Author Topic: Time Machine over wifi?  (Read 2697 times)

snailgarden

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Time Machine over wifi?
« on: November 19, 2017, 08:34:03 AM »
I'm setting up an LS210D with firmware 1.66. The NAS is connected to a D-Link switch. The Macs are running 10.12.6 (Sierra)

My goal is to use Time Machine to back up multiple Macs. Some with ethernet cable, some without.

Mac #1 (iMac)
With ethernet cable:
  • Can see and back up to Time Machine share when ethernet cable is connected
  • Can see non-Time Machine share folders

WiFi (not ethernet cable):
  • Cannot see Time Machine share; plugging cable back in makes it appear
  • Can see non-Time Machine share folders

Mac #2 (MacBook Air):
Wifi (only choice)
  • Cannot see Time Machine share
  • Can see non-Time Machine share folders

This is still covered by tech support but the agent I spoke to didn't know what could be wrong.

Any help is appreciated!

Texturtle

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2017, 08:41:01 AM »
Wired or wireless shouldn't make a difference unless your router is set to segregate wireless devices from the rest of the network. This sounds like a router configuration issue.

Check to see if your router has the option "wireless isolation" enabled. This setting would isolate wireless clients from the wired network.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2017, 11:35:07 AM by Texturtle »

bleavitt

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2017, 10:17:05 AM »
I have had some issues with TimeMachine broadcasts in the past. I used this command to manually set the TimeMachine destination and things seemed to work OK after that. Even better in some cases than when the backup destination was found automatically.

#sudo tmutil setdestination afp://$TMUsername:$TMPassword@$TMServerAddress/

snailgarden

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2017, 04:44:28 PM »
Thanks for the replies.

There's no wireless isolation set up as far as I can tell. I don't think the switch can even do that. But wired and wireless computers are able to access each other over the network, so I don't think that's the problem.

I tried with tmutil set destination and that didn't work. Terminal didn't return anything (no errors).

Wondering what else I could try?

Texturtle

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2017, 04:59:52 PM »
If you install NAS Navigator on the Mac can it see the NAS over wireless?

snailgarden

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2017, 06:23:53 PM »
Yes, it can see non-Time Machine shares over wireless.

As soon as I plug in ethernet cable, the Time Machine share shows up in the TM Preferences Panel. Unplug the cable, the TM share disappears from the panel again.

Texturtle

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2017, 09:15:28 AM »
What is the brand of your wireless router? Also, do you have any kind of third party firewall software installed?
« Last Edit: November 21, 2017, 09:55:32 AM by Texturtle »

snailgarden

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2017, 07:18:02 PM »
I have a Ubiquiti AP LR wifi access point (https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/) attached to the D-Link switch. I just installed and checked their "Controller" software and there are no settings limiting wifi use that I can find.

I don't have any third party firewall software.

Could this be caused by a change that Apple introduced in Sierra?

I'm on the brink of returning the device and trying a different brand to see what that does.

davo

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2017, 05:42:25 AM »
The Linkstation doesn't know if it is connected to the WLAN or LAN, or directly connected. If the TM backup works for the LAN but not WLAN then the issue is more than likely on either the WLAN card in the MAC or the network itself.

Changing the Linkstation probably won't help to be honest.
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snailgarden

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2017, 08:42:56 PM »
Something else I tried that didn't work: I turned on the wifi access for the DSL router and joined that access point; the behavior of the NAS's Time Machine stayed the same -- in other words: Time Machine works with a wired connection but not a wifi connection. This is now confirmed with two wifi access points and multiple Macs.

I'm consulting with a local shop that installs and consults on networking.

I think this is either the LS210D, the firmware, or the Mac OS.

But if anyone else has an idea, that'd be appreciated.

Texturtle

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Re: Time Machine over wifi?
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2017, 09:51:00 AM »
I can say with some certainty that the NAS is incapable of distinguishing how a device is connected to the network. The NAS is, by design, connected to the network via a wired connection. The protocols used for communication exist at a higher level in the network chain than the physical connection. The network doesn't give an edge device, such as the NAS, any information about other devices on the network other than their IP address. The NAS has no way of knowing whether a device is on the wired or wireless segment of the network, that information isn't exchanged during normal communication.

Time Machine uses the Apple "bonjour" service for discovery. Bonjour relies on UDP communication over the network. It sounds like something is blocking UDP over wireless. Due to the nature of network communications that would have to be either a networking device (router or switch) or it would have to happen at the OS level.