Connecting to server to access shared drives - HELP!

[transwarp]

I'm sure this thread is floating around here already but I'm a little too frustrated to look.

I'm having trouble connecting my Mac to a network server at my office in order to access a shared drive on the network. I can't seem to identify the network share path to fill in the Server Address: field on the Connect to Server window.

I have the IP address for the server but am uncertain if it's the same thing as it doesn't seem to be working. Also, I'm not certain what drive syntax the network is running on; whether it's a ftp, afp, or smb.

Please help?

PS: apologies if this didn't make all that much sense.

 

[Makosuke]

If it's a Mac-based server, open up "Connect To Server..." (command-K) in the Finder and just type the IP address into the box and hit "Connect". It will automatically detect and try AFP. afp://[IP address] should also work.

Alternately, try typing smb://[IP address]. If the server is offering an SMB share, you'll get a prompt for username and password. You don't need to know what the name of the actual share volume is with AFP or SMB; you'll get to select from a list after entering your login info if you don't specify one.

If neither of these work you're either not using the right address or your computer isn't seeing the server for some reason (perhaps wrong subnet or a firewall issue).

If it is FTP, ftp://[IP_address] might work, but the Finder's built-in FTP doesn't write at this point so I don't know how useful it'll be--you'd be better off picking one of the many free or inexpensive FTP clients (I use Interarchy) and using that. A search on VersionTracker.com will show plenty.

 

[angelwatt]

There's a number of things that could be happening, and we don't know the server setup of course. Something to try, see if you can ping the server IP. Open Terminal and type the following command,

ping 192.168.1.1

(except replace the IP with the one you have.)

As far as the protocol to try (smb, afp, etc.) just try each of them. It won't hurt to try. It just depends on the server settings as to what will work. For my work place I usually use smb.

You may need to be setup on the proper work group to have access as well. Are there IT people you can talk to? That would be the best idea. They're there for a reason.