androids-and-iphones-in-dhcp:

  It appears that the name scheme is Android_<IMEI number>.

• https://superuser.com/questions/408539/how-to-set-friendly-network-name-of-android-computer

  it's the VID (Vendor ID Code)

but none of them seems to fit.

PS: MAC addresses are all from "InPro Comm". Maybe there's a way to narrow it down from this side?

Answer 1

If net.hostname was not preset by device manufacturer during production then Android would use ANDROID_ID to generate the unique android-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX host name:

    // setup our unique device name
    if (TextUtils.isEmpty(SystemProperties.get("net.hostname"))) {
        String id = Settings.Secure.getString(context.getContentResolver(),
                Settings.Secure.ANDROID_ID);
        if (id != null && id.length() > 0) {
            String name = new String("android-").concat(id);
            SystemProperties.set("net.hostname", name);
        }
    }