Is it possible to define "device_tracker" entity manually in config?

Configuration
1

I am still a newbie in HA.
Is it possible to define “device_tracker” entity manually in config?
OK, in my practice usually device_trackers are added automatically (ASUSWRT, Life360), but I wonder is it possible to declare them manually - for “ping” for example.

I specified this tracker in config.yaml (from here - https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/ping/#presence-detection):

device_tracker:
  - platform: ping
    hosts:
      hostname: test_tracker

But no entity was added to HA, and no errors are present in the log.

2

I guess you should put the ip of the device that you wanna track to hostname

3

Hostname needs to be the ip or the hostname of the device you want to track, as stated in the docs you linked.

4

First it was like this:

hostname: test_tracker.com

I specified a fictional website.

Let’s assume that test_tracker is a hostname of fictional PC - which is not available now.

I believed that in both of these cases (website, PC) the device_tracker is supposed to be created.

5

It’s impossible to resolve the IP from a fictional domain.

It’s the same, howto resolve the IP from a fictional hostname :thinking:

6

Well, I believed that the entity anyway must be created and equal to something like “not_home” )))
Also there is no any errors in the log…

Of course, specifying a valid IP creates a device_tracker entity.

7

Ofcourse… please set the topic to solved

8

Marked your post as a solution.

My gratitude to everyone who helped me in this thread!

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