Cannot see ANYTHING on network.

[elf69]

Please can someone help.

my 2010 MacBook at work cannot see anything on network!
I got the file server working by manually inputting the IP address and login details.

I need the printer but it is not seen under printers in preferences.

other network machines also not seen.

I had similar issues with my macbook air I was using the other week for work.
I am now using this macbook for work and not my air.

thanks for any help guys

 

[IHelpId10t5]

You likely need to talk to your network administrator to bind your mac to the network's directory services (for example AD). Without doing so, your Mac has no way to lookup other host's names and services.

A corporate network is nothing like a home network. On a small, unmanaged home network, your mac can use bonjour or zero config networking to simply "discover" other devices, their names, and what services they provide (like printers). In a corporate network, a server typically provides directory services, and a print server typically handles all printers instead. And, only those computers that have authenticated to a directory server can use them. In addition, many work networks use IP subnetting and VLANs to purposely segregate the network. Bonjour discovery does not work across routers and therefore your Mac is not going to discover anything, by design.

Lastly, just plugging any home laptop into your work network is almost certainly a major security issue that may get you into hot water so be careful.

 

[elf69]

Thank you for that.

Our network is massive here.
It spans 3 floors and 2 buildings (these have been knocked into one)

so we have several wifi routers to give full coverage.
We do plug in lots of computers in our repair workshop so plugging in random machines is fine.

We do have different IPs ranges for equipment.
one range for IP phones, one for printers, etc
And we have a DNS server so all our routers etc have DNS off and the server hands out DNS.

our printers are networked with static IPs.

I joined one of the many wifi networks we have here and can now see most of our network.
Still only see the file server via manual input of IP (10.0.0.1)

I asked the boss to look at my mac as he set up the mess of a network (he keeps adding to network and some patch panels look like a rats nest!) and he not sure why it not working, so no hope for me work it out!

 

[DJLC]

Indeed — it sounds likely that your router isn't forwarding Bonjour traffic across subnets, which is typical in an enterprise network. Therefore, your Mac can only show you Bonjour services in the subnet you're connected to. It sounds like your printers, servers, and IP phones are on different subnets; ergo, you wouldn't see those automatically from your Mac.

Solutions: add printers and connect to file servers using the IP address or see if the router will support Bonjour or mDNS forwarding between subnets. Some do, some don't. Keep in mind this forwarding, if supported, may result in performance degradations elsewhere.

If it's an Active Directory / Windows environment, you may see some printers and file servers based on what's in Active Directory if your Mac is bound to the domain. But in my experience this is hit or miss.

In my environment: I use macOS as a centralized print server. It has interfaces on all 3 of our subnets: management (where printers live) + one for each building. That then advertises its shared printers on the management subnet to the other two subnets. A little hacky, but it works! macOS then looks to Active Directory for user authentication, permissions, etc.

 

[elf69]

not follow the last bit but rest makes sence.

my boss just keeps adding to network and making a big mess.
even my engineers machine can see printer but not file server!

right mess!

my boss is actually a trained network engineer, well he was in 70s/80s anyway!