android enterprise
    16 years
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Was trying not to start a new thread, but it's apparent this is an Apple dominated forum, the last android threads were 2011 2012 lol
We have tens of thousands of Android enterprise devices at work. Has been the case since about 2018.
The network director asked me to traceroute and ping to a host as drivers are having massive issues and we're facing production losses and fines. Nobody asked me to do it before, and there is nothing inherent that would allow that task in the android OS. This is work, grant you, not fooling around at home. And it's not that easy to grab a third party app as everything is 100% locked down with the MDM. Something so simple became an all day affair. It always does when money is being lost.
Wouldn't you know the tests showed nothing, no latency at all. But I was surprised there was no simple way to perform what is second nature in windows.
Other than that Android Enterprise is an excellent OS imho. We don't do much with iOS and I heard that uses jamf.
This used to work…
This used to work but I got rid of my Android tablet so can’t test presently.
If you know the IP address of the Android device, you can use the Windows command line function to ping the device. Once at the command line type "ping" followed by your Android device's IP address.
I remember getting the IP address of an Android phone and Samsung tablet by going to “About” in settings.
John from PA
samsung galaxy tab s4
Settings > About Tablet > Status > IP Address
I did not try to ping.
My internet provider uses dynamic IP address assignment, so the IP address can change. In an enterprise environment, IP addresses must be static.
John describes pinging from a Windows command line. That will work, but what if there isn't a Windows PC available to you on the work network? I don't know how to ping another device from my Android tablet without downloading an app from the Play Store.
There are seven ping apps on the Play Store!
Unless there's a proxy the
Unless there's a proxy the phone/tablet is connecting to, it will be quite difficult to do a ping or traceroute to a remote device.
The issue is most cell providers are using CG-NAT for mobile device IP's. That is, the device behind CG-NAT does not have a real public ip to ping or traceroute to.
For pinging from the device without installing an app, one would have to use adb to connect to the device shell. I believe ping/traceroute are available for use without root access. Could be wrong, it's been a while.
context
Unless there's a proxy the phone/tablet is connecting to, it will be quite difficult to do a ping or traceroute to a remote device.
The issue is most cell providers are using CG-NAT for mobile device IP's. That is, the device behind CG-NAT does not have a real public ip to ping or traceroute to.
For pinging from the device without installing an app, one would have to use adb to connect to the device shell. I believe ping/traceroute are available for use without root access. Could be wrong, it's been a while.
To add some flavor, these are devices installed in tractors, using 4G, and a VPN client since the host is on the corporate network. They complained that when they used VPN client xyz, everything was fine. When the co. went to VPN client abc, now they could not work very well (example type something, and there is a 3 sec lag).
The network director said if anything, client abc should be faster. Pings and traceroutes did show that.
These devices are managed by a MDM and have a specific lockdown which doesn't allow anything except the vpn client and the app to the host. So even installing a 3rd party app was challenging. I would have to say it's always good to have the exact same hardware and config to be able to try, prior to doing the same to the one in production.
btw the one that worked well is Ping Tool by ManageEngine. This was recommended by a support person who works for the mfg of the device.
ping tool
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manageengi...
If issuing a traceroute command is difficult ...
more features → more complexity → more bugs → less security …
remind you of windows?
It is hard to forecast the right (minimum?) combination of features and the right (again, minimum?) combination of diagnostic tools. On top of that everything changes under your feet and removing a feature is like practicing dentistry on yourself.
If issuing a traceroute command is difficult under Android then maybe I should think better of Android!
I spent ~20 years writing OS mods. Often things that seemed stupid at first turned out to well thought out.
Someone said
more features → more complexity → more bugs → less security …
remind you of windows?
It is hard to forecast the right (minimum?) combination of features and the right (again, minimum?) combination of diagnostic tools. On top of that everything changes under your feet and removing a feature is like practicing dentistry on yourself.
If issuing a traceroute command is difficult under Android then maybe I should think better of Android!
I spent ~20 years writing OS mods. Often things that seemed stupid at first turned out to well thought out.
Why don't you do a wireshark? I asked the network director if he thought that's feasible with Android, and he said doubt it, and also, not necessary.
