How to stop Internet access but not network access?

[dazed]

Hi, my old dlink router died so I got a AirPort Extreme to replace it.

I have a old Mac mini which I use as a media server, since this is on 24/7 I'd like to stop this accessing the Internet and limit it to just my local network.

I can't seem to figure out how to do this and the airport utility app is very basic and offers little control. It seems that if I limit Internet access then it stops local network access too.

Any tips?


Thanks.

[colourfastt]

Disconnect the router from the Internet, i.e., pull the plug from the WAN port.

[pdjudd]

That's not going to do what the OP wants. That's going to stop all of his computers from connecting to the internet - he want's to limit just one machine.

I question why though? I know he wants it on 24/7 but that has nothing to do with the internet. If he is concerned with external attacks, that isn't something that should limited to one machine. I am not aware of any real way to do this without some kind of server software or something on a physical box that limits traffic higher up on the network. Sounds like a lot of effort to maintain.

[dazed]

My old dlink router had access control which stopped all Internet access but didn't effect LAN access. I just assumed this was normal router behaviour but maybe it was just a dlink thing.

All other machines are put to sleep so I'm just concerned about this one machine which I rarely monitor.

[drsox]

It's an option generally found in routers and not found in Airport. I had it in my last 2 routers.
You will need to configure a second router to do this.

I suppose you could also setup the MacMini to access a false internet gateway (and so failing to get through). But you will need to configure the Network Setup manually to give a valid IP for local traffic and configure the Airport to avoid duplicating the MacMini IP.