My new Airport Extreme Base Station just arrived

[micsaund]

I was curious about that as well, and I found the answer on page 60 of the Designing Airport Extreme Networks manual (PDF). Looks pretty straightforward.

Thanks mrogers. It does look pretty easy, but unfortunately, it's just port forwarding and not triggering, which I've recently discovered is handy for BitTorrent and multiple machines on the network (it lets the BT incoming traffic go to the machine that is running BT instead of to a static IP set in the forwarding table). This alleviated my issues with having World of Warcraft on multiple machines, since it uses BT to patch.

Oh well - perhaps Apple will add "advanced" stuff like that to the Extreme at some point.

Mike

 

[danielsan26]

I was curious about that as well, and I found the answer on page 60 of the Designing Airport Extreme Networks manual (PDF). Looks pretty straightforward.

There is actually an entirely new airport management utility, but it effectively does the same thing....here is a screenshot of the desired setting screen:

 

[bmat]

g and n devices on the network

Anyone have any subjective reactions as to how much of a speed decline there is when a g device joins the new airport network, and whether the speed still remains faster than an all g network?

I recall in the early days that when a a/b device joined a g network, the whole network dropped to the lowest a/b speed. Just wondering if it's the same (since I've got an express and a powerbook on my network also).

Brian

 

[rogersmj]

^ They were talking about this on the MacBreak Weekly podcast and mentioned that just like b/g networks of the past, the AP Extreme slows down to the lowest grade device on the wireless network. So if a B device joins, everything slows down to B.

When things were still in transition from B to G around my place, I simply kept my B router hooked up as a secondary access point (connected via an uplink to my main router so it was all part of the same network) and locked my new G access point to G-only clients. You could take the same approach with the new AP Extreme if you want your N clients to stay at N speeds.

 

[joshwest]

There is actually an entirely new airport management utility, but it effectively does the same thing....here is a screenshot of the desired setting screen:

are you using your express w/AT to send out the b/g signal and using the new airport to broadcast just N?

 

[iW00t]

Anyone have any subjective reactions as to how much of a speed decline there is when a g device joins the new airport network, and whether the speed still remains faster than an all g network?

I recall in the early days that when a a/b device joined a g network, the whole network dropped to the lowest a/b speed. Just wondering if it's the same (since I've got an express and a powerbook on my network also).

Brian

Since you already have an express why not connect the express' WAN port to a LAN port on the AEBX (ie: double NATed) and use the express with the slower B/G clients?

I am running mine at 5ghz 802.11n only and it is quite a sneaky feeling knowing that my access point is completely stealth to most of the people sharing the same apartment building with me, at least until 5ghz cards get more common

 

[joshwest]

Since you already have an express why not connect the express' WAN port to a LAN port on the AEBX (ie: double NATed) and use the express with the slower B/G clients?

I am running mine at 5ghz 802.11n only and it is quite a sneaky feeling knowing that my access point is completely stealth to most of the people sharing the same apartment building with me, at least until 5ghz cards get more common

Hey iwoot is this possible? i just asked the same question before your post. cause this is what i plan on doing when i get my new airport, i have two machines with n capibilities but i have about 3 or 4 computers that come in that are pre n

 

[NightStorm]

That is what I am doing right now... using a 802.11n extreme as the main wireless base with a 802.11g express plugged into it via ethernet acting as a bridge. It seems to be working great! My n-clients connect at full speed on the n-network, and my legacy devices use the g-network with no problems.

There is a PDF on the Apple website that goes over what you need to do to set this up.

 

[joshwest]

That is what I am doing right now... using a 802.11n extreme as the main wireless base with a 802.11g express plugged into it via ethernet acting as a bridge. It seems to be working great! My n-clients connect at full speed on the n-network, and my legacy devices use the g-network with no problems.

There is a PDF on the Apple website that goes over what you need to do to set this up.

awesome night storm appericiate the heads up by anychance do you have the link to do this?

 

[Christina1971]

Networking novice here, who is considering the Airport Extreme for ease-of-use: if gigabit ethernet is important (the fact that I don't even know what it is suggests it might not be important to me, but I'm a little ignorant of these things) are there other routers out there that have the same functionality of the AE *with* the gigabit ethernet thing? Any that you recommend?

 

[Mr.Gadget]

Received last night... Question too...

I received mine last night and set it up next to my Linksys WRX54.
In fact, I have the Airport coming out of one of the LAN ports on the WRX54 so my wife can still use "g" on her Macbook and I can use "n" @ 5Ghz on my MBP.
Works very well. It is obviously faster on the 5Ghz n than on the standard g. In fact, when I switch between the "g" on the WRX54 and the Airport Extreme, the Extreme gives me a stronger signal.
I questioned the lack of a gigabit port too, but it really doesn't seem to be an issue. We are talking theoretical limits anyway when referring to 10/100/1000 ports. 100 seems plenty "open" for a wireless device. I believe Apple has tweaked it for more efficient use of the space.
For those who wish to use the built in router for ethernet to ethernet connections, than yes, gigabit would be nice. I'm sure that will be coming in future iterations.
Anyway, to the question: Is there any way to make the non C2D MacBook see 5Ghz "n"? I suspect not... Card add-on I guess?
Also: How can I get my MacBook Pro to show me the actual link speed (ie., 54Mb, 11Mb, 108Mb, etc...) I can see the signal strength but not the actual throughput speed.
Thanks!

