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Can two network adapters work in different IP protocols simultaneously?

Networking experts: Why won't this device pull an IP address?

  • I'm following-up on http://ask.metafilter.com/272477/Cheapest-way-to-stream-audio-over-a-wired-LAN that I posted in December. I now have two http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005Y1DCXM/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ speakers that I want to use at work. The problem is that when I connect them to the LAN, they don't pull an IP address. The speakers work fine when I use them with a consumer-grade wireless router. They get IP addresses whether I connect them with a wired connection or join them to the wireless network. But it's a different story when I try to use the speakers at work. They can't seem to get an IP address from the DHCP server on our domain controller (running Windows Server 2012). I've tried wiring-in the speakers directly to a data port, and I've tried connecting them to a wireless access point. Nothing happens – no IP address is assigned. This is the first time I've encountered this problem. There is no security feature on the LAN that should prevent a device from being assigned a dynamic IP. Everything else I've ever connected – laptops, printers, wireless access points, HVAC controllers, etc. – has pulled an IP with no problem. Why not the iW2 speakers? I spoke with tech support at iHome yesterday. They were not helpful in the least. The technician just kept telling me that the speakers are not intended for enterprise environments, but he wouldn't (or couldn't) address the specific issue I was raising. I asked for a different technician, but they told me that he was the only one assigned to that device. Any insights about this? I hope I can somehow still get the speakers to work, as they'd be very convenient for the intended use.

  • Answer:

    Yes. Wireshark would be appropriate. I'd start with logs from the DHCP service, the switch, and the AP. It will take less effort, and may show what the problem is right up front.

alex1965 at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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Did you actually end up buying twenty of them as in the previous question and none of them work? Just to try the obvious, the DHCP server wouldn't have run out of address space in the range it's assigning or anything like that? And it's not something like an IPv4 versus IPv6 mismatch?

XMLicious

No, I bought two of them to test. The DHCP server definitely has addresses available in the pool. An IPv4 vs. 6 mismatch seems unlikely, though I'm not quite sure how I would test for that.

alex1965

I've tried wiring-in the speakers directly to a data port, and I've tried connecting them to a wireless access point. Nothing happens – no IP address is assigned.The authoritative way is to sniff the connections and watch the BOOTP/DHCP request/response. That will show the problem, or eliminate possibilities. I'd check the DHCP server logs, then the AP/switch configuration. How are you verifying that the speakers don't have an IP address?

graftole

graftole: Would Wireshark be the tool for sniffing the connection? I haven't used it before, but this might be the perfect opportunity to learn it. The speakers can be directly connected (via a USB cable) to an iPhone. There is an iHome app that tells you some information about the status of the speaker and also allows you to join it to a specific wireless network.

alex1965

Does your DHCP server only allow whitelisted MAC addresses or ranges?

tomierna

You say at work -- is your IT department using MAC address filtering on the network? The symptoms seem to line up. EDIT: What tomierna said.

drfu

The IT department? C’est moi. There is no MAC address filtering or anything else that would restrict a device from getting a dynamic IP address.

alex1965

Some routers allow you to assign a static IP address to a MAC address - can you get the MAC/s for the speaker/s and manually assign an IP via your router web-interface based on that?

quinndexter

If you can turn up the verbosity of the DHCP server's log, as graftole says, that's a good place to start. When that doesn't turn anything up, Wireshark will be the next tool, but you'll need to either plug your machine and the device into a hub or clone the port you plug it into on the switch so you can see the traffic.

tomierna

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