Network hard disk stuff again

[ffutures]

I've been asked for more details - since I don't think the network disk is accessible from outside I might as well post them for everyone:



It's a no-name network hard disk housing, containing a 350gb hard disk
Host name = "Hermione"
Group name = "Aeronef"

IP - 192.168.0.6
Subnet - 255.255.255.0
Gateway - 192.168.0.1
Primary DNS - 192.168.0.1
DHCPS - Auto
IP pool starting IP - 2
IP pool ending IP - 253

The network status thingy in the iBook says

configure IPv4 using DHCP
IP Address: 192.168.0.101
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.0.1

I've tried running network diagnostics but it says everything's OK.



To reiterate, I can connect to the internet and to a network printer, and my other computers can connect to Hermione, but suddenly the iBook can't.

Any suggestions?

Comments

[turol.livejournal.com]

> It's possible the gateway would transparently proxy any DNS requests to
> whatever DNS server its ISP has set it up with but if it isn't doing that
> then when/if the network HD tries to resolve a domain name then it will
> fail.

Well since he's posting here it presumably works...

[nojay.livejournal.com]

That's the iBook he's using to post, I think. The network HD has a DNS server address setting which means it, for some reason, might want to resolve domain names and needs to know the address where it can find a DNS server. At the moment it's pointing to the gateway, not a real DNS server. That's what is puzzling me.

Thinking about this the DNS thing is probably not what is causing the problem of the iBook not seeing the HD or vice-versa, it just caught my eye and it's easy to fix, just set the DNS value in the HD's control panel to point to a real server on the WAN.

I suspect the HD can't see the iBook, possibly because its DHCP server thinks it issued an IP address to the iBook (something like 192.168.0.3) and it didn't in fact do this as something else had previously issued the address 192.168.0.101. Having more than one DHCP server on a LAN segment is usually OK but badly-written and insufficiently-tested firmware can screw up in this regard if more than one DHCP server thinks it is definitive.

I assume the iBook and the HD are plugged into the network switch which is usually part of the ADSL/cable modem? Another classic fail is when the switch's routing table messes up and prevents access to some address or other. A hard power/cycling reset of the router usually fixes that problem (until the next time it happens).

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

No, I'm using wifi for the ibook. I've tried resetting it, doesn't seem to help. I've just tried a wired connection instead, that also works fine for the internet and printing, but not for the network hard disk.