 

[phuong]

awesome night storm appericiate the heads up by anychance do you have the link to do this?

i dont know about other routers but the linksys ones can be configed to work as gateway when it's directly connected to WAN, and as a router/bridge when not directly connected to WAN.
it's in the Operating Mode under the Advanced Routing tab.

the full description can be reached at http://192.168.1.1/HRouting.htm
(only from your LAN, of course)

the similar thing can be done with the AEBS. so in case you already have a gigabit router, you can leave it as that, and add the n-capability by configuring the AEBS as a bridge. so the wired network is still gigabit, and the wireless is n-wireless (along side with the g-wireless or b-wireless of the, say, linksys wrt54g, if it was already there)
basically it looks like in the picture i attach (it's on the page 35 of the following document. so plz let me know if it's illegal to do this. i'll remove it at once)
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/DesigningAirPortExtreme802.11nNetworks.pdf

 

[aristobrat]

Networking novice here, who is considering the Airport Extreme for ease-of-use: if gigabit ethernet is important (the fact that I don't even know what it is suggests it might not be important to me, but I'm a little ignorant of these things) are there other routers out there that have the same functionality of the AE *with* the gigabit ethernet thing? Any that you recommend?

If GigE isn't a huge requirement for you, one other thing to consider (in the new Extremes favor, IMO) is the ease of setup.

The new AirPort Utility program that Apple ships with the Extreme makes it a piece of cake for novices and more advanced people to quickly setup their network and monitor its performance.

If you're only going to have one wireless router in the house, this probably isn't a huge deal for you, but my wireless network's a bit odd, and I really appreciate being able to see how every access point is doing (and the connection speed/strength/noise of each of the wireless devices in the house). It makes troubleshooting issues a lot easier.

 

[aristobrat]

awesome night storm appericiate the heads up by anychance do you have the link to do this?

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/DesigningAirPortExtreme802.11nNetworks.pdf

I think you're looking for the part about "Dual Band" networks, on page 47.

If you're going to have your 802.11b/g router hanging off of your new Airport Extreme, remember to set the slower 802.11b/g router's "Connection Sharing" setting (which is on the Internet tab) to "Off (Bridge Mode)" if you want the devices on the two different wireless networks to be able to talk to each other. That lets whatever's distributing DHCP on your network to give addresses to your b/g devices.

 

[orbitalpunk]

so wait, this thing doesnt port trigger? so BT NAT firewall tests would pretty much fail in Azureus?

 

[spaceballl]

3. So since the wireless is so fast, you thus need gigiabit ethernet less.... oh wait this is a reasoning why you need it. Logic buddy, use it.

Lots of people prefer the stability / security of wired networks. Furthermore, put a few walls in between the router and the computer and all of a sudden those 802.11n speeds aren't so speedy anymore.

 

[daneoni]

Should i choose 802.11n (2.4) or 802.11n (5.0). The 5 seems to be unstable.

 

[aristobrat]

so wait, this thing doesnt port trigger? so BT NAT firewall tests would pretty much fail in Azureus?

I used the Extreme's NAT Port Mapping Protocol, which Azureus supports fine. Each time I launch Azureus, it uses NAT-PMP to open what it needs on the Airport Extreme.

Should i choose 802.11n (2.4) or 802.11n (5.0). The 5 seems to be unstable.

I've had no problems with 5ghz at my place. Is someone else near you also running a 5ghz network?

 

[skunk]

I got mine today, and it worked flawlessly for about half an hour. I had a networked 500GB drive and printer accessible to all Macs, my Airport Express was visible and operational, and everything was hunky-dory. Then it fell over. Airport Utility couldn't see it, my whole Airport network disappeared, the AP Express stopped working and my drive and printer were inaccessible. After an hour on the phone to AppleCare in Cork, I got it working again. For about ten minutes. The status light doesn't behave as it should, the Admin utility reported "2 errors" and every time I plug in my HD and printer the whole thing falls over again. Unimpressed so far.

 

[daneoni]

I've had no problems with 5ghz at my place. Is someone else near you also running a 5ghz network?

Im not sure but i only get 2 bars with 5GHz spectrum but get healthy Lan like connections with 2.4 GHz.

However i'd rather use 5.0 as there are cordless phones around the house and i microwave in the kitchen which is in close proximity to the base station as well as cellphones. TV's etc. All in all pretty crowded.

Maybe its the UK restriction thing banning 40Mhz on the 5.0GHz spectrum or something like that...

 

[aristobrat]

That stinks. Wonder if anyone else in the UK is having the same problems with 5ghz?