What I think I know: a dumb AP needs to use something like /etc/ethers to map MAC addresses to hostnames so you can see them in the associated stations view.
I recently cleared /etc/ethers on my dumb AP and noticed that of all but one of the associated stations changed to a question mark. My iPhone is displayed as its hostname and its IP address it got from the router somehow. My question is how?
Clients usually announce its name to the DHCP server itself. But only if the device is configured to do so.
The usual way configuring static names within OpenWrt is using dnsmasq (static leases, hostnames).
If you edit and delete things in /etc/ethers you have to re-edit the file again to make it work ofc. Ethers is not a file handled by OpenWrt overlay. Same applies to /etc/hosts.
Normally, if you edit /etc/ethers you do the same for /etc/hosts to have a reliable and consistent configuration. That may explain the question marks.
E. g.
/etc/hosts:
192.168.1.100 myhostname
/etc/ethers:
11:11:11:11:11:11 myhostname
I'm running into the same issue here. I have an openwrt router with no wifi that does dhcp and dns with dnsmasq. Everything displays properly in luci on the router, aka, dhcp leases with hostnames, and no wifi associated stations.
I have 2 openwrt dumb APs which have dhcp disabled. /etc/ethers and /etc/hosts have nothing but the default entries. /tmp/dhcp.leases is empty as dhcp is disabled since it's handled by the router instead of the dumb APs. Yet somehow, some entries in the wifi "Associated Stations" list on the dumb APs show mac address, hostname, and IP, while others only show the mac address. Where is it getting the hostname and IPs from if dhcp is disabled and /etc/ethers and /etc/hosts don't have those entries?
Check out tips @ Dumb AP - Associated Stations Resolver - #9 by anon11662642
Just that DumbAP by default are named OpenWRT and the "main" routers' dhcp server does not permit duplicates.
Sorry, maybe I didn't explain my self well. I have not set up any replication of ethers or hosts from the router to the dumb AP, and yet some wifi stations show a question mark while other show the actual hostname and ip address. Where is it getting that info from if ethers and hosts is empty?
Here's a screenshot:
