Network Assistant 4.0.x: Troubleshooting by Forcing a Connection Using AppleTalk or TCP/IP

The Network Assistant can connect to clients using two networking protocols: AppleTalk and TCP/IP. When adding client computers to your workstation list, the protocol you select with "Find using:" is the default protocol used to communicate with that client.

When troubleshooting issues in Network Assistant, it is good to know if the issue is due to the use of a particular network protocol. To force Network Assistant to use a signal protocol, use the following steps:

1. Open the Network Assistant application while pressing the Control key.

Note: If you are using Network Assistant Admin on a computer with Mac OS 8.5 and later, you will see a contextual menu if you click while pressing Control. In such situations, select Open from the contextual menu.

2. Listen for a system beep when the Network Assistant application opens, just before the password prompt appears. The system beep is your confirmation that the Network Assistant will now force the network connection protocol used to find each workstation.

3. Release the Control key, enter your password, and click OK.

For this entire session in Network Assistant Admin, the clients will be forced to use the protocol that was used to assign the workstation.

It may be necessary to remove workstations and add them again, using the other protocol to test issues.

Both Network Assistant Admin 3.x and 4.x have this feature.