The search boxes in reports and asset overviews automatically perform a "contains" search, i.e. they automatically add a wildcard before and after the text you've submitted in the search box. You can use search boxes in reports and asset overviews to look for assets with an IP of 172.16.9.* for instance.
However, using wildcards within your text is not possible using the search boxes. This is something you'll need to build a SQL report for instead. Keep in mind that SQL uses % as a wildcard, not *. To create a report for the specific example you've given:
- Open the report builder under Reports\Create New Report. A default report will be generated that already includes IP addresses.
- Add the following filter to the Criteria column of the tblAssets.IPAddress expression:
Like '172.16.%9.%'