Can't connect via client app or web, but touch works fine?

Earlier today I stopped the indigo server and shut down the mac mini on which it runs in order to make some changes to the UPS and system power wiring. I did stop the server and quit indigo, and shut down the mac mini appropriately.

After I made my adjustments and brought it back up, I can no longer connect via the client on another mac (on the same network), nor via the web interface, even though Indigo touch on my phone works fine.

The server is running fine. I use the standard ports. I turned off the firewall to see if that would help, but it didn't make a difference.

The only other clues I can offer:

1: the AD2USB Plugin is now malfunctioning as well, even though the AD2Pi is working fine (I connected via its web app, and it is working as it should).

2: Earlier today, before I shut everything down, I installed APC UPS Monitoring program and the associated Indigo plugin. Both were working following install (including when I deliberately unplugged the UPS, though I did have to "update status" to get it to show the evolving data). I did all of that via the second (client) Mac, so I know that up until that point, everything was communicating.

This was the first restart of the Mac after the install of that program.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

OK, I've got this about 2/3 figured out, but my networking ignorance is killing me. By using Fing on my phone, it appears that both the Mac Mini and the AD2USB got new IP addresses when they restarted. Is this normal behavior?

In fact, it appears that the mini has 2 ip addresses now, one for wired ethernet as well as for wifi. Should I even have wifi running if it's wired directly into my network?

So by altering the target ip address in both the Indigo client as well as in the browser web address, I was able to now connect via those methods.

Similarly, by changing the ip address in the AD2USB plugin and restarting the plugin, I now have it working.

But this is a little bit distressing, as it seems that any power outage beyond what the UPS can bridge will break the network connectivity.


So I guess my questions now are:

1) Is there a way to force the Indigo running Mac Mini into a permanent ip address (and is this a good idea)?

2) Should I have wifi running on this machine when it's wired in via ethernet anyway? I feel like I've read somewhere that that can create issues.

3) Same question as #1, but for the AD2PI? That one is perhaps the most important. I can live with changing the target IP addresses on my Indigo client machine now that I see that is the issue, but if the AD2PI disappears, then Indigo no longer has control/reporting over the alarm system until I get into the main machine and reconfigure the plugin to point to a new IP address of the Pi.

Thanks for any insight.

You need to enable DHCP on your router and then fix your Mac Mini and the AD2USB to a fixed IP via their MAC address, then they will always get the same IP when they boot up or the router is reset.
Google "how to enable dhcp on <use your router make /model here>"

CliveS

[jay (support)]

To expand on the response by CliveS, what you'll need to do is to manually assign a DHCP IP address to each of those device's MAC address (the actual hardware address of the network interface). That will ensure that every time one of those devices reboots, DHCP (running on your router) will assign the same IP address every time. Unfortunately, that's about as far as any of us can help since configuring that is totally dependent on how your router works.

For your Mini, another option would be to always use the mini's name (as specified in the Sharing System Preference) rather than the IP since the name should always resolve to the correct IP. If the name in your Sharing preference is "MyMac" then the address will be "MyMac.local". It'll show what the DNS name will be just below the Computer Name edit box.

OK thanks a lot. I'll give that a shot.

Working in IT, I'm going to contradict Clive and Jay.

Although it's possible to set DHCP reservations at the DHCP server (router), my preference is to set the static IP address on the Mac and UPS.

You'll need to change router address pool so it doesn't issue DHCP addresses to full range - by default it probably issues from .2 to .254 - mine is set to issue from .30 to .254 so I've got space for 30 static devices.

They are correct that you should disable wifi if you're hardwired.


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hmmm, OK, thanks.

Clearly I need to do some reading on networking. I already made the change in my router to reserve DHCP "reservations" for these two devices on the network. Sounds like you are saying I should use a different method to make their addresses stable.

Thanks.

If you've already done it (I didn't realise my post was a week late when I replied) then don't panic about changing it.

Both will work but (IMHO) my way is the better solution.

Some devices don't support static IPs, in which case you have to use reservations anyway.


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[jay (support)]

@howartp, I'm curious why you think static vs reserved DHCP is better, particularly on a home network? I've used them here at home for years and have never noticed any issues. It is a bit more management over time (if you switch routers you have to set them all up again), but I kinda like having a list of known devices that's easily accessible and the router is just as good a place as any.

Interesting that this should come up, I just spent some time adding some new devices. I now have 37 IP devices in my house. Thinking back 10 years ago, this number would have been extremely unlikely, even a techie home like mine. It's amazing how these things are proliferating.

I don't think I've ever seen, or certainly noticed, DHCP reservations available on any of the previous 4 routers I've had. I suspect my current one does cos I splashed out on it versus the ones which came with our (UK) broadband contract.

At work we have well over 3000 devices on the network, with about 100-150 of them being static. Only 8 of those are DHCP reservations - which are actually all for 1 device which plugs into 8 different VLANs depending where on site it's used, and therefore regular static isn't appropriate.

When you get say a network switch, printer or photocopier out of the box and read it's instructions, they give you two IP options - DHCP or Static, with static being the recommendation so your IP doesn't change.

How many of them give you, or even mention, the third 'option' of having a reserved static IP address issued by your DHCP server?


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I don't think I've ever seen, or certainly noticed, DHCP reservations available on any of the previous 4 routers I've had. I suspect my current one does cos I splashed out on it versus the ones which came with our (UK) broadband contract.

At work we have well over 3000 devices on the network, with about 100-150 of them being static. Only 8 of those are DHCP reservations - which are actually all for 1 device which plugs into 8 different VLANs depending where on site it's used, and therefore regular static isn't appropriate.

When you get say a network switch, printer or photocopier out of the box and read it's instructions, they give you two IP options - DHCP or Static, with static being the recommendation so your IP doesn't change.

How many of them give you, or even mention, the third 'option' of having a reserved static IP address issued by your DHCP server?

My last several routers (Apple, Netgear, etc.) all do. Here's a pix of the page from my current Netgear router.

[jay (support)]

How many of them give you, or even mention, the third 'option' of having a reserved static IP address issued by your DHCP server?

From the device side it's DHCP - no other option is necessary.

On your router, there's usually an interface (usually as part of the DHCP settings page) that allows you to specify a MAC address and an IP address to always assign to it (better UIs will allow you to select by name if the device publishes some kind of name and/or will allow you to assign a name to a MAC address for easier identification later). So whenever that device asks the DHCP server for an IP address, it always gets the same one. You just always configure your devices to use DHCP and any you want to always have the same IP address you just configure your router to give the same IP every time.

Butting in here as a voice for those who have crappy ISP routers that have to be reset any time the wind picks up:

DHCP reservations are NOT the way to go in this situation, because resetting the router will clear all those. Static IPs will survive this, at least if you set those static IPs up in the high range (xxx.xxx.xxx.100+, say) of the router's default range. Because the router will hand out xxx.xxx.xxx.002, then xxx.xxx.xxx.003, etc. to the devices whose addresses you don't care about.

[jay (support)]

Yes, I make it a practice to always use my own router and cable modem and not rely on the crap that most ISPs provide...

How many of them give you, or even mention, the third 'option' of having a reserved static IP address issued by your DHCP server?

From the device side it's DHCP - no other option is necessary.

I know it's DHCP but if it's an IP device such as printer, which you're connecting to by IP, then it needs to stay the same.

How many printer install guides tell you how to set a DHCP reservation in order to achieve this same-ness? They don't, they tell you to set it static in their setup>network>ip address menu.

Shall we agree to disagree?


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