Let's interject the human factor now.
Since the new vpn abc was suddenly slow, and old vpn xyz was fine, everything was switched back to xyz.
Now, the drivers claim xyz is slow.
It's become a moving target. Which is not that unusual with human beings.
Remember the Hawthorne effect. If I learned anything from an MBA program it was that, statistical analysis, and selling the sizzle (Arm and Hammer saying to pour the product down the drain and buy more--genius. Coca Cola selling smaller cans, with people buying them at a much higher unit price and a larger overall quantity--genius).
Humm
when you use different VPNs with your firewall, you may need to do some extra settings. I do know that some vpns will not work with certain Firewall.. from what I am reading might be your firewall that is causing the issue. Just a thought!
Bobkz - Garmin Nuvi 3597LMTHD/2455LMT/C530/C580- "Pain Is Fear Leaving The Body - Semper Fidelis"
response time!
...
Why don't you do a wireshark? I asked the network director if he thought that's feasible with Android, and he said doubt it, and also, not necessary.
Let's interject the human factor now.
Since the new vpn abc was suddenly slow, and old vpn xyz was fine, everything was switched back to xyz.
Now, the drivers claim xyz is slow.
It's become a moving target. Which is not that unusual with human beings.
Remember the Hawthorne effect. If I learned anything from an MBA program it was that, statistical analysis, and selling the sizzle (Arm and Hammer saying to pour the product down the drain and buy more--genius. Coca Cola selling smaller cans, with people buying them at a much higher unit price and a larger overall quantity--genius).
Making many assumptions without knowledge:
I think that you are in a terrible position. You weren’t asked to solve a problem. Your instructions were “to traceroute and ping to a host“. You have a response time (rt) problem and were asked to look at only one component of rt. Someone decided that the network component of the VPN is the problem without looking.
You say that the business function is very important. It wasn’t important enough to instrument the app for end-to-end analysis. Since you can’t model the system without rt it isn’t important enough to model. The hated cliché seems to fit: if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it.
Thank you for the reminder of the Hawthorne effect. I’ve been reading a lot of physics lately and wonder if the Hawthorne effect can be applied to quantum mechanics which suffers (actually I suffer due to ignorance) from the effects of observation.
what's also
...
Why don't you do a wireshark? I asked the network director if he thought that's feasible with Android, and he said doubt it, and also, not necessary.
Let's interject the human factor now.
Since the new vpn abc was suddenly slow, and old vpn xyz was fine, everything was switched back to xyz.
Now, the drivers claim xyz is slow.
It's become a moving target. Which is not that unusual with human beings.
Remember the Hawthorne effect. If I learned anything from an MBA program it was that, statistical analysis, and selling the sizzle (Arm and Hammer saying to pour the product down the drain and buy more--genius. Coca Cola selling smaller cans, with people buying them at a much higher unit price and a larger overall quantity--genius).
Making many assumptions without knowledge:
I think that you are in a terrible position. You weren’t asked to solve a problem. Your instructions were “to traceroute and ping to a host“. You have a response time (rt) problem and were asked to look at only one component of rt. Someone decided that the network component of the VPN is the problem without looking.
You say that the business function is very important. It wasn’t important enough to instrument the app for end-to-end analysis. Since you can’t model the system without rt it isn’t important enough to model. The hated cliché seems to fit: if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it.
Thank you for the reminder of the Hawthorne effect. I’ve been reading a lot of physics lately and wonder if the Hawthorne effect can be applied to quantum mechanics which suffers (actually I suffer due to ignorance) from the effects of observation.
fascinating is that I once went to a conference and learned that telnet was invented in 1969, it's over 50 years old. It was NEVER designed to be used over wireless, yet it's done all the time.
The app in question is a telnet app. Who knows what is going to happen when you use it over 4G cellular. You're right, so much is assumed. How can it be that one goes to a football game, has 5G UW, strong signal, and can't get to the internet? I believe I know.
I loved that Comcast commercial of days gone by, where the dad tells his kids, "We'll get to the internet, when we get to the internet." Sometimes employees need to realize that too! lol