Big Sur LAN Folder Sharing Issue (M1 iMac)

[dark knight]

Big Sur LAN Folder Sharing Issue (M1 iMac)

I wonder if anyone might be able to help.

Previously, up until Big Sur, we had iMacs sharing files across a LAN (just a switch) with no issues. We simply enabled file sharing on the server machine, specified the folder to be shared, and this appeared across the LAN in Finder windows. You would need to give login details that the server iMac would recognise, and then you would be ‘connected as’ that registered user and details were stored in keychain.

Though, the shared location does not automatically mount at login, which causes some programs to fail to find files and even Finder throws up the occasional ‘resolving alias’ notification. And so, in order to automatically mount this shared folder at login, we would place an alias for it in the dock, and that worked really well for many years.


In Big Sur:
1) when you connect to the shared folder with registered user details, it accepts them, though, shows you connected as the full iCloud account email address of the registered user, rather than simply ‘registered user’. This seems odd but may not really be an issue. I wonder if this difference may in some way related to Big Sur dropping AFP support. Perhaps this is how sharing now looks and works now, presumably based on SMB.

2) Although there is an alias to the shared folder in the dock, it doesn’t always automatically mount at login. I think it must be failing in its attempt to mount. If you click on the alias of the shared folder in the dock, it will usually connect. Occasionally we may need to fix the alias. You always seem to be able to manually navigate to the shared folder in Finder, it just seems to be the aliases that get broken.


I am really not sure why things have become so unreliable in Big Sur and why we seem to be connected via a full iCloud email address and not just as a local user.

I did kind of wonder if the issue relates to the switch dynamically assigning IP addresses, though, we don’t specify the shared locations as IP addresses, just the names of the machines, and so I thought macOS discovered the IP addresses itself.

All copies of macOS are fresh installs and up to date. The server and most of the workstations are M1 iMacs. Though, we do have one Intel iMac workstation still on Catalina and that too is facing ‘resolving alias’ issues, trying to connect to the Big Sur server.

Does anyone have any ideas for a way to setup this shared folder more reliably?

Thank you so much ~

 

[tonmischa]

To auto-mount a shared folder at log-in, go to Settings --> User --> Log-in Items and add the shared folder.

 

[dark knight]

oh, thank you tonmischa. I didn't know that. That seems neater than an alias in the dock.

 

[dark knight]

sorry, I am still trying to mend the unreliable aliases to shared folders... just thinking…

Navigating to the shared folder in Finder always works and then it is mounted, though, unless you do this, it often remains unmounted. And, after a period of time, enough to cause the screen to sleep, the shared folder may unmount.

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Not this: Login Items
Adding an alias to the shared folder to the dock worked for many years to mount the network folder at login, though, the dock alias now often remains unmounted until accessed. I added the shared folder to the login items list. Though, just as with the alias in the dock, it doesn’t always mount at login or stay mounted once it does.
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Not this: Bonjour Name Issue
I found that, in System Preferences | Sharing, the server iMac’s bonjour name had become “Computer-Name-122”. It seems that some kind of conflict repeatedly creates a name change. I wondered if this issue could also be causing the network issues.

I was searching for information and found lots of threads about the bonjour name issue, and that it is most often caused by multiple network connections, Wifi + Ethernet. I disabled the Wifi and reset the bonjour name. The bonjour name seems to be stable now. Nothing else seems different.
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Not this: Energy Saver
I wondered if it could be energy saver related, on the server iMac. Could the the server be going to sleep and then be slow to wake on access (creating a ‘resolving alias….’ kind of issue) but then is awake by them time you try to manually navigate to the shared folder. I have checked ‘prevent computer from sleeping when display is off’ and unchecked ‘put hard disks to sleep when possible’ on all machines. There is no change.
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Maybe: Connect as
I am still wondering why, when you connected as a registered user, Big Sur shows you connected as ‘full iCloud email address’. Could this be just a visual difference or a deeper change, using iCloud authentication?
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I am wondering if sharing this folder using iCloud Drive may be a solution, which would also give access to remote users more easily. I am just worried that it may not really be reliable enough for office use. I think it was the Big Sur 11.5 update that randomly enabled iCloud Drive for desktop items, causing a large upload to begin. Most of the files are Microsoft Office documents, though, I haven’t even found OneDrive to work that smoothly with them, maybe I should not risk iCloud Drive for everything… The LAN feels like a better idea if only it would stay connected ^^