Airport Express question

[anton1s]

Hi All

I am looking to buy a solution in order to use the Airplay functionality for my iphone/ipad/mba 2012. It seems that Airport Express supports airplay but I am not sure whether it will fit my requirements.

I would like to use the Airport Express only as a "airplay box" where it will connect to the existing network and have my old creative speakers connected to it via the Analog/Optical Audio Jack.

End goal would be that airplay capable devices will be streaming via my old creative speakers

Unfortunately, when joining an existing wireless network, AirPort Express supports only WPA-Personal and therefore that might be a problem as I am using WPA2-Enterprise on my existing setup. Can I connect it via Ethernet to my network (i.e. via switch)?

Is that possible?

Thanks

 

[waw74]

Can I connect it via Ethernet to my network (i.e. via switch)?

Yes.

when joining an existing wireless network, AirPort Express supports only WPA-Personal

on my older unit (old style 802.11N version) it has both "WPA/WPA2 Enterprise" and "WPA2 Enterprise" as options available when joining a network.

i just looked, you need to get the old airport utility, in version 5.6 i have those options, in the new version i don't.

 

[anton1s]

Unfortunately it seems that airport utility 5.6 is compatible with Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 and I am running 10.8.5 at the moment. Can I still install 5.6 on mountain lion?

I can install version 5.6.1 for windows though and therefore much the settings

I guess I need to connect airport express via ethernet and effectively set it up in "roaming" or "client" mode (either via WPA2 enterprise using version 5.6 or change the wifi encryption) .I reckon it needs to be clientmode only as I don't need to extent the WIFI range?

 

[Weaselboy]

Unfortunately it seems that airport utility 5.6 is compatible with Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 and I am running 10.8.5 at the moment. Can I still install 5.6 on mountain lion?

Yes... follow this guide.

 

[anton1s]

Yes... follow this guide.

Hi All

I have installed the latest software 7.6.4 and I connected my airport express using airport utility 5.6.1 on my windows 7

I've set it up asper follows:
1)I have disabled wireless
2)I have enabed internet connectivity via ethernet and set ip as bridge mode
3)It has a static IP and I can ping it from my desktop

However, I am not able to "discover" airport express using the utility anymore (even though I can ping the device)

Also I am not sure how to stream music to airport express(I have spreaksers connected ). Goals is to be able to stream music via airplay from mu IPS devices to the existing speakers(without using the wireless on airport express)

Any hints?

Thanks

 

[anton1s]

Any ideas?

 

[priitv8]

Where do your devices get IP addresses from?
Are you sure the Mac and Express are on same subnet (also logically)?
Missing discovery hints at problems with Bonjour service discovery, which normally work only on local network segments and are not routed.
AirPlaying involves playing a tune on iTunes or on iOS device and selecting the Express as target from AirPlay menu

NB! This button only appears, if AirPlay device is visible on local network (same Bonjour service discovery requirement, as above)!
Starting from Mountain Lion, you can also send Mac's system audio to AirPlay device in Sound preferences, this way everything that you'd hear from your MacBook, will now emit from AirPlay device.
The pic illustrates the situation with TV, but Express shall appear in same menu (hold ALT while klicking menu item):

 

[anton1s]

Where do your devices get IP addresses from?
Are you sure the Mac and Express are on same subnet (also logically)?
Missing discovery hints at problems with Bonjour service discovery, which normally work only on local network segments and are not routed.
AirPlaying involves playing a tune on iTunes or on iOS device and selecting the Express as target from AirPlay menu Image
NB! This button only appears, if AirPlay device is visible on local network (same Bonjour service discoveru requirement, as above)!
Starting from Mountain Lion, you can also send Mac's system audio to AirPlay device in Sound preferences, this way everything that you'd hear from your MacBook, will now emit from AirPlay device.
The pic illustrates the situation with TV, but Express shall appear in same menu (hold ALT while klicking menu item):
Image

Devices get IP from ISP router. Airport Express and mac are on the same 192.168.2.x subnet. Also i am able to ping airport express via my mac.

I can't detect the airport express via the utility even though I can ping it(does it matter that it's set as bridge mode?)! Can you please confirm whether my setup is right?

Maybe it can only detect the AE via wireless in which case it won't detect it as I've set wireless off??

