Bonjour using Airport Express w/ Linksys BEFSR41

[Peter Kim]

Hey everyone, i've got a little problem with my network setup. It's goes from my cable modem > linksys BEFSR41. in port 1 of the linksys i have an ethernet cable going to an airport express, port 2 going to my tivo, port 3 to a G3 snow imac, and port 4 going to my xbox. finally i have my powerbook connected wirelessly through the airport express.

the problem i'm having is that my tivo no longer picks up my itunes and iphoto libraries on the Music & Photos section. i'm assuming it's because they're not connected directly on the same router (tivo is on linksys, PB is on airport express via the linksys). is there any way around this? it's killing me, i don't want to have to give up my airport and get a wireless linksys. Thanks for any help.

- Peter

 

[mrichmon]

Hey everyone, i've got a little problem with my network setup. It's goes from my cable modem > linksys BEFSR41. in port 1 of the linksys i have an ethernet cable going to an airport express, port 2 going to my tivo, port 3 to a G3 snow imac, and port 4 going to my xbox. finally i have my powerbook connected wirelessly through the airport express.

the problem i'm having is that my tivo no longer picks up my itunes and iphoto libraries on the Music & Photos section. i'm assuming it's because they're not connected directly on the same router (tivo is on linksys, PB is on airport express via the linksys). is there any way around this? it's killing me, i don't want to have to give up my airport and get a wireless linksys. Thanks for any help.

- Peter

I suspect it may be related to the linksys switch is only a four port switch and shares the switch fabric with port 1 and the WAN port. Try putting the airport express on port 4 and the xbox on port 1.

Also, with this setup you need to be careful that only the linksys or the airport express is acting as a DHCP server. But not both of them!

 

[Peter Kim]

Also, with this setup you need to be careful that only the linksys or the airport express is acting as a DHCP server. But not both of them!

Thanks for your thoughts, how do i check this?

 

[mrichmon]

Thanks for your thoughts, how do i check this?

I would suggest that you plan on running the DHCP server on the linksys and disabling it on the Airport Express. Unless you need multiple DHCP servers (and know how to set them up so they don't conflict) running multiple DHCP servers on a network often causes problems.

First ensure that the linksys DHCP server is running by opening the linksys administration web pages. Navigate through the pages until you find the DHCP enable/disable option. Make sure it is enabled and then save the router settings.

Now, ensure that the Airport Express DHCP server is disabled. Open the Airport Administrator and find the DHCP server option and disable it. Save the settings. Also set the Internet Setup->Internet-Configure to set it as "Using DHCP" so that the Airport Express will obtain its own address from the DHCP server running on the linksys.

 

[mrichmon]

Thanks for your thoughts, how do i check this?

After poking around I've found the details of how to setup the Airport Express.

1. First ensure that the DHCP server is running on the linksys router. As mentioned above.
2. Unplug your airport express from the network and from the mains power.
3. Turn off all devices on your network.
4. Power cycle your router and power up only the ethernet connected Mac.
5. Use your wired Mac to access google and do a search to ensure that you can get to the internet via the linksys router. If this works then the DHCP server on your router is correctly serving addresses and your router is routing correctly. Your Mac probably has an IP address of 192.168.1.100 unless you changed your DHCP address settings. If you cannot get to the internet, do not proceed.
6. Now set the Airport Express to get its own IP address from a DHCP server on the network (the linksys router). To do this, apply mains power to the Airport Express but do not connect it to the network. Use a paperclip to press the reset button on the Airport Express for 30 seconds.
7. Plug the ethernet cable into the Airport Express which should automatically get an IP address from the linksys router and will make it visible to the airport admin tool.
8. Temporariy plug your laptop into the router using either the xbox or tivo ethernet cable.
9. Open the Airport Admin Utility and notice the name and ip address of your Airport Express. (The address will probably be 192.168.1.101). The default password for the airport express will be "public".
10. Change the password for the airport express.
11. Under the "Network" settings, change the airport-name to whatever you want to call your wireless network.
12. Under "Internet Setup" set "INTERNET-CONNECT USING" and set it to Ethernet. Set "Internet-Configure" and set it to "Using DHCP". This means that the Airport Express will get its own IP address from the DHCP server on the network (that is the linksys router) and that it will send packets for the internet over the ethernet port to the linksys router.
13. Under Network Setup set "Network-DISTRIBUTE IP ADDRESSES" to be unchecked. This turns off the DHCP server in the Airport Express.
14. Under WDS setup. Ensure that "Allow wireless clients on this base station" is selected.
15. Under Misc setup enable airtunes on the base station.
16. Save the airport express settings.
17. Remove the mains power from the airport express. Wait 5 seconds. Plug the airport express back into the mains power.
18. Unplug your powerbook from the ethernet cable and establish a wireless link to your network. At this stage check that you can browse the internet from your powerbook over the wireness network.
19. If everything works so far, check that itunes on both macs can see shares from the other mac. If so, you can connect and power up the tivo and it should also be able to see the shares.
20. Finally connect the XBox and setup WEP encryption on your wireless network if you want it.

I hope that covers all the required steps. Some of these steps are not strictly required but help avoid getting into a confused network state.