Macbook Pro as wifi router on a VPN and Airport as extender (while simultaneously running previous network on same Airport)

jamienyc1 wrote:

Hi, I just set up my Macbook Pro to operate as a wireless wifi router that connects to the internet with a VPN I set up. It works great, the Macbook is connected to my Airport router thru an ethernet cable, confirms the VPN works (used an IP tracker to see location) and I turn on the Macbook's wifi and my iPhone finds the new network and successfully connects. (I even checked the VPN location with IP tracker on the iPhone and confirmed it works).

To specify all hardware, I've got a MacBook Pro, an iPhone, a primary Airport Extreme and another Extreme as an extender, and an Airport Express as an extender, and an Apple TV, and a cable company modem for the internet.

Try as I might, I'm struggling a bit to understand your basic network configuration.

Let me see if I got the following straight. In your current configuration:

• Your primary AirPort Extreme connects directly to your ISP's cable modem for Internet access. What exact model is this base station and what is the make & model of the modem?
• You then have a second Extreme that is performing as an extender, as well as, an AirPort Express. Again, what models are they and are both extenders connected back to the primary Extreme by wireless or with wired connections?
• You then mention that you are using a MacBook Pro (MBP) as a wireless router. Is it configured for Internet sharing? ... and you stated that it was connected to one of your base stations. Which one is it connected to in this fashion? ... and what is the purpose of doing so? Is this to provide VPN service? If so, then is your goal to run two simultaneous networks (one with VPN capability, and the other, without?)

In effect, you are trying to "extend" a WiFi network that AirPort Utility never created, so unfortunately things are not going to work with the other AirPorts, no matter whether you use AirPort Utility on a Mac, a PC, or an iPhone / iPad.

Best to go ahead and get a VPN router, then you can connect the other AirPorts to the VPN router and run them in Bridge Mode.

Thanks this is completely different from what I had pictured based on the info from your first post.

The basic problem remains though.......and that is that you need to "extend" or "repeat" the WiFi signal from the MacBook and the AirPorts will not be able to do this. They can only "extend" a WiFi signal from another AirPort router.......not from the "router" built into the MacBook for Internet Sharing.

It would be a goofy setup.......(think of it as a science experiment).......but if you added an AirPort Express and configured it to "join" the MacBook WiFi network (the Express cannot "extend" it), the Ethernet port on the Express is enabled when it "joins" a network, so you could connect an Ethernet over powerline adapter to the Express and send the signal over the AC power lines to the location of the Apple TV and use another Ethernet over powerline adapter to connect to the Apple TV.

Unfortunately, the Express only has 100 Mbps Ethernet ports, so the maximum speed that the Express could deliver would be 100 Mbps. Realistically, the speed at the Apple TV will probably be in the 50-60 Mbps range at best because the powerline adapters will take a toll on the network speed.

Things would be tons easier if you used a VPN router as your "main" router, but I'll let Tesserax talk about that.

In "theory" a universal extender could do this, but I don't have a specific brand or model that I've used for this purpose. For what its worth, I've never found a "universal" extender that was compatible with the signal from an AirPort router, but things might be different with the MacBook "router".

If it were me, I would try Ethernet over powerline before I tried WiFi, but its your call. Good idea to make sure that you understand the store's return policies......before.....you buy.

Tesserax is a VPN expert, so wait for his reply as well.

Let’s say I go with an ethernet cable solution instead of extending the wifi from the MBP. It’s easy enough to enable the VPN on the MBP with its internet connection being wireless via an Airport, but what then are the steps to use the MBP as a wired router?

The MBP cannot do this. At least, this is what I have found when I've tried to use the USB port in this way.

That is why I suggested the "goofy" setup above.....because the AirPort Express must receive a WiFi signal from the MBP and convert it to an Ethernet signal. You will need another Mac or an iPhone / iPad to set up the Express though since the MBP is acting as a router.

The idea of using a "universal" WiFi repeater might work as well.......IF......the repeater is able to extend the WiFi signal provided by the MBP and provide a strong and fast signal to the Apple TV. I never found a "universal" repeater that would repeat or extend the signal from an AirPort router, but things might be different with the MBP providing WiFi.

This is probably the "simplest" potential solution if it works. Yes, you will have to deal with another application to set up and configure the repeater if you want to try that possibility.

If your goal is to provide VPN access for all of your network clients AND provide the best data throughput possible for that network, you really need to consider either a dedicated VPN appliance (somewhat of an expensive overkill, IMHO) or an Internet gateway that has VPN functionality. Second, you really haven't provided your VPN networking goals, which would really help here. That is, what type of VPN are you using or want to use? Would this be, for example, only for local clients to access a remote VPN server, for say, secure access to a financial web site? ... or to another remote location to access the location's internal network. On the other side of VPN, do you want to be at a remote location and be able to access resources on your local network? Regardless, either way, a VPN-enable gateway would be the better solution over what you are proposing. Besides, my guess is no one here at the ASC would have the equipment necessary to "test" out your "experiment" to validate it for you.

Good luck! Let us know how things are working when you can.