Bonjour and Apple Remote Desktop

[TBD'd]

At work I am constantly told (by my die-hard Windows loving co-workers) that Bonjour sucks! Their main complaint has to do with its supposed use or implementation within the Apple remote Desktop app. Basically they claim that ARD uses bonjour to find other Macs on the network and that its so terrible at doing this. They say that the reason why its so terrible has to do with the fact that when you scan the network using ARD, Macs tend to be listed one moment and then disappear a few minutes later.

I've used ARD for years and although I don't considered myself an expert at explaining its underlying protocols, services and functions, I'm pretty good at administering large numbers of Macs with it. I think you can in fact scan the network in ARD using bonjour, but I thought only if you explicitly choose to scan bonjour (opposed to the local network option). Is that right? These guys claim that regardless of what you choose from that little drop down menu when scanning, you are always scanning with bonjour.

I also was under the impression that computers "disappear" from the list when scanning the network because they have left the network. For example at our business we have almost all Mac laptops that connect to the network via wifi, so if the laptop lid is closed and is not plugged into a power adapter for charging, then the laptop is asleep and has in fact left the network, making its "disappearance" make perfect sense.

Personally I don't think they know what they're talking about, but thought I'd ask those that are more knowledgeable to see if they could provide any insight. Any comments? Does bonjour "suck?" Thanks for the advice.

 

[Rog210]

In my experience, ARD is flakey as hell and needs work. Having said that, in the scanner, you have a bunch of options with which to scan with, Bonjour being one of them. I scan within a network range so I don't end up with our VoIP phones, printers, etc. in the scan.

 

[sevoneone]

RDC does need work, but the part about it always using bonjour is not true. If you do a Network Range Scan, it does indeed ping all the addresses in the range. I know this because Bonjour, like any broadcast service, does not span subnets or VPN connections. At work we have two subnets, if I do a bonjour scan, only macs on the subnet I am on appear. If I do a scan of the full IP range, I see everything.