How Do You Fix Mac Connectivity

Understanding Internet Addressing When using the Internet, you are assigned a unique IPv4 or IPv6 address, such as 236.90.227.195 or 2000:ea49:b5d8:9da8:18e5:11cd:218a:4731. You can verify this information by visiting https://test-ipv6.com/. However, explaining and using these addresses or MAC addresses like 46:24:f4:3f:49:d2 can become complex, especially for those without technical expertise. Understanding Internet Addressing When using the Internet, you are assigned a unique IPv4 or IPv6 address, such as 236.90.227.195 or 2000:ea49:b5d8:9da8:18e5:11cd:218a:4731. You can verify this information by visiting https://test-ipv6.com/. However, explaining and using these addresses or MAC addresses like 46:24:f4:3f:49:d2 can become complex, especially for those without technical expertise.

Understanding Internet Addressing

When using the Internet, you are assigned a unique IPv4 or IPv6 address, such as 236.90.227.195 or 2000:ea49:b5d8:9da8:18e5:11cd:218a:4731. You can verify this information by visiting https://test-ipv6.com/. However, explaining and using these addresses or MAC addresses like 46:24:f4:3f:49:d2 can become complex, especially for those without technical expertise. Furthermore, this method does not provide any historical data, particularly when past issues occurred.

When accessing a website such as https://huel.io, your computer first connects to a DNS server to convert the website’s host (huel) and Top Level Domain (io) to an IP address, like 84.102.135.33. Moreover, your computer and browser include their specifics in all web requests, for example:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; AOL 9.7; AOLBuild 4343.19; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/5.0; FunWebProducts)

The Significance of Default Gateways

The default gateway is usually automatically assigned through DHCP and manifests as an address like 172.22.218.141 (typically ending in .1 or .254, depending on the scope size). This is the point where your computer forwards all its traffic for routing. For IPv6, we offer an in-depth guide at how-to-fix-ipv6-connectivity/, or you can verify on Mac or Linux using the following command:

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  172.22.218.141    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   fe80:2241:13ef:3879:5a7c%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): {96.80.98.174, 149.9.166.113}
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 46:24:f4:3f:49:d2
  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 15:4e:81:ee:0f:de
}

Troubleshooting Issues with Wired and Wireless Connections

When it comes to transmitting data to your router, you may be using either a wired or wireless (Wi-Fi) medium at the physical and data layer.

Effective Solutions for Apple macOS / OSX

Regardless of whether you are using OSX/macOS version 10.14.3, 11.5.2, or 12.0.4, there are various tools available for troubleshooting. However, despite the availability of manual actions and scripts, they do not provide a series of correlated values over time. This is where automated remote troubleshooting comes in handy, particularly for teams that are adopting remote work and Work From Anywhere (WFA).

Utilizing Built-in Scripts for Assistance

One extremely useful tool on OSX/macOS is sudo wdutil info, which provides a dump of current wireless settings to the CLI and can also be configured to create specific logs for troubleshooting. Additionally, the sysdiagnose tool can be used to generate a wide range of logs, although much of it is only relevant to wireless settings, 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, but beware of the large file sizes, which are approximately 300MB or more.

Possibly Helpful Videos

Video Title Channel
Spotlight on Spotlight - Hands-On Mac 7 Hands-On Mac
Mac Activity Monitor - How to Troubleshoot Your Mac Hands-On Mac
Securing macOS Big Sur Hands-On Mac
Secret Mac Boot Commands - Mac Boot Key Combinations Hands-On Mac
macOS Big Sur - What's New in Apple macOS 11 Hands-On Mac
Table 1.0 - Video Help



P.S. Tips For Remote Network and Client Support

Digital work requires reliable connectivity. Whether for low latency or regular data streams, Wi-Fi, DNS, and network issues cause teams to lose time and productivity. Even worse is when support teams waste time trying to recreate and isolate issues! See how PanSift saves time, money, and frustration on all sides with instant remote troubleshooting 🏠🏝🛰.

Design Benefits + 2 Free Agents


Install on any mobile or stationary Mac for immediate visibility.

Click for a frictionless and instant live demo

2x free agents for problem machines and upgrade for more!

Click for a frictionless and instant live demo

Install as remote sensors at any site or location!

Rapid Digital Experience Monitoring for teams, clients, and sites!

Instant Agent

2 x free macOS agents

Instant Demo

No registration, immediate live demo!