#1007 How to set local subnet or preferred subnet on Mac OS

[Dale]

Version 5.8.8 on Mac running version 14.1.2 "Sonoma" (latest OS). Local LAN gives Mac a 10.1.1.53 address based on its MAC address. Using a VPN to conect to another network which as a software defined radio which broadcasts its IP address. Using SmartEther VPN software which supports layer 2 broadcasts.

The Mac sees the broadcasts coming across VPN from the radio so is able to find its IP. BeeBEEP does not seem to be finding the local subnet as anything other than 10.1.1.X. The VPN is getting connectd to 192.168.10.X subnet.

BeeBEEP is installed in the Applicaitons directory on the Mac. I created a "beebeep.rc" file in my home directory with contents:
[BeeBEEP]
PreferredSubnets="192.168.10.255"

The Settings -> Network display shows my IP as 10.1.1.53. The Settings -> Network -> Configure Network screen shows my local subnet address as "10,1,1.255". I canot change this. The drop down for "Preferred Subnet" will either show "nobe" or "10.1.1.255",

I need to know how to get local subet or preferred subnet to be 192.168.10,255,

[Dale]

I found that BeeBEEP is checking the /Applications/BeeBEEP.app/Contents/Resources directory on a Mac, I create a beebeep.rc and a beehosts.ini file in this directory.

beebeep,rc contents:
[BeeBEEP]
PreferredSubnets="192.168.10.255"

beehosts.ini contents:
192.168.10.255

The beebeep.log file (attached) seems to be reading the start up informaiton I provided but I still show my local subnet as 10.1.1.255 and do not have the option of choosing the 192.168.10.255 subnet. The log file also shows a warning which seems relevant but I do not know exactly what it means:
Checking preferred subnet from RC: "192.168.10.255"
No network entry found with forced subnet: 192.168.10.255

My guess is that something about the VPN configuration on the Mac is not making the Mac aware of this net even though it definitely sees broadcasts coming from a device on that network. I am able to ping deices on the 192,168.10.X network so I can reach these addresses from my Mac when the VPN is active.
I do see a 192 address in ifconfig output when the VPN is acitve, although the pointer to 1.0.0.1 is a mystery. That does not seem to make sense.
dale@dale-air /Library % ifconfig | grep 192
inet 192.168.10.175 --> 1.0.0.1 netmask 0xffffff00

[Marco Mastroddi]

Happy new year!
In the next days I will answer in a better eay... for now, you must to be sure that BeeBEEP starts after the VPN is connected.
Otherwise do not use beebeep.rc but only hosts with the line
192.168.10.255
BeeBEEP will search users in that subnet.

[Dale]

The log file makes me think that it is seeing the preferred subnet request but the "network configure" step only allows me to choose a preferred subnet of "none" or "10.1.1.255". I cannot get it to allow a value of 192.168.10.255 as a preferred subnet.

I did a lot of testing with someone running a Windows version and me running the Mac version What we found is that if this other person entered my 192.168.10.X VPN IP address to the "add users" setting and I entered his 192.168.10.X VPN address for "add users" the two programs would then see each user and we could communicate.

We are only going to hand out 10 IP adresses to VPN connections so i added all those possible IP addresses using "add users". We have another person that will do a fresh install of the Windows version of the program in the next day or two and see if I can see her user when she makes a VPN connection. We will try and determine the minimum change needed.

It seems that I have a good workaround. I still do not know why I cannot get the program to see the 192.168.10 subnet as an option for the "preferred subnet" selection. This may be something about the way a Mac makes a VPN connection.

My home system gives me the same 10.1.1.X address based on a MAC address. Whne I make ka VPN connection (using the SoftEther software) my system can see broadcasts coming from a software definded radio on the 192.168.10.X network. I am also able to ping, ssh, and access a web server on devices on that 192.168.10.X network. It seems that all that is lacking is to get BeeBEEP to realize that it should be looking for systems on that 192 network and I have no way to get it to use that network as a preferred network. It seems that the "add users" option is a workaround to have it look for the particular IP adderesses that will be used for VPN connections.

Regards, Dale

[Marco Mastroddi]

Hello Dale. I think that the function I used to have the network list for BeeBEEP does not take the "virtual network". If you start BeeBEEP after the VPN and BeeBEEP does not list in the log the vpn network, I'm right. But... you don't need to fix the preferred network. People in the VPN see you as 192.168.10.x also if your master network is 10.1.1.x.
I use it for work and chat and file transfer work correctly.
Do you have functionality issues?

[Dale]

I am starting BeeBEEP after the VPN connection is made. I tested with a new Windows user (new install of BeeBeep on Windows). A standard Windows install works fine - meaning that this Windows user can see my Mac user and I can see the Windows user.

The workaround that I need to do is to have perormed the "add users" step and added each IP address on the VPN network that might be given to a user.

My home network IP addres is 10.1.1.53. The VPN network is 192.168.10.X. The users that will be making VPN connections are going to get addresses 192.168.10.170 through 192.168.10.180.

So the workaround on my Mac system is to use the "add users" option and add every IP address in that 192 range of 170 to 180. I only have to do this once as this information is saved. This was not difficult for me. It would be much more of a problem if we could give any of the 192 VPN network addreses. In that case I would have to add all of the 192.168.10.X addresses manually.

It would be nice for Mac users to be able to specify the subnet address to use but this does not work for me. I can operate with the workaround as described.
Regards, Dale

[Marco Mastroddi]

The workaround is a good way. BeeBEEP uses a "hive protocol".
This protocol works like this. When BeeBEEP connects to another it sends him its user list with IP addresses. This makes the first BeeBEEP aware of the other users on the second BeeBEEP's network. Doing so requires only one BeeBEEP on the network to act as a "server with the IP list" for all the others. So we can say that your workaround is actually not a workaround but a simple way to exploit the HIVE protocol.

In the meantime, I will try to figure out how to make VPN lookup work on macOSX.

Thank you very much Dale!