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I'm trying to connect Ethernet from my Mac-Mini to devices on an unmanaged switch (Brainboxes SW-504). It's not working.

The Mac connects via wifi to a linksys router serving network addresses 192.168.2.0 255.255.255.0 with DHCP. This is working.

I've set the ethernet configuration to manual and assigned its address to be 192.168.1.120 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0 in order to create a separate class C subnet.

There is no router on the 192.168.1 subnet -- just 3 devices (2 raspberry pi's and a custom board). The three devices have hard addresses at 192.168.1.121, 192.168.1.122 and 192.168.123. All three are communicating with each other via ethernet cables plugged to the switch.

For development and debugging, I need to connect the Mac to these devices but have thus far been unsuccessful at finding a configuration that works. I can't even ping them.

Here's what ifconfig says about the ethernet (en0) and wifi (en1) interfaces:

en0: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=10b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,AV>
    ether a8:20:66:4a:d5:5a
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
    media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control>)
    status: active
en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 88:53:95:2c:9a:0d
    inet6 fe80::1085:342e:6382:e6b4%en1 prefixlen 64 secured scopeid 0x8
    inet 192.168.2.103 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
    media: autoselect
    status: active

Note that the assigned ip for en0 is not appearing in the above. The GUI network setup is showing it as intended and indicates no error.

Running networksetup -getinfo Ethernet gives:

Manual Configuration
IP address: 192.168.1.120
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: (null)
IPv6: Manual
IPv6 IP address:
IPv6 Router: none
IPv6 Prefix Length: 0
Ethernet Address: a8:20:66:4a:d5:5a

Running netstat -rn gives:

Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expire
default            192.168.2.1        UGSc           66       49     en1
default            link#13            UCSI            0        0 bridge0      !
default            link#15            UCSI            0        0 bridge1      !
127                127.0.0.1          UCS             0        0     lo0
127.0.0.1          127.0.0.1          UH              1     7877     lo0
169.254            link#8             UCS             1        0     en1      !
192.168.2          link#8             UCS             3        0     en1      !
192.168.2.1/32     link#8             UCS             1        0     en1      !
192.168.2.1        14:91:82:71:2f:e2  UHLWIir        28      199     en1   1153
192.168.2.81       74:40:bb:19:9d:a5  UHLWI           0      327     en1    996
192.168.2.103/32   link#8             UCS             0        0     en1      !
192.168.2.183      f4:f5:d8:ca:f5:18  UHLWIi          1      919     en1   1190
192.168.2.251      88:1f:a1:16:8e:a4  UHLWI           0        0     en1    285
192.168.3          link#15            UC              1        0 bridge1      !
192.168.4          link#13            UC              1        0 bridge0      !
224.0.0/4          link#8             UmCS            2        0     en1      !
224.0.0.251        1:0:5e:0:0:fb      UHmLWI          0        0     en1
239.255.255.250    1:0:5e:7f:ff:fa    UHmLWI          0      408     en1
255.255.255.255/32 link#8             UCS             1        0     en1      !
255.255.255.255    ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff  UHLWbI          0        6     en1      !

EDIT: Some progress ...

Following @pToker's suggestion to try setting a temporary route with ifconfig I've arrived at a tolerable but still imperfect configuration:

  1. With the GUI, Set a permanent manual address (192.168.2.2) for Wi-Fi and reserve that address on my router.
  2. With the GUI, Set a permanent manual address (192.168.1.120) for Ethernet.
  3. After startup, run sudo ifconfig en0 inet 192.168.1.120 netmask 255.255.255.0

I'd love understand how to make it all work from the Network Preferences GUI (or why it's not possible if that's the case).

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  • As it's for testing, put the 4 device in a /16 class inside your normal LAN ?
    – yagmoth555
    Jul 3, 2019 at 20:04
  • @yagmoth555 Alas, that's how I got into this pickle. For reasons unknown, connecting through my router is making it go bananas (as in overheating and becoming unable to serve other devices on the LAN). I spent an hour on the phone with Linksys tech support to no avail.
    – Mike Ellis
    Jul 3, 2019 at 20:16
  • Why the need to be static in 192.168.1.x ? As if a simple problem with the MAC-Mini, your question could be moved to SuperUser to have better chance to find an answer
    – yagmoth555
    Jul 3, 2019 at 20:18
  • 1
    The devices on the switch have static IP's and should not have internet access. It's a customer requirement. BTW, what's SU? I'm familiar with SO, of course, but that's strictly for programming questions.
    – Mike Ellis
    Jul 3, 2019 at 20:23
  • Gotcha. Is there a way I can move the question or does someone with greater privilege need to do that?
    – Mike Ellis
    Jul 3, 2019 at 20:26

1 Answer 1

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Does the Switch come with LEDs? Are the LED at the port, where the Mac Mini is connected green (left) and blinking green (right)?

Have you tried setting the configuration you have set through the graphical network manager through the ifconfig command (temporary) as well?

ifconfig en0 192.168.1.44 netmask 255.255.255.0

Does netstat -i show the link or not? I currently don't have a mac available to check this, but what you want to do should surely be possible.

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  • en0 shows as UP and RUNNING, and has an autoselected medium and status active, so I'd assume the switch port is responding and the LED (if there is any) is lit... the issues is the missing IP address.
    – dirkt
    Jul 4, 2019 at 6:23
  • @pToker Thanks for the suggestion to try setting with ifconfig. That's led me to a situation that's a least workable. I'll describe it in an edit to my question in a few moments.
    – Mike Ellis
    Jul 4, 2019 at 14:19

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