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Understanding How IP Addressing Functions
When using the Internet, you may be assigned a Public IPv4 address such as 23.223.96.127 or an IPv6 address like 2000:6d24:ebaf:5281:5dc0:f6df:e110:8cd6. Verifying this is possible at https://test-ipv6.com/. However, conveying these addresses, or even referencing MAC addresses like 79:ef:68:64:90:03, can be error-prone and quickly become complex—particularly for individuals who are not well-versed in technology. Furthermore, this information does not provide any historical context, particularly when attempting to address past issues.
Navigating the Internet
To access a webpage like https://rodriguez.co, the first step is to connect to a DNS server, which then translates the host portion (rodriguez) combined with the Top Level Domain (co) of the URL into an IP address, such as 52.158.7.23. Notably, all web requests from your computer and browser include information about its type, for instance: Opera/9.80 (X11; Linux i686; Ubuntu/14.10) Presto/2.12.388 Version/12.16
Understanding the Significance of Default Gateways
Typically, your default gateway is an address that is automatically configured through DHCP. This default gateway could be in the form of 172.24.71.49 (although these addresses typically end in .1 or .254, depending on the scope size). This is the point to which your computer directs all of its traffic for further routing. For IPv6, an in-depth explanation is available on how-to-fix-ipv6-connectivity/, but this information can also be verified on Mac or Linux machines with:
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 172.24.71.49 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:cbab:f285:41be:b698%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): {97.119.90.188, 220.106.32.169}
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 79:ef:68:64:90:03
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 b6:df:de:5c:60:41
}
Resolving Connectivity Issues for Wired and Wireless Networks
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.
Tips for Troubleshooting on Apple macOS / OSX
Regardless of whether you are using OSX/macOS versions such as 10.11.9, 11.6.2, or 12.2.7, there are various tools available for troubleshooting. However, these tools and manual actions do not provide a series of correlated values over time. This is where automated remote troubleshooting becomes valuable, particularly for teams engaged in remote work and Work From Anywhere (WFA) setups.
Harnessing the Power of Built-in Scripts
One useful tool on OSX/macOs is the sudo wdutil info command, which provides a dump of current wireless settings to the CLI and can also be configured to generate specific logs for troubleshooting. Additionally, the sysdiagnose tool offers a more comprehensive approach, generating a wide range of logs (although many of them are point-in-time in relation to wireless, similar to wdutil).
To run the sysdiagnose tool 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 the command sudo /usr/bin/sysdiagnose, which will provide a privacy warning. When running it interactively, the Finder should open in the correct location, or you can navigate to /var/tmp manually or by using the Finder shortcut Cmd+Shift+G. Keep in mind that the file sizes will be approximately 300MB.
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