Aiport express connected via ethernet cable (ethernet port) to my ISP router which is wireless router as well. All clients get ip dynamically via DHCP (inc the AE which has the ip reservation )

 

[priitv8]

Bridge mode doesn't prevent APE from advertising itself.
Do you connect your computer to network via ISP router's wifi and APE is wired to the same? If so your ISP's device may block Bonjour traffic.
Is there a reason for such setup? I'd switch wifi off on ISP's device and create hotspot via APE.
This kind of multicast traffic (incl Bonjour) is one of the reasons why Macs have less problems with Apple networking gear.

 

[anton1s]

Bridge mode doesn't prevent APE from advertising itself.
Do you connect your computer to network via ISP router's wifi and APE is wired to the same? If so your ISP's device may block Bonjour traffic.
Is there a reason for such setup? I'd switch wifi off on ISP's device and create hotspot via APE.
This kind of multicast traffic (incl Bonjour) is one of the reasons why Macs have less problems with Apple networking gear.

Hi priitv8

The setup is as follows. The AE is connected on my gig switch and it gets DHCP via my UTM which also has the wifi. I will double check whether UTM blocks bonjour as suggested. Can I confirm the setup to make sure it's correct whilst I am troubleshooting the bonjour issue on my UTM

1)AE is connected via ethernet (not WAN) to my switch
2)Wireless is disabled and therefore it can't be detected by airport utility?

Thanks

 

[priitv8]

1)AE is connected via ethernet (not WAN) to my switch
2)Wireless is disabled and therefore it can't be detected by airport utility?

1) when in bridge mode, all 4 ports are equal, so shouldn't matter
2) also wi-fi-less configuration shouldn't prevent it broadcasting Bonjour messages. Although I have never run my AE in such setup. I need the fast wi-fi it creates

Can you make wired connection from your Mac directly to your AE and see if this makes AE discoverable?

 

[anton1s]

1) when in bridge mode, all 4 ports are equal, so shouldn't matter
2) also wi-fi-less configuration shouldn't prevent it broadcasting Bonjour messages. Although I have never run my AE in such setup. I need the fast wi-fi it creates

Can you make wired connection from your Mac directly to your AE and see if this makes AE discoverable?

I have tested this via my desktop pc and it's not able to detect the AE via the switch etc. I will connect it directly to AE and post back

 

[priitv8]

I have tested this via my desktop pc and it's not able to detect the AE via the switch etc.

Are we talking about a Windows machine or a Mac?
On a windows you need to make sure Bonjour is installed (installs with iTunes automatically, can't say about APU, though) and Bonjour service is up and running.
On a Mac, this is all on by default.
It'd be interesting to see also what Bonjour services, if any, are visible on your computer. E.g using Bonjour Browser (pic is from older version):

It is imperative to see the Airport Base Station (_airport._tcp) advertisement.

 

[anton1s]

Are we talking about a Windows machine or a Mac?
On a windows you need to make sure Bonjour is installed (installs with iTunes automatically, can't say about APU, though) and Bonjour service is up and running.
On a Mac, this is all on by default.
It'd be interesting to see also what Bonjour services, if any, are visible on your computer. E.g using Bonjour Browser (pic is from older version):
Image
It is imperative to see the Airport Base Station (_airport._tcp) advertisement.

I've connected the AE directly to my desktop and it works fine so I it should probably be something either on the switch (l3 switch with vlans) or the UTM that provides the DHCP leases

 

[priitv8]

(l3 switch with vlans) or the UTM that provides the DHCP leases

Did you mention VLANs before? I somehow missed that point! I'd bet the Bonjour broadcasts are not passed between VLANs so you'd want to make sure that all devices are on single VLAN first.
If they are already, you need to dig deeper to see if it's the switch or router/access point, that blocks Bonjour.

 

[anton1s]

Did you mention VLANs before? I somehow missed that point! I'd bet the Bonjour broadcasts are not passed between VLANs so you'd want to make sure that all devices are on single VLAN first.
If they are already, you need to dig deeper to see if it's the switch or router/access point, that blocks Bonjour.

Hi priitv8

I've changed the connectivity from "ethernet" to "join SSID" and it works fine. All wireless clients can use Airplay with no issues (apart from some delay I've noticed the very first time initiating the airplay connection)

The switch is a netgear prosafe and the vlans assigned to AE is part of the trunk that the wireless is using

There is a trunk from the Access point to the UTM via the switch (trunk allows specific vlan that AE is also part of)

It might be something related to the netgear switch