Airport Extreme ethernet routing in Bridge Mode

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Level 1

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Airport Extreme ethernