Leave wifi on or off when connected to LAN?

[gpspad]

I shave a mac mini connected to LAN, should I shut off the wireless network on the mac?

If I shut it off all the macs complain they can't use location data, I think it also effects "find my mac". But it seems like I should shut it off as there are connected with ethernet.

 

[talmy]

I have complained to Apple that it should be possible to turn WiFi off and use the last known WiFi location. Needing WiFi on all the time for this on a desktop computer connected via Ethernet doesn't make sense.

I keep my Wifi on for location data on the computers where I use Safari. I don't have Wifi on for computers that don't need location data. Unless you expect your Macs to grow legs and walk away, there's not too much reason to be concerned about Find My Mac. For theft concerns, keep a record of serial numbers, engrave your Macs with your drivers license number (best for police recovery), and turn on File Vault.

 

[gpspad]

Thanks for the reply, I saw one of your posts about your mini server. Your page motivated to me to dust the mini off and get a server started, great info on that page. i doubt Ill ever figure out half the stuff you did to it.

I was considering using file vault, but read that I wouldn't be able use the public user directories that still seem to come in real handy, and I setup up my mini to start up a user w/o admin privileges it runs iTunes and printopia (still trying it) to run AirPrint on an old printer.

If the power goes off it starts back up and runs these to programs, I think I'd loosen that with file vault.

 

[talmy]

Actually not a problem with "File Vault II" once logged in, just the old original. But there is a problem if you want/need the computer to automatically log in on boot or even just boot up -- you can't do that with File Vault because you must enter a user name and password to unlock the drive to boot it. I solved the problem by having a boot partition without file vault that has no personal information on it, and a second partition protected by File Vault. In your case just have the public folders on a non-protected partition. After all, they are public!

 

[belvdr]

Leave the WiFi on and order the connections in Network Settings so the Ethernet port is above WiFi.

 

[talmy]

Leave the WiFi on and order the connections in Network Settings so the Ethernet port is above WiFi.

Good point I forgot about. You don't want the traffic to go over the WiFi!

 

[techwarrior]

Good point I forgot about. You don't want the traffic to go over the WiFi!

I found I was unable to connect with Apple Mail on my work Mini when I had Wi-Fi prioritized below below Ethernet on the priority list. So, I simply disable Wi-Fi temporarily if I need the bandwidth, otherwise most of the traffic goes over Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi is needed for handoff\continuity and I have Apple Watch, iPhone etc that use these handoff features.

 

[belvdr]

I found I was unable to connect with Apple Mail on my work Mini when I had Wi-Fi prioritized below below Ethernet on the priority list. So, I simply disable Wi-Fi temporarily if I need the bandwidth, otherwise most of the traffic goes over Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi is needed for handoff\continuity and I have Apple Watch, iPhone etc that use these handoff features.

That's interesting. I've always left them all enabled and ordered.

 

[talmy]

I found I was unable to connect with Apple Mail on my work Mini when I had Wi-Fi prioritized below below Ethernet on the priority list. So, I simply disable Wi-Fi temporarily if I need the bandwidth, otherwise most of the traffic goes over Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi is needed for handoff\continuity and I have Apple Watch, iPhone etc that use these handoff features.

If your situation is anything like what I had at work, Ethernet was connected to the corporate network while WiFi was on the "guest" network. The corporate network blocked many services that I could get as a "guest". I never tried connecting to both networks at once but would switch Network locations to go between the two. Easy to do from the Locations item that appears in the  menu when you have more than one location defined.

 

[belvdr]

If your situation is anything like what I had at work, Ethernet was connected to the corporate network while WiFi was on the "guest" network. The corporate network blocked many services that I could get as a "guest". I never tried connecting to both networks at once but would switch Network locations to go between the two. Easy to do from the Locations item that appears in the  menu when you have more than one location defined.

That's a good point I hadn't thought of. My WiFi and Ethernet are on the same subnet.

 

[techwarrior]

If your situation is anything like what I had at work, Ethernet was connected to the corporate network while WiFi was on the "guest" network.

Nope, my subnets for Eth and Wi-Fi are both behind the corporate Proxy, the Wi-Fi is in a segment that my department manages, but everything comes in and out of the public domain through the same pipes.
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That's interesting. I've always left them all enabled and ordered.

All my other Macs, including other Mini's at work are ok with Ethernet before Wi-Fi. It may have something to do with inherited settings. This Mac is a heritage from Time Machines backups of 3 or 4 previous Macs. It has too many valuable things on it to start over.

 

[gpspad]

Thanks for the good info, a lot of this is starting to click now.

I forgot about handoff, I really like handoff. My server is near my desktop mac. Might make sense to shut it off for the server, and leave it on for the desktop.

Nice trick about the public folder and file vault. I would have to make a small partrition on the macs for that, not a big deal. I can't seem to find the "staff" user group when I set the permissions, another thing to figure out.