When it comes to the Internet, you may be assigned a Public IPv4 address such as 141.40.3.80
or an IPv6 address like 2000:4b1d:13d:94df:3edd:ef4d:c7e1:dd01
. You can verify this through https://test-ipv6.com/. However, communicating these addresses to those who are not tech-savvy, or even referencing MAC addresses like 0a:67:7d:8e:53:ac
, can lead to errors and confusion. Moreover, it does not provide any historical data, especially when dealing with past issues.
In order to access a website such as https://jast-turcotte.net, your computer first contacts a DNS server to translate the host portion (jast-turcotte) along with the Top Level Domain (net) of the URL into an IP address like 198.166.167.95
. Additionally, your computer and browser include its type in all web requests, for example:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/7.0; AS; rv:11.0) like Gecko
The default gateway is typically an automatically configured address through DHCP. This default gateway could be something like 172.30.91.157
(although they generally end in .1 or .254 based on the scope size) and this is where your computer sends all of its traffic to be routed further. For IPv6
, you can find more detailed information on how-to-fix-ipv6-connectivity/. You can also verify this on Mac or Linux using the following command:
ifconfig```
### IPv4 Routes and the Host IPv4 Route Table (inc. VPN)
```netstat -rn -f inet | egrep -i "default|0/1|128.0/1"```
<pre>
0/1 172.18.12.193 UGScg utun3
default 172.30.91.157 UGScg en0
128.0/1 172.18.12.193 UGSc utun3</pre>
**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.
<pre>
default dd2e:54:47f6:b31d:127:3008:e07:c743%en0 UGcg en0
default fe80::%utun0 UGcIg utun0
default fe80::%utun1 UGcIg utun1
default fe80::%utun2 UGcIg utun2
2000::/3 utun3 USc utun3</pre>
**Note:** We are not just looking for the default but also for any VPN that overrides the public v6 address space.
<br>
## Debugging DHCP for both IPv4 and IPv6
To get a look at the low level DHCP configuration (Mac/Linux):
```ipconfig getpacket en0```
<pre>
...
domain_name_server (ip_mult): {130.39.190.119, 79.65.135.147}
end (none):
...</pre>
So, in the above we are not getting IPv6 DNS servers from the DHCPv4 reply but...
```ipconfig getv6packet en0```
<pre>
DHCPv6 REPLY (7) Transaction ID 0x80940b Length 76
Options[4] = {
CLIENTID (1) Length 14: DUID LLT HW 1 Time 668691856 Addr 0a:67:7d:8e:53:ac
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 a8:82:44:58:be:4c
}</pre>
## Resolve Issues with Wired and Wireless Connections
Whether you are using a wired Ethernet connection or a wireless (Wi-Fi) medium at the physical and data layer to transmit data to your router, troubleshooting issues can arise.
### Tips for Resolving Problems on Apple macOS / OSX
No matter which version of OSX or macOS you are using, whether it's ```10.12.6```, ```11.1.1```, or ```12.3.5```, there are various tools available for troubleshooting. However, these manual actions and scripts do not provide a series of correlated values over time. This is where automated remote troubleshooting becomes useful, especially for teams that embrace remote work and Work From Anywhere (WFA).
#### Useful Built-in Tools for Troubleshooting
One useful tool on OSX and macOS is the ```sudo wdutil info``` command, which provides a dump of current wireless settings to the CLI and can be configured to generate specific logs for troubleshooting. Furthermore, the ```sysdiagnose``` tool can be used 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.
By running ```sudo nohup /usr/bin/sysdiagnose -u &``` in the background, logs will be written to ```/var/tmp/<blah>.tar.gz```. If you prefer to run it interactively, you can use ```sudo /usr/bin/sysdiagnose```, which will display a privacy warning. When not run in the background, it should open Finder in the correct location, or you can navigate to ```/var/tmp``` using Cmd+Shift+G in Finder. However, be mindful of the file sizes, which are typically around 300MB.
## Possibly Helpful Videos
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<div class="table1-start"></div>
|Video | Title | Channel |
| :---: | :---: | :---: |
|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KdhJimuhNw" data-lity><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7KdhJimuhNw/default.jpg" class="img-fluid"></a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KdhJimuhNw" data-lity>Securing macOS Big Sur</a>|<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg43DP8MdHVcl4rFK_delBg" >Hands-On Mac</a>|
|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMKi6o9kaZI" data-lity><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JMKi6o9kaZI/default.jpg" class="img-fluid"></a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMKi6o9kaZI" data-lity>macOS Big Sur - What's New in Apple macOS 11</a>|<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg43DP8MdHVcl4rFK_delBg" >Hands-On Mac</a>|
|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWzWd_DiaJ0" data-lity><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TWzWd_DiaJ0/default.jpg" class="img-fluid"></a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWzWd_DiaJ0" data-lity>Mac Activity Monitor - How to Troubleshoot Your Mac</a>|<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg43DP8MdHVcl4rFK_delBg" >Hands-On Mac</a>|
|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEbK-Tignuc" data-lity><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HEbK-Tignuc/default.jpg" class="img-fluid"></a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEbK-Tignuc" data-lity>On the Road to Big Sur 2 - Compatibility</a>|<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg43DP8MdHVcl4rFK_delBg" >Hands-On Mac</a>|
|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RslZ4W1EPqk" data-lity><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RslZ4W1EPqk/default.jpg" class="img-fluid"></a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RslZ4W1EPqk" data-lity>Spotlight on Spotlight - Hands-On Mac 7</a>|<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg43DP8MdHVcl4rFK_delBg" >Hands-On Mac</a>|
<center><small>Table 1.0 - Video Help</small></center>
<br>
<div class="table1-end"></div>
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