Networking

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Okay, I'm the first to admit that I know NOTHING about networking. The whole thing scares me an I don't think I've ever managed to set everything up so that it works properly.



I'm trying to get three Macs running 10.3 to see each other. The two machines upstairs are connected via a "dumb" hub and are in turn connected to a third machine downstairs via a "smart" hub. There are also PCs and Ethernet printers involved but I don't want to get in to that right now.



We upgraded all the machines to 10.3 in the hope that we would finally be able to get them to talk to each other - yeah right!



So can anybody tell me how to set up the network? At the moment I'm just clicking on buttons and hoping for the best.



When you go to Network , there are Local, Servers (Alias) and Workgroup folders. Which one should I be going in to, and why does each machine appear twice, once normal and once uppercase?



Should AppleTalk be activated, or is it obsolete in OS X?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    dobbydobby Posts: 797member
    Okay.



    A basic setup useing appletalk over ip would be as follows.



    Open /Applications/Utilities/Directory Access

    Make sure AppleTalk has a tick next to it.

    Open System Prefs. Click on Sharing. Make sure each mac has a different name say mac1,mac2,mac3 and that the Personal File Sharing is on.

    Click on Network then click on Configure (for your built in ethernet)

    Under tcpip, make sure each mac has its own ip address 10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3 and share the same subnet mask 255.255.255.0. You don't need a router or dns currently.

    Click on the AppleTalk tab and make sure than the Make AppleTalk Active is clicked.



    You should now be able to see and share files between all 3 macs.

    To test network connectivity open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal and from the prompt type (leave out the $ though)

    $ ping 10.0.0.1

    $ ping 10.0.0.2

    $ ping 10.0.0.3

    You can ping yourself to make sure that your ethernet is working.



    I think thats it.

    Edit. Sorry I forgot the folder test.

    Open a new finder window click on Network - Local and you should see the names of the 3 macs there (appletalk).



    Dobby.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dobby

    Okay.



    A basic setup useing appletalk over ip would be as follows.



    Open /Applications/Utilities/Directory Access

    Make sure AppleTalk has a tick next to it.

    Open System Prefs. Click on Sharing. Make sure each mac has a different name say mac1,mac2,mac3 and that the Personal File Sharing is on.

    Click on Network then click on Configure (for your built in ethernet)

    Under tcpip, make sure each mac has its own ip address 10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3 and share the same subnet mask 255.255.255.0. You don't need a router or dns currently.

    Click on the AppleTalk tab and make sure than the Make AppleTalk Active is clicked.



    You should now be able to see and share files between all 3 macs.

    To test network connectivity open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal and from the prompt type (leave out the $ though)

    $ ping 10.0.0.1

    $ ping 10.0.0.2

    $ ping 10.0.0.3

    You can ping yourself to make sure that your ethernet is working.



    I think thats it.

    Edit. Sorry I forgot the folder test.

    Open a new finder window click on Network - Local and you should see the names of the 3 macs there (appletalk).



    Dobby.




    Wow! Thanks for that! I'll try that tomorrow and let you know how I get on.



  • Reply 3 of 3
    OK... this is so much easier than it is being made out to be. In fact I think you might be done already.



    What you are looking to setup is filesharing, not networking. Many people mistakenly call this networking, but if you can surf the web from the computers, then that is already in place. There are a lot of reasons that people make this mistake, but it is a misnomer. details... details...



    Here are the things you need to make sure of:
    • You need to be connected to a network. Here we are talking about southing like ethernet or Airport. The computers must be able to see each other on this network, and there should not be a firewall preventing connections between them. To allow the computers to "discover" each other so you don't have to type in an address there should also not be a router between them.



      Ideally this network should also have IP addresses assigned to every computer. With 10.3 Rendezvous can take care of this for you automatically, but lets keep it simple...

    • You need to go to System Preferences->Sharing->Services and make sure that "Personal File Sharing" is turned on. If you want to make your computer avalible to Windows computers you should also check the "Windows Sharing" box. If you have turned on the Firewall you should also make sure that the appropriate boxes are checked in the firewall open ports sections.

    • If you will be sharing with computers using MacOS 8.6 or less (actually I think 8.6 is fine.. but this is overkill), then you need to make sure that AppleTalk is on. This is not necessary if all the computers are OS 9 or 10 (X). You can turn on Appletalk by going to System Preferences->Network->the appropriate network interface (ethernet, Airport, etc)->AppleTalk. Then you also need to turn AppleTalk in Directory Access if it is not already on (default is on). Once again if you will not be filesharing with OS 8.6 or earlier computers, or have some special reason to turn on AppleTalk, leave it off.

    • Note: if you are not looking at sharing the files on your computer, but are mearly looking to get the files from other computers then you can skip the second point.

    Now a few points that trip people up:
    • By default MacOS X only shares out the "Public" folder from each user folder (read only to everyone/guest plus a drop-box), user folders (read and write to individual users and the Admins), and the connected volumes (to the Admins only). This creates a structure to sharing files between people (just drop it in my drop-box... or pick it up from my public folder) that works very well if you don't fight it. There are programs that will allow you to define other share points, but 95% of the time it is either better not to, or time to get a dedicated server anyways.

    • If you follow the Public/Drop-Box method you will usually not have to worry about permissions. If you fight that system, it will fight you.

    • Since MacOS X 10.3 can see Windows and Mac shares, if you turn on both forms of sharing other MacOS X 10.3+ clients will see you twice, once with the nice AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) name, and once with a shortened, all uppercase Windows name. You can basically use either one, but the AFP is probably the better way of going.

    • There are two ways of connecting through the GUI. Either through the network icon on the sidebar in the finder, or through the "Connect to Server" item in the Finder's "Go" menu. The Network item will allow you to browse everything you can see, but occasionally gets a bit flakey. While the "Connect to Server" route lets you type in an address. You can also type in urls here for SMB (Windows file sharing), HTTP (WebDav), and FTP addresses. I generally make a few bookmarks in the "Connect to" menu and keep there, as it is faster to load.

    • When going through the Network item you will see the different groups that things are arranged by. There should always be a "Local" and a "Servers" items, and often a "WORKGOUP" or "MSHOME" item from the Windows side. Unless you are using MacOS X Server, you should ignore the Servers item, and concentrate on the "Local" item. That is where things should be.



      Simply click on it, and it will show you everything it has discovered. Either click on it once in column view and then click on "Connect", or Double click on the item in any other view. The rest should explain itself.

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