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Must Airport Base Stn Be The Internet Router?
#559 08/08/09 12:52 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
JoBoy Offline OP
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I have the configuration shown below. I also have a software router (IPNetRouterX) that I trust. It is kept current via periodic updates. My current setup has IPNetRouterX on the Mac Pro. The Internet modem is connected to built-in GbEthernet Card 1. The Mac Pro is connected to my LAN via built-in GbEthernet Card 2. I have two GbEthernet switches that service the LAN that includes one additional Mac, a Dell XPS, an IBM ThinkPad and an HP4200n printer. The physical layout makes two switches desirable. I have connected the Time Capsule to the network via a cable from the first switch to the WAN port on the Time Capsule. This allows me to back up Time Machine over the GbEthernet network. It works very well. I also am able to do a scheduled backup of a SuperDuper! sparse image of the system every night. The sparseimage is in its own folder that coexists with the TM sparsebundle on the Time Capsule's hard drive.

The downside of this arrangement is that I can't get Airport Extreme to connect wirelessly to PC Laptops when our children come to visit. Everything worked well (both LAN and wireless connections) when I used Time Capsule as a router by connecting the cable modem to TC's WAN port and connecting a cable from one of TC's GbEthernet ports to the first switch. This requires me to abandon my beloved software router. My question is: Is it mandatory to use TC as the router in order to provide laptops with wireless connection to the Internet? I've not tried the Guest Network option. For a networking newbie, the manuals don't make the answers clear, IMHO.


Mac Pro dual Quad-Core Intel Xeons Early 2008; 16GB RAM; MacOS X 10.11.6, iOS 9.3.5
Re: Must Airport Base Stn Be The Internet Router?
JoBoy #566 08/08/09 02:05 AM
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Your description lacks some important details. Is ipnetrouterx serving dhcp? is your internet modem? Is your airport configured passthrough or is it creating its own subnet? Why are you using IPNR in the first place? (what is its function in your network? it's got about 5,000 things it can do, I know because I use it for multilink multihoming here, I have two ISPs servicing my LAN, and that is the ONLY function on it I actually use)

A network map would make it a lot easier to understand. Try to come up with something along the lines of this to give you an idea of the detail that's good to have:

http://vftp.net/virtual1/temp/vnet.pdf

Tho I sadly don't have the segment or device ip addresses listed but that would help us a lot in your case too.


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Must Airport Base Stn Be The Internet Router?
JoBoy #568 08/08/09 03:07 AM
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Using Airport Utility > Internet > Internet Connection your Time Capsule can be configured to:
  1. Share a public IP address in this mode it creates its own independent network by providing DHCP and NAT services to any device connected via wireless or the ethernet LAN port(s) on the back.
  2. Distribute a range of IP addresses which is similar to sharing a public IP address but without the protection and flexibility of the NAT services.
  3. Off (Bridge Mode) which means the TC creates the wireless network but provides no DHCP or NAT services and relies instead on the router for the ethernet network.
I gather from your description you wish to use option C and let your beloved software router handle all the routing and I presume DHCP as well as NAT chores.

IMO a better choice for your network would be to choose option A and allow the TC to create the network and provide all the DHCP and NAT services for the wireless network and any devices connected to the TC's ethernet LAN ports. Your beloved software router would still be providing the routing services for your wired network. I have a somewhat analogous, albeit less complex network here that is configured the way I suggest and it works beautifully. Any wireless device can "see" devices on the ethernet and vice-versa even though the wired and wireless networks use entirely different IP address ranges. I think you will find this works better.

That may or may not solve the issue with the children's PC laptops connecting to your wireless network however. There are a lot of variables and especially if you are using 802.11n networking the draft final standards are not due until 2010 and although there are a lot of 802.11n devices on the market, the devil is in the details. Not all 802.11n devices or devices using 802.11n in b/g compatibility mode are in fact compatible. If that is the case you may need to back down to 802.1b/g only for connectivity with the PCs. You will also do better if you can use WPA and not WEP security but WPA may not be available on the PCs.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Must Airport Base Stn Be The Internet Router?
joemikeb #763 08/10/09 12:12 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
JoBoy Offline OP
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Joined: Aug 2009
Thanks to both of you for the advice. I'll try joemikeb's suggestion as soon as a visiting PC arrives on the scene. They left before I could try it, but they'll be back in a week. I'll follow up after I've made the attempt.


Mac Pro dual Quad-Core Intel Xeons Early 2008; 16GB RAM; MacOS X 10.11.6, iOS 9.3.5

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