OSX cant connect to shares without static IP / DNS

[Rich]

Hi All,

 

This is a problem I’ve experienced for as long as I can remember, over versions 5.X and 6 betas / RCs, but has never really been an issue until now, which is why I’ve not raised it before.

 

My server is set up for SMB only shares (local master), both AFP and NFS are disabled. The Windows machines that connect to the shares, do so, first time and as they should, however I have an iMac and a Mac mini that don’t connect unless they have a static IP/DNS assigned. The assigned addresses are exactly what my router DHCP assigns them, but unless they’re input as static the ‘Finder’ in OSX (multiple versions) simply keeps trying to connect to the share, with no luck.

 

As above, until recently, this wasn’t really an issue, neither the iMac nor the Mac mini ever change locations and definitely never leave the house, so assigning them a static address is no problem. However I’ve just received a Mac Book Pro for work, which is in and out the house daily and having to assign and then un-assign a static address whenever I want to access an unRAID share is getting a little frustrating.

 

I know I could enable AFP and that would act as a work around (all Macs connect to shares with DHCP via AFP), ideally though, I don’t want to do that, I only need unRAID shares broadcasted onto the network once and as far as I’m aware, OSX shouldn’t have problems like this connecting to a SMB network. Plus I’d like to get to the bottom of it and solve the issue if possible and not simply come up with a work around.

 

Any help is much appreciated 

 

Rich

 

[itimpi]

This is normally best handled by setting up your router to always allocate a specific IP addresses for given Mac addresses.  That way even though the client is set to use DHCP it always gets the same address when on your home network.  That is the way I manage my home network for all my main devices so that I know what IP address they have.  It is only ad-hoc device that get can get different addresses each time.

 

However if that does not work in your system because the Mac end has to know it is a static IP address I am not sure what to suggest.  That would sound like some quirk in your environment if that is the behaviour because I am sure it is not normal.

[Rich]

Thanks for the reply. I've already set up my router to reserve IPs for all the Macs and unRAID, but that doesn't make difference unfortunately. Its definitely a strange one!

 

I've reloaded unRAID on the flash drive from scratch as well, to see if that made any difference, but sadly not. Even my Yosemite VM (KVM on unRAID) has the same problem 

[sparklyballs]

my macbook pro, my IMAC and my nieces macbook get the same ip on my network everytime because i set my router to do that via their MAC addresses.

 

i can take the macbook out and about and it connects to other networks with no issues, and when i come back home it connects back to my network and gets it's regular ip address on my network and i can connect to shares.

 

 

 

not showing you the MAC addresses for obvious reasons.

 

 

and the relevant section of the network pane on my macbook.

 

 

 

[Rich]

I'm afraid i don't understand the purpose of your post?

 

All my machines do the same too, with reserved addresses set on my router. What i'm saying though, is that unless my OSX machines are set to have a static IP and DNS, they are unable to connect to an unRAID SMB share.

 

If your post is simply showing that you don't suffer from the same problem, then that's a positive and i'm happy for you 

 

I'm struggling to think what the cause could be, if its not unRAID related? The only common denominators are the server and the router 

[sparklyballs]

I'm afraid i don't understand the purpose of your post?

 

All my machines do the same too, with reserved addresses set on my router. What i'm saying though, is that unless my OSX machines are set to have a static IP and DNS, they are unable to connect to an unRAID SMB share.

 

If your post is simply showing that you don't suffer from the same problem, then that's a positive and i'm happy for you 

 

I'm struggling to think what the cause could be, if its not unRAID related? The only common denominators are the server and the router 

 

the purpose of my post is to show that it isn't unraid related and is your specific setup related and i'm sad for you

 

i connect through SMB shares all round.

[sparklyballs]

the macs don't need to have static ip set in their network preferences, set the router to assign an ip for them that is based on their MAC address.

 

that way you can still have the macbook set to get an ip from DHCP and not have to reset to static ip on your home network.

 

any router worth it's salt should have the option to set ip addresses based on MAC.

[sparklyballs]

[itimpi]

the macs don't need to have static ip set in their network preferences, set the router to assign an ip for them that is based on their MAC address.

As I understand it, the OP has already done this!    The issue ppaers to be that unless the Mac explicitly has a static IP allocated (the same as the one DHCP would allocate) then problems are being encountered.

 

I must admit I cannot think what might cause  symptom like that.  It feels as if it must be something on the Mac causing this behaviour.

[sparklyballs]

flush the dns cache on all the macs , you'll have to google the terminal wizadry for it.

 

then in the network prefs for the macs, set the DNS server tab to be your router, not an external DNS.

 

of course making sure your router has external DNS setup correctly.

[Rich]

the macs don't need to have static ip set in their network preferences, set the router to assign an ip for them that is based on their MAC address.

As I understand it, the OP has already done this!    The issue ppaers to be that unless the Mac explicitly has a static IP allocated (the same as the one DHCP would allocate) then problems are being encountered.

 

I must admit I cannot think what might cause  symptom like that.  It feels as if it must be something on the Mac causing this behaviour.

 

itimpi has it right.

