[jmmo20]

Hello,

I have an issue with my job's LAN and my mac. Basically what I have done is installed Bonjour in every Windows machine in my department, to make it easier to communicate back and forth with my macbook.

Now, there are two subnets at my building's LAN.. each with a separate IP range.
Desktop computers use the fix range 161.111.x.x while laptop users get dynamic IPs in the range 192.168.222.x.

Now, let's imagine my setup

Computer A -> my mac -> bonjour name mymac.local
Computer B -> PC with dynamic ip 192.168.x.x -> computerB.local
Computer C -> PC with fix IP 161.111.x.x -> computerC.local
Computer D -> virtual Windows box within Macos using Parallels -> computerD.local

Now, If my computer get's a 191.168.x.x dynamic IP, I can only comunicate with computer B.

If I get a fix IP in the range 161.111.x.x I can only communicate with computer C

However, from computer B I can communicate with any computer, either on the 161.x.x.x or the 192.x.x.x range.

Moreover, If I lunch Windows ussing Parallels and set it up to lease a dynamic IP directly from the server (192.168.222.x range), this windows can actually communicate with everyone , computer B, computer C, and my mac.

This hints me that it's a MacOS problem.
Is there any workaround this?



PD. When I say Bonjour the same applies to samba and wins names...

[ghporter]

It hits me that it's a network configuration "issue" rather than a problem (at least it's only an issue for everyone but you). Somehow the network is connecting the wireless (and other 192... IPs) to the main, wired network. Your IT guys should be able to explain how it's done and why (probably so the wired computers can't mess with the wireless ones-if there's a reason at all). Talk to them about this. There may actually be some sort of MAC address filtering that allows "certain" wired computers to see and interact with the other subnet...

Just talk to your IT guys about it. Whomever it was that set up this system should know how you can manage to do what you want to.

[jmmo20]

Originally Posted by ghporter

It hits me that it's a network configuration "issue" rather than a problem (at least it's only an issue for everyone but you). Somehow the network is connecting the wireless (and other 192... IPs) to the main, wired network. Your IT guys should be able to explain how it's done and why (probably so the wired computers can't mess with the wireless ones-if there's a reason at all). Talk to them about this. There may actually be some sort of MAC address filtering that allows "certain" wired computers to see and interact with the other subnet...

Just talk to your IT guys about it. Whomever it was that set up this system should know how you can manage to do what you want to.

I didn't mentioned wireless.
Ok I said laptops but those are wired too. Basically there are two wired subnetworks,

That with fixed IPs for the desktops and dynamic IPs for the laptops.

It's an issue with my MacOS. Any linux/windows machine is able to communicate through bonjour/wins/samba to any computer in any subnet.

My mac can only "discover" computers in the same subnet using wins/bonjour , the other subunet is offlimits. But if I enter the IP address manually it works fine.

It's only an issue with computer discovery (WINS/BONJOUR).
I know I could just learn the IPs but there are hundreds of computers.

[ghporter]

Oh... I had indeed assumed "wireless" because of your mention of the laptops. Obviously there's some sort of communication going on between the two subnets, but I can't even speculate on what or how. And I'm really sketchy about both WINS and Bonjour (I know basically what they're supposed to do on a very abstract level). Sorry I can't be helpful.

[dimmer]

Alright, it looks like your IT dept has the setup as follows:

- wired computers with static IP's have assigned normal addresses in 161.111.x.x range (is this internet routable or not? I should know this but I don't).
- portables get addresses via DHCP on the 192.168.x.x private IP space (non-routable)

So they must have a router somewhere that NAT's the 192.168.x.x addresses to a routable address (maybe in 161.111.x.x range) - NAT works fine outbound, but to connect from a routeable address to a non-routable one needs a pinhole configured on the NAT device--and since dynamic IP's are by nature dynamic, that's a pain.

Easiest: ask the IT folks to assign your laptop an address just as if it were a desktop system.
Next easiest: ask them to give you a MAC based DHCP address and a pinhole to that on their NAT device (warning, more 'network groups' will start scratching their heads right around here).
Better: Ask them to reconfigure their DHCP server to use a routable IP address and set up their router to, well, route that traffic. If you do have wireless clients there are security issues with this, so don't yell at them if they say they can't for the wireless users.

It's a complex issue, but if you can get good help one of these things should help.

Bonjour is subnet specific by the way, it won't help you to connect to anything not on the same subnet as you by design. But that's not really the issue here.

[jmmo20]

Originally Posted by dimmer

Alright, it looks like your IT dept has the setup as follows:

- wired computers with static IP's have assigned normal addresses in 161.111.x.x range (is this internet routable or not? I should know this but I don't).
- portables get addresses via DHCP on the 192.168.x.x private IP space (non-routable)

So they must have a router somewhere that NAT's the 192.168.x.x addresses to a routable address (maybe in 161.111.x.x range) - NAT works fine outbound, but to connect from a routeable address to a non-routable one needs a pinhole configured on the NAT device--and since dynamic IP's are by nature dynamic, that's a pain.

Easiest: ask the IT folks to assign your laptop an address just as if it were a desktop system.
Next easiest: ask them to give you a MAC based DHCP address and a pinhole to that on their NAT device (warning, more 'network groups' will start scratching their heads right around here).
Better: Ask them to reconfigure their DHCP server to use a routable IP address and set up their router to, well, route that traffic. If you do have wireless clients there are security issues with this, so don't yell at them if they say they can't for the wireless users.

It's a complex issue, but if you can get good help one of these things should help.

Bonjour is subnet specific by the way, it won't help you to connect to anything not on the same subnet as you by design. But that's not really the issue here.

Thanks.

I tried this:

I have a computer with a fix IP in my lab. For the test I unplugged it from the network and assigned that IP to my mac. Everything worked fine. The server assigned the host name (it's lab213.something.com)

Connectivity was total. I tried the bonjour / wins thingy and the same happened. Using my mac with the fix ip caused my system to discover computers only in the fix-ip-subnet. Those in the dynamic subnet were off-limits (ping XXX.local said "no host found").

Please note, this is a bonjour/wins problem, I installed Bonjour in the desktop in my lab (the one i unplugged for my little test) and using ping and bonjour names i could discover macs and pcs in both subnets. Those windows have nothing special, it's just a plain windows xp install with one single network card, one single CAT5 and a fix IP. that's all. no special set up or tweak.

Thanks for your reply tho