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You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Networking > Function of service order

Function of service order
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ibook_steve
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May 21, 2012, 02:04 PM
 
Here's how I've always thought that the service order feature works in OS X:

1) Check to see if a connection can be made using the first interface.
2) If no connection can be made, try the second interface.
3) Continue down the list.
4) If the server (or whatever you're connecting to) doesn't respond, give up.

However, this seems to be what's happening to me:

1) Check to see if a connection can be made using the first interface.
2) If it can't, give up.

Here's my situation. At work, I use my iPhone as a 3G hotspot so my personal traffic (i.e. web browsing) doesn't go through my work network, so USB (to the iPhone) is first in my interface list. Ethernet is second in the list in order to connect to work resources.

However, with this, I cannot connect to work servers over ethernet unless I switch the order: ethernet first, then USB. And then, of course, I can't get out to the Internet over my hotspot. I thought OS X would fall back to the next interface, but it doesn't seem to. Am I doing something wrong?

Steve
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Waragainstsleep
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May 21, 2012, 09:04 PM
 
Can you ping local IPs when you are connected to 3G?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
ghporter
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May 22, 2012, 08:33 AM
 
I've seen the same thing now and then, and it seems that it's always been when Ethernet was the first service and AirPort the second. I've chalked it up to the old AirPort "won't connect after sleep" syndrome, because it (usually) responded well to turning AirPort off and then back on.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
P
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May 22, 2012, 09:55 AM
 
How is the DNS set up? Can you make a manual override so that your corporate DNSes are always included in the list of DNSes to check?
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
ibook_steve  (op)
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May 22, 2012, 03:48 PM
 
Now that I'm back at work, answers to your questions:

I seem to be only able to ping as far as the router over the ethernet connection (second in service order list). I can't ping our internal name servers and I can't ping other known machines on the network.

We use internal DNS servers, which I can't get to.

If I switch the service order to ethernet first, I can ping the name servers and internal servers. I can connect to everything I need internally, but I can't get to external servers (like web browsing). Now there is an internal proxy for the ethernet connection, but I can't get out whether I have that set up or not.

Weird.

Steve
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seanc
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May 22, 2012, 04:03 PM
 
But surely if you specify your internal DNS servers on your 3G connection, everything might work?
     
ibook_steve  (op)
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May 22, 2012, 04:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by seanc View Post
But surely if you specify your internal DNS servers on your 3G connection, everything might work?
When you use the iPhone 3G hotspot, you can't specify custom DNS servers.

Steve
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seanc
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May 22, 2012, 04:31 PM
 
Bummer.
     
P
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May 22, 2012, 04:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by ibook_steve View Post
When you use the iPhone 3G hotspot, you can't specify custom DNS servers.

Steve
Really? Strange. I'll admit to never actually trying that, but the iPhone is just another Wifi base station as far as the Mac is concerned, so you should be able to just add some DNS servers in System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
ibook_steve  (op)
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May 22, 2012, 04:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Really? Strange. I'll admit to never actually trying that, but the iPhone is just another Wifi base station as far as the Mac is concerned, so you should be able to just add some DNS servers in System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced.
That's the problem. There is no "Advanced" button when you use the hotspot feature. And even if you could, I don't see how that would force external traffic to use that interface instead of the ethernet.

Steve
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ibook_steve  (op)
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May 25, 2012, 04:49 PM
 
Any other thoughts on this?

Steve
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P
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May 27, 2012, 02:27 PM
 
Just to exclude the DNS possibility - what happens if you add a few internal servers to the /etc/hosts file?
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Waragainstsleep
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May 27, 2012, 03:38 PM
 
When you connect to the hotspot, do have DHCP switched on?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
ibook_steve  (op)
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May 30, 2012, 12:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
When you connect to the hotspot, do have DHCP switched on?
Switched on where? There's no such option to turn it off.

In any case, I gave up on this, but found a solution keeping the same service order: 1. iPhone USB, 2. ethernet, 3. wifi.

I realized I could use MS remote desktop connection in Parallels Desktop (using ethernet) to connect to my work laptop, which then gives me access to all of my work resources while still using the iPhone on the Mac side for Internet. It is not a clean solution by any means, but it gets the job done.

Steve
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