Can't browse certain websites
I have seen my problem and its solution appear on this list before but I
can't find it in the archives. Maybe someone who remembers can refer me
to the thread I vaguely remember.
I have a complex home LAN setup that is gatewayed to the internet by a
Sarge IP Masquerading box. Most of my machines see the web just fine,
but an OS X Mac that is connected via IP over FireWire routed through
another OS X Mac using Apple's Internet Sharing can see some websites
but not others. DNS works fine, no error is given, the browser just
sits there waiting with no response.
One problem site is http://www.apple.com/ as well as the site that
Apple's Software Update program queries for newly released software
version numbers. I have no problem browsing a bunch of sites that I
know use Apache on Linux. There are other problem sites, but there
doesn't seem to be any pattern to them.
I remember reading that the problem was that some sites use a networking
feature, perhaps an option bit in their IP packet headers, that cause
packets sent by affected Linux boxes to be dropped. The solution was to
adjust the networking options on the Linux box, perhaps with ifconfig.
I don't know whether the problem is with the network configuration on
one of my OS X Macs or whether it is caused by my Sarge box forwarding
packets that have already been through a router.
Responses I've received from Apple's lists and what I've found with
Google indicate that most succeed with both OS X' IP over FireWire and
its Internet Sharing. An Apple networking engineer offerred to help me
diagnose it in case it's an OS X bug.
If you want ifconfig, netstat or routing table details I will post them,
but if anyone can dig up the previous solution I vaguely remember I will
try that first.
My LAN uses the reserved (private) network number 192.168.0.0 and a
netmask of 255.255.255.0. That means that the subnet number is this
part: xxx.xxx.SSS.xxx and the host part is xxx.xxx.xxx.HHH. My ethernet
has a subnet number of 1 and the firewire subnet is 2. The routers each
have a host number of 1 on the networks they route away from.
OS X Laptop OS X Desktop
192.168.2.2 - FireWire - 192.168.2.1 Sarge Box
192.168.1.3 - Ethernet - 192.168.1.1
24.x.x.x - Internet
There is one other box on the ethernet at 192.168.1.2. All the ethernet
interfaces have 192.168.1.1 as their default gateway. The Sarge box has
a static route giving 192.168.1.3 as the router for subnet 2, so all the
machines can access either of the FireWire interfaces.
If I can't get this to work I'll put a FireWire card in my Sarge box and
try Linux' IP over FireWire.
The Sarge box is also a Mac, an old 8500 running kernel 2.4.22 for
PowerPC. I will update the kernel if you think it would help but I
haven't yet because most things work well.
I'm using IP over FireWire because my iBook's ethernet connector is
broken and my Apple dealer says repair requires a new motherboard. I
plan to get wireless but don't want to spend the money yet. Someday
I'll get adventurous and open up the iBook to solder the ethernet
myself, as I'm pretty sure it's just a broken wire, but for now I don't
want to risk hosing the machine.
Thanks for your help,
Michael D. Crawford
crawford@goingware.com
Read "GoingWare's Bag of Programming Tricks" at:
http://www.goingware.com/tips/
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