2 Ethernet Ports on Mac Pro with 2 PC Slaves

[Murtishi]

So my 2010 Mac Pro has 2 ethernet ports, and I just added a second Slave PC. 

Can I use the 2 ethernet ports to connect VE Pro from my Mac to each of my two Slave PC's?

For some reason I cant get VE Pro to see the slave connected on the 2nd ethernet port.  Can someone provide some info on how to best connect them?

Thanks!
Tony

[Paul]

Hi Tony, 

You should definitely use static IP addresses, and avoid 169.x.x.x addresses (these are automatically assigned by your computer and tend to change). Also for the 2 ethernet ports, of course. 

Please try the following:
Manually assign one of these IP addresses to the computers in your setup: 192.168.0.x or 10.0.0.x, and assign a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, then it should work. 

Best,
Paul

[Murtishi]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the help!  Im trying to figure out how to best implement changing to static ip addresses.  Is there a VSL tutorial on this anywhere??

The way I was thinking of setting this up is outside of my regular internet router.  Is this a mistake?  My thinking was to connect the computers directly to eachother and bypass my regular internet router which facilitates the internet connection for everyone's computers, tvs, and tablets in my house.

I was planning on using wireless connection whenever i need to access the internet from the "studio" computers and keep the VE Pro connection separate.  

I am able to connect both pc slaves to my Mac master using a Netgear GS108 Prosafe gigabit switch, but it was using the regular 169.x.x.x addresses.  When I tried changing the IP addresses to the 192.168.0.x as you suggested, I obviously did something wrong, as VE Pro was unable to see the slave computer.  (I used this youtube tutorial to learn how to change to a static ip: 

)

Do i need to change the ip addresses for both the slave and the master computer?

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to use both ethernet ports to connect to the slave and thus tried the Netgear gigabit switch, which woked.

Is there a thread anywhere that can walk me through the steps?

Thanks again Paul!

Tony

[Jonathan S. Klein]

Try this:

Mac master ethernet 1:  192.168.2.1

Mac master ethernet 2:  192.168.3.1

PC Slave 1:  192.168.2.2

PC slave 2:  192.168.3.2

The 3rd field of the static IP address designates the network.  The 4th field is for different machines on a network.

edit:  stay away from 192.168.1.xxx.  The "1" network will have all the dynamic IP's for your various devices.

[Cyril Blanc]

Connect your mac pro and your PC's

Set them to DHCP

Note down the adresses (if my memory is good you should get adresses 169....)

Set then to manual fix address

put the figures you have noted.

It should work

[Murtishi]

Hey Jon and Cyril,  thanks so much for your Help!

To give you a brief update, I ultimately connected all three computers to my regular internet router (Netgear Prosafe GS108) and was able to see all 3 computers.  The IP addresses were all 192.168.1.xxx. 

Now all computers are essentially connected to the internet where all of my other laptops, cable tv, etc. are connected in my house.  I actually wanted to avoid this, but this was the only way to keep me working until I figure this out.  Everything works fine, however I am encountering some problems with one of the PCs which is dedicated to Eastwest Play libraries.  The other PC with Kontakt libraries seems to be working well.

1. Can any of you briefly explain the benefits of a static ip address...?  Mainly, will it enhance the performance?

2. Im going to try this again and take the advice of both of you, setting the computer to DHCP and using the IP addresses you guys listed.  Is it better for performance to not be connected to my regular home network, and if so, is there a specific router I should buy?

Thanks so much, I really do appreciate it!

Best,
Tony

[Cyril Blanc]

If you connect your 3 x computers to a switch or a router it is normal to use 192.x.x.x adresses

If you connect your computer directly on the 2 x Ethernet port it is normal to have 169.x.x.x adresses

 

The trial I did is to have one Master and one slave, the slave  was connected on the second port and having a 169... and my router was connected to the 1st port having a 192...

 

You could test to agargated both of your ports to a switch

 

Another solution is to connect ETH 1 to main slave and ETH 2 to a switch with only second slave and the router

 

Does anybody know any tools to monitor the Ethernet traffic on Mac and on PC

 

Paul : you can use fix IP 169.... adresses at the back of a Macpro if it is directly connected to another Mac

[Murtishi]

In that case, am I fine using it with a router as I have it with 192.xxx addresses?

I've turned off the computers, switched the ethernet positions, and both slaves showed up with same IP addresses. My question is if this at all hinders VE Pro performance, since everything in my house is connected to this very same network, including cable tv, ipads, phones, etc etc.

 

Thanks Cyril!

[Cyril Blanc]

@Murtishi said:

My question is if this at all hinders VE Pro performance, since everything in my house is connected to this very same network, including cable tv, ipads, phones, etc etc.

if you have a gigabit ethernet, all peripheral will use the bandwith so if your cable TV is running you will have less bandwith for VE PRO

If you have 100 BaseT and 10 BaseT, peripherals, if my memory is good, you slow down all the trafic*

The best solution is to have the slave directly connected to the Master

If you use a  switch, some switches looks to be enought inteligent not to broadcast all the trafic to all ports *

 

* can somebody correct me If I am wrong