mattfahrner.com

Category: Mac/OS X

  • Fix Apple Bonjour with Cisco autonomous APs

    Matt Fahrner

    I purchased some used Cisco C1140 autonomous access points for my home network (autonomous meaning not lightweight or requiring a WLC). While everything seemed to be fine at first, later we noticed that printouts to our Canon laser printer were no longer working from our Macs. After some research I realized that the Macs were failing to locate the printer due to Apple Bonjour protocol issues. Google searches led to partial solutions, but most required a downgrade of the AP IOS – a no, no as a security professional.

    I kept looking and it turns out my savior was actually a Chromecast user with the same issue. Two configuration changes on the APs to disable IGMP snooping had to be executed, not one:

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    no ip igmp snooping
    no dot11 igmp snooping–helper

    All the prior advice was just to disable the former, which didn’t work (at least without an AP downgrade!). Adding the second line did the full trick.

    You may need to disconnect and reconnect to the wireless for full effect. Since multicast IGMP has other uses, I can’t guarantee the impact in a larger environment.

    UPDATE:

    Well, this may or may not work. In the end it seemed not to for me, but it’s still worth a try in your network.

  • Fix VMware Web Client Integration Plugin for Chrome on Mac OS X El Capitan (10.11)

    Matt Fahrner

    The latest vCenter Server 6.0 VMware Web Client Integration Plugin does not work on OS X El Capitan. The installer finishes, but silently fails due to missing libraries, libraries that probably existed in earlier OS X versions.

    Because the libraries don’t exist, necessary certificates don’t get generated, and even re-running the installer from the application directory won’t solve it (including with the below hack). What you need to do is ensure the libraries will be there when the installer gets to the “Running package scripts…” section on initial install.

    There are a number of possible solutions, but the below seems the cleanest and doesn’t require multiple installs.

    Before installing the application, do the following:

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    sudo mkdir –p /build/toolchain/mac32/openssl–1.0.1m
    sudo ln –s /Applications/VMware\ Client\ Integration\ Plug–in.app/Contents/Frameworks /build/toolchain/mac32/openssl–1.0.1m/lib

    Then run the full installer.

    This will create a hack to allow the packaged libraries to be used when the package scripts get run. If it’s working correctly the “Running package scripts…” will take many minutes to run as it executes “openssl” to generate the following:

    /Applications/VMware Client Integration Plug-in.app/Contents/Library/data/ssl/dh512.pem

    If it instead installs very quickly, you can be fairly certain it didn’t install correctly and probably VMware has changed something yet again. If it works, you can both upload files and deploy OVF files.

    Hopefully VMware will create a permanent fix. More on why this plugin is required can be found here. How to install/upgrade the plugin itself can be found here.

    UPDATE:

    Jonathon McTaggart (thank you Jonathon!) gave the following update for the latest plugin:

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    sudo mkdir –p /build/toolchain/mac32/openssl–1.0.1p
    sudo ln –s /Applications/VMware\ Client\ Integration\ Plug–in.app/Contents/Frameworks /build/toolchain/mac32/openssl–1.0.1p/lib

    UPDATE 2:

    It appears VMware has essentially documented the same fix here, rather than fixing the installer:

    https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2144550

    The problem is, they are also suggesting you disable a fundamental OS protection temporarily as well. That is a major PIA and sadly doesn’t seem to work on macOS Sierra. I can use OVFs, but I can’t do file uploads. Apparently there is a integrated ESXi HTTP client that some are working on here (via here) that seems to offer some options. This has been a problem for over a year now…

  • Windows 10 under Fusion sluggish

    Matt Fahrner

    If you made the mistake of upgrading your virtual copy of Windows under Mac OS X using VMware Fusion (version 8 here), you may find Windows 10 runs painfully sluggish. The answer? Disable 3D graphics acceleration.

    • Shut down the virtual machine.
    • Bring up the virtual machine settings (⌘E).
    • Select “Display”:

    • Deselect (remove the checkbox for) “Accelerate 3D Graphics”:

    • Close out the settings, and restart the virtual machine.

    If you’re like me, you’ll find it far, far more usable.

    UPDATE:

    Having purchased a more modern i7 based Mac I can thankfully say this is no longer necessary.