 

As i stated earlier, all my machines have a reserved IP on the router, which makes no difference to the problem as its not about the OSX machines having the same or a consistent IP / DNS address, its that they need to have their IP and DNS set to a static address within network preferences. It doesn't matter what (as long as its the correct range), they just need to be set to static addresses.

 

As far as diagnosis is concerned, the only things i can logically think may be responsible, are my router or unRAID, otherwise 4 OSX machines all suffer from the same problem? I'm open to trying things to eliminate or incriminate tho.

 

I'll give the DNS flush a try, however i built an OSX VM yesterday, which was a fresh build of Yosemite and that suffered from the same problem straight away, so i'm not hopeful 

 

The DNS is already set to the address of the router, that is one of the things required to connect to a share.

[itimpi]

I'll give the DNS flush a try, however i built an OSX VM yesterday, which was a fresh build of Yosemite and that suffered from the same problem straight away, so i'm not hopeful 

My freshly built OSX VM does not suffer from this problem, so it does not seem to be inherent in OSX or unRAID.  Makes one wonder about the router as a common component that others do not necessarily have.  What model do you have?

[Rich]

Its an older router issued by Sky...

 

System Details

Manufacturer Sagemcom

Model Number F@ST2504n

Firmware Version 7.16a4N_UNI

 

Whats really strange to me, is that there aren't any other apparent symptoms. If it was either unRAID or the router, or anything that significant for that matter, you'd think there would be a wider knock-on. This is a really specific problem and i cant get my head around how, if its a router issue, it could only effect OSX trying to connect to SMB unRAID shares? Surely a router IP / DNS issue would effect Windows machines as well, let alone everything else on the network? 

 

That's why i thought it could be the unRAID side of things, not necessarily a bug / defect, but maybe a setting or config that needed changing? Unfortunately these theories are only based on me trying to apply logic and common sense and no technical or tangible evidence 

[trurl]

Some things that may not have been mentioned, and I don't know if they translate to OSX or not:

 

Are all computers on the same workgroup?

 

Are you able to connect using the IP address instead of the name?

 

Last resort you could edit the hosts file.

[Rich]

Hi trurl,

 

Yeah all machines are on the same workgroup.

 

Trying to make a direct IP connection to unRAID suffers from the same issue as trying to access a share via finder (unless the OSX machine has a static IP and DNS assigned).

 

I don't really want to edit the host file, i'd prefer to find the cause of the problem and correct / replace it, if possible. But thank you for the suggestion.

[sparklyballs]

Its an older router issued by Sky...

 

System Details

Manufacturer Sagemcom

Model Number F@ST2504n

Firmware Version 7.16a4N_UNI

 

Whats really strange to me, is that there aren't any other apparent symptoms. If it was either unRAID or the router, or anything that significant for that matter, you'd think there would be a wider knock-on. This is a really specific problem and i cant get my head around how, if its a router issue, it could only effect OSX trying to connect to SMB unRAID shares? Surely a router IP / DNS issue would effect Windows machines as well, let alone everything else on the network? 

 

That's why i thought it could be the unRAID side of things, not necessarily a bug / defect, but maybe a setting or config that needed changing? Unfortunately these theories are only based on me trying to apply logic and common sense and no technical or tangible evidence 

 

i used to be on sky and had no problems with essentially the same setup i have now.

[sparklyballs]

my unraid settings

 

 

 

192.168.1.30 is my firewall/router (pfsense)

 

[sparklyballs]

Hi trurl,

 

Yeah all machines are on the same workgroup.

 

Trying to make a direct IP connection to unRAID suffers from the same issue as trying to access a share via finder (unless the OSX machine has a static IP and DNS assigned).

 

I don't really want to edit the host file, i'd prefer to find the cause of the problem and correct / replace it, if possible. But thank you for the suggestion.

 

 

you really shouldn't need to edit the hosts file either.

 

here's mine, same as it's ever been.

 

^CMacbook-pro:~ Sparklyballs$ cat /private/etc/hosts
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1	localhost
255.255.255.255	broadcasthost
::1             localhost

[Rich]

My network setting are attached, but aren't anything out of the ordinary.

 

I've already dismissed editing my hosts file, as i'd prefer to try and identify the cause of the problem.

[sparklyballs]

eliminate the possibility that you're trying to assign the same IP address to two different machines.

 

 

try turning everything off except for one mac, the unraid box and the router.

 

post your DHCP settings page from the sky router.

 

 

[Rich]

There's definitely no duplicate IPs. As for isolating the router, unRAID and a Mac, i wont be able to do that until the weekend, but i will give it a go. Good idea!

 

Router settings attached (I took out the majority of IP reservations, but left two in as an example)...

 

[dgaschk]

Is the workgroup configured on the Mac?  System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced -> WINS

[Rich]

It is yeah, it populated by default

[sparklyballs]

how i connect new macs to my network...

 

1. get their mac address from the network pane in settings.

 

2 .copy it into the mac field on router/firewall for a new static ip assignment there

 

3. set mac to get DCHP information automatically.

 

4. use

[sparklyballs]

do you have anything else on your network that may be issuing DHCP assignments, a wireless router etc.... ?