How Do You Check Apple IP Settings
Understanding IP Addressing
When accessing the Internet, you are assigned a unique IP address, which can be in the form of a Public IPv4 address like 54.13.55.120 or an IPv6 address like 2000:4ba8:3762:63d3:bdae:305a:5e9e:e934. To check your IP address, you can visit https://test-ipv6.com/. However, these addresses can be confusing for those not familiar with technology, especially when trying to communicate or troubleshoot network issues. Furthermore, there is no way to access historical data related to these addresses.
Navigating the World Wide Web
In order to visit a website such as https://jacobs.name, your device first contacts a DNS server to convert the URL into a numerical IP address, such as 208.137.150.49. Interestingly, your computer and web browser identify themselves when making requests to websites, usually specifying the type using code like Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/7.0; AS; rv:11.0) like Gecko.
Understanding the Role of Default Gateways
The default gateway, typically assigned through DHCP, serves as the main routing point for your device’s internet traffic. An example of a default gateway address is 172.22.159.139, with common endings being .1 or .254 depending on the network size. For troubleshooting IPv6 connectivity on Mac or Linux, you can refer to our comprehensive guide at how-to-fix-ipv6-connectivity/.
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 172.22.159.139 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:b49f:3569:304a:9fc3%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): {54.3.146.8, 168.117.145.224}
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 09:c5:e1:83:ac:8b
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 fe:64:e3:a7:0b:00
}
Resolve Issues with Wired and Wireless Connections
When it comes to sending data to your router, you might be using a wired or wireless (Wi-Fi) medium at the physical and data layer.
Tips for Apple macOS / OSX Users
Whether you’re running OSX or macOS, whether it’s version 10.12.6, 11.4.1, or 12.3.4, there are various troubleshooting tools available. However, these manual actions and scripts do not provide a series of correlated values over time. This is where automated remote troubleshooting becomes crucial, especially for teams that embrace remote work and Work From Anywhere (WFA).
Utilizing Built-in Scripts for Assistance
One valuable tool for OSX/macOS users is sudo wdutil info, which provides a dump to the CLI of current wireless related settings, and can also be configured to generate specific logs for troubleshooting. Another comprehensive tool is the sysdiagnose tool, which can generate a wide range of logs, although much of it relates to wireless settings and is only point-in-time, similar to wdutil.
To run sudo nohup /usr/bin/sysdiagnose -u & in the background and write logs to /var/tmp/<blah>.tar.gz, or run it interactively by executing sudo /usr/bin/sysdiagnose, which comes with a privacy warning. When not run in the background, it should open Finder in the correct location, and you can navigate to /var/tmp or use Finder with Cmd+Shift+G to point Finder to the path. Keep in mind that the file sizes are about 300MB more or less.
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