bonjour names on multiple network interfaces

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Level 1

113 points

bonjour names on multiple network interfaces

Hi at all,

my mac stands in the basement and work as a server - i using ethernet, with structured cabling with WLAN access point on each floor. In the first floor are the kitchen and living room where we use ipads and iphones, connected over to the network over airport express WLAN access points. I've learned that itunes WLAN-Sync just work, if the mac and the iphones are in the same WLAN-Network.

For this function i tried to use the mac WLAN-interface. The WLAN field strenght throught the ceiling is strong enough for that. But - it seems to me, i've got problems with bonjour names. Then i switch on the WLAN interface, any later i got a message like "mac.local is in use, take mac-1.local" - may "mac-1.local" is now used for the WLAN-interface. I'm confused because that is my opinion or idea, but i can't check that - and sometimes connections lost.

Can i define each bonjour name for each network interface - and what will happend with itunes, connected through different bonjour names ...

pls help

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 5:26 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Black September

Level 1

40 points

Oct 1, 2012 3:39 PM in response to ichoderso

The names you see

- mac.local

- mac-1.local

looks like hostnames and not bonjour names.

As i understand it you

- have a mac mini with two NIC´s (Network Interface Card)

- both o which are connected to the same subnet

This would mean that the hostname of your mac mini, mac.local, is causing a conflict on your network,

this conflict results in one of the NIC´s to take another name than "mac.local". The usual behaviour here is to

add a number at the end of the hostname - "mac-1.local"

Example:

192.168.1.120 <---- ethernet --[ MacMini ]-- wifi ----> 192.168.1.121

The mac mini is called "mac.local", since both NIC´s are connected to the same subnet (192.168.1.x), it may lead to other unexpected behavior.

You could try this as a possible work around:

Set up second router between your ethernet NIC and the original subnet, and open the ports you need for the services you need to access on that sepciffic NIC

192.168.1.120 <----[ router ] 10.0.1.12 <---- ethernet --[ MacMini ]-- wifi ----> 192.168.1.121

Please tell me if i have misunderstood the problem and i will try to provide you with a better solution

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Answer 2

Oct 1, 2012 11:45 PM in response to ichoderso

Glad i could help you out.

Thanks for marking this as solved 🙂

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Answer 3

ichoderso Author

Level 1

113 points

Oct 1, 2012 11:46 PM in response to Black September

Many thanks,

now i see my misunderstanding. I though, "xxx.local" is a special bonjour protocol definition.

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Answer 4

Oct 1, 2012 11:58 PM in response to ichoderso

Yes, you are correct about this.

The Multicast DNS feature of Bonjour technology allows devices on a local network to connect to each other by name without a separate DNS server, this adds the ".local" to the end of the hostname.

A really nice feature about this is if a host suddenly looses its IP, and gets a self-assigned IP instead, it can still be reached by its bonjour name.

Still, if connecting two NIC´s from the same host to the same subnet, you will get the issue you described here.

Had the same issue a while back, took me a lot of googeling to figure out why it kept renaming my host 😝

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Answer 5

ichoderso Author

Level 1

113 points

Oct 2, 2012 12:48 AM in response to Black September

I remember, if i use the same subnet (in my case for LAN and WLAN) , i have to define a hostname for each NIC.

example: 192.168.1.1 eth0 hostname: mac.local and 192.168.1.2 wlan0 hostname: mac-1.local

I have to editing the /etc/hostnames by hand ?

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Answer 6

Oct 2, 2012 1:02 AM in response to ichoderso

If you connect multiple NIC´s to the same subnet, it will automatically rename one of them to *-1.local

I know its possible to edit the /etc/hostname.[ interface name ] in *NIX like platforms.

Even if Mac OS X is a *NIX like platform i have seen, more than once, that Apple has applied their own special touches and one of this is the abcence of /etc/hostname.

Sorry to say; i have no idea if you could edit any system files in Mac OS X to solve that.

I think that topic would be something that you could get answered in the the OS X server forum maybey?

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Answer 7

ichoderso Author

Level 1

113 points

Oct 2, 2012 1:29 AM in response to Black September

thanks again for your time.

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