Temporarily stop network access

[askywalker]

Is there a way to temporarily stop network access?

I usually use a LAN cable, so I could unplug it, but I thought there might be a more elegant solution. I don't see any icon that represents this ethernet connection's status - but I do see that I can check it out under System Preferences | Network. Is there a way to get an icon similar to the Power|IME|Sound|Airport...

Cheers!

 

[CanadaRAM]

Flying Buttress can do it, it's scriptable so presumably you could put together a tiny Applescript to turn it on and off.

Someone also sells a switch that can disconnect the physical LAN cable.

 

[askywalker]

Interesting - with so many cool icons and such, I was hoping that I was just missing the OS X Network Icon. Flying Buttress looks cool - but wouldn't that only stop the incoming traffic? I could try it myself, but my Windows days have taught me to install apps sparingly and with extreme caution.

 

[garybUK]

sudo int ifdown en0

in termianll. jobs done. put it in a shell script and put a pretty icon on it if you want.

 

[robbieduncan]

Create a new location and de-activate all the network ports in that location. Whenever you want no network just switch to that location.

 

[askywalker]

Thanks!

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I thought the location idea sounded simple - and actually I hadn't noticed the locations before - so wanted to learn them as I travel frequently. It works really well. Now if I could just convince 'Little Snitch' developers to add the option to filter all network activity except for a specific application I would be even happier.

btw - Gary thanks for pointing out the script way to do it. This is something I will be playing with in the future - but right now I just don't have enough time to get my head around it.

 

[Cider]

Is there a way to temporarily stop network access?

I like Gary's suggestion. To simplify the matter you could create a script to toggle the port on and off.

#!/bin/sh
# Script to toggle en0 (iMac primary network port) on and off.
# -- Cider (Rhys) 29/08/07
#
if [ `ifconfig en0|grep -c "UP"` -eq 1 ]
then
echo Bringing network down
sudo ifconfig en0 down
else
echo Bringing network up
sudo ifconfig en0 up
fi

Rhys

 

[garybUK]

I like Gary's suggestion. To simplify the matter you could create a script to toggle the port on and off.

#!/bin/sh
# Script to toggle en0 (iMac primary network port) on and off.
# -- Cider (Rhys) 29/08/07
#
if [ `ifconfig en0|grep -c "UP"` -eq 1 ]
then
echo Bringing network down
sudo ifconfig en0 down
else
echo Bringing network up
sudo ifconfig en0 up
fi

Rhys

Couldn't have done it better myself