How Do You Check Apple Internet Connection
Explanation of Internet Addressing
When using the Internet, you are assigned a Public IPv4 address, such as 63.216.66.54, or an IPv6 address, like 2000:f939:4b9a:e4b9:a612:7cf7:3720:7f8d. This information can be verified by visiting https://test-ipv6.com/. However, for individuals who are not well-versed in technology, attempting to communicate these addresses, or even mentioning MAC addresses like 2f:6b:d7:8a:dc:ce, can lead to errors and can become complex very quickly. Additionally, this does not provide any historical data, which is especially important when troubleshooting past issues.
Navigating the Internet
In order to access a website such as https://bechtelar.net, you will initially connect to a DNS server to translate the host portion (bechtelar) along with the Top Level Domain (net) of the URL into an IP address, such as 204.137.53.121. When making web requests, your computer and browser both send their type, for example: Opera/9.80 (X11; Linux i686; Ubuntu/14.10) Presto/2.12.388 Version/12.16
Understanding the Significance of Default Gateways
Your default gateway is typically an address that is automatically configured via DHCP. This default gateway could be something like 10.108.78.183 (although they usually end in .1 or .254 depending on the scope size), and this is the place where your computer sends all of its traffic to be routed onwards. For more in-depth information on resolving IPv6 connectivity issues, refer to how-to-fix-ipv6-connectivity/ or consult your Mac or Linux system.
IPv4 Routes and the Host IPv4 Route Table (inc. VPN)
netstat -rn -f inet | egrep -i "default|0/1|128.0/1"
0/1 172.18.12.193 UGScg utun3 default 10.108.78.183 UGScg en0 128.0/1 172.18.12.193 UGSc utun3
Note: We are not just looking for the default but also for any VPN that overrides the public v4 address space.
IPv6 Routes and the Host IPv6 Route Table (inc. VPN)
netstat -rn -f inet6 | egrep -i "default|2000::/3"
If you have IPv6 active the above should return at least one route (as per below) via a known interface such as “en0 " on a Mac.
default fe80:62c7:d89a:c969:4d21%en0 UGcg en0 default fe80::%utun0 UGcIg utun0 default fe80::%utun1 UGcIg utun1 default fe80::%utun2 UGcIg utun2 2000::/3 utun3 USc utun3
Note: We are not just looking for the default but also for any VPN that overrides the public v6 address space.
Debugging DHCP for both IPv4 and IPv6
To get a look at the low level DHCP configuration (Mac/Linux):
ipconfig getpacket en0
...
domain_name_server (ip_mult): {34.177.84.182, 190.149.184.67}
end (none):
...
So, in the above we are not getting IPv6 DNS servers from the DHCPv4 reply but…
ipconfig getv6packet en0
DHCPv6 REPLY (7) Transaction ID 0x80940b Length 76
Options[4] = {
CLIENTID (1) Length 14: DUID LLT HW 1 Time 668691856 Addr 2f:6b:d7:8a:dc:ce
DNS_SERVERS (23) Length 32: 2606:4700:4700::1111, 2001:4860:4860::8844
DOMAIN_LIST (24) Length 0: Invalid
SERVERID (2) Length 10: DUID LL HW 1 Addr 4f:a9:88:2c:2f:74
}
Resolving Issues with Wired and Wireless Connections
When it comes to sending data to your router, you may be using either a wired or wireless (Wi-Fi) medium at the physical and data layer.
Troubleshooting Tips for Apple macOS / OSX Users
Regardless of whether you are running OSX/macOS versions like 10.15.2, 11.6.8, or 12.0.3, there are various tools available for troubleshooting. However, these manual actions and scripts do not provide a series of correlated values over time, which is where automated remote troubleshooting becomes crucial, particularly for teams embracing remote work and Work From Anywhere (WFA).
Useful Built-in Scripts
One valuable tool on OSX/macOS is the sudo wdutil info command, which provides a dump to the CLI of current wireless settings and can also generate specific logs for troubleshooting. Moreover, the sysdiagnose tool can be utilized to generate a wide range of logs, although much of it is only relevant to wireless at a specific point in time, similar to wdutil.
To run sysdiagnose in the background and write logs to /var/tmp/<blah>.tar.gz, you can use the command sudo nohup /usr/bin/sysdiagnose -u &. If you prefer to run it interactively, you can use sudo /usr/bin/sysdiagnose, which will display a privacy warning and open Finder in the appropriate location. Alternatively, you can navigate to /var/tmp using Finder with Cmd+Shift+G, but be cautious of the file sizes, which are typically around 300MB.
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