thunderbolt connectivity

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thunderbolt connectivity

Here is my situation: I have two 2014 MacPros and a thunderbolt cable between them. Mac A has a java program that accesses a database running on Mac B. Each Mac has an IP address. Currently, when Mac A needs to access Mac B, the request goes out over ethernet (within the same network). So far so good. What I want to do is use the thunderbolt connection as it is significantly faster than the ethernet connection.

My question is how to set this up using the thunderbolt bridge. What should the thunderbolt (static) IP be for Mac A and Mac B so they recognize each other? Can a Mac have the same IP for both ethernet and thunderbolt? And, most importantly, how should Mac A be configured so that the thunderbolt bridge is used by default to communicate with Mac B? Please bear in mind that both Mac A and Mac B must also be internet accessible.

Thank you in advance for any insight you can offer.

Posted on Mar 23, 2015 4:09 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

etresoft

Level 8

46,330 points

Mar 23, 2015 5:12 PM in response to SoftBreeze

You will need different IP addresses for Thunderbolt and Ethernet. The Thunderbolt IPs should be static and on a different subnet. The standard local subnets are 192.168.n.n and 10.0.n.n. Just look at whatever your current Ethernet is using and use the other one for the Thunderbolt. I am glossing over some technical details just to make the networks easy to differentiate. I expect you will have a harder time changing the interface and IP address of the database and Java software.

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Answer 2

Camelot

Level 9

54,333 points

Mar 23, 2015 5:49 PM in response to SoftBreeze

To elaborate on Etre's answer, once the IP addresses are configured, the routing (Thunderbolt vs. Ethernet) is pretty straightforward.

Assume that you setup the two machines as:

Mac A

Ethernet: 192.169.1.1

Thunderbolt: 10.0.1.1

Mac B

Ethernet: 192.168.1.2

Thunderbolt: 10.0.1.2

Now if Mac A is the client trying to talk to Mac B, you just configure the software to connect to Mac B's IP address... if you specify the 192.168.1.2 address then the OS will go via Ethernet, since that subnet is assigned to that interface. To use the Thunderbolt connection, just point to the 10.0.1.2 address - the OS will recognize the 10.0.1.x network as being on the Thunderbolt interface and send the packets accordingly.

Note that the Thunderbolt interface should not have a router/gateway address configured - that way the OS will only use it for point-to-point/peer traffic, and won't try to route other (e.g. internet) traffic over the same link, since that likely needs to go over Ethernet to your router.

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Answer 3

SoftBreeze Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 23, 2015 5:51 PM in response to etresoft

Thank you for the assistance. Let me see if I have this right:

Mac A (source) Ethernet: 192.168.1.100

Thunderbolt: 10.10.1.100

Mac B (target) Ethernet: 192.168.1.200

Thunderbolt: 10.10.1.200

Java on Mac A points to 10.10.1.200 to link to the database on Mac B via thunderbolt.

Did I understand you correctly? Are there any other issues I need to be aware of?

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Answer 4

etresoft

Level 8

46,330 points

Mar 23, 2015 6:04 PM in response to SoftBreeze

That looks good.

The other issues are whatever your current IP assignments are, which I don't know. The current values could be opposite. Don't change what you have, just use different IPs for the Thunderbolt.

Also, you will have to configure the server software to bind to the new IP address. It may just bind to all addresses if you're lucky. I don't know what it is so I can't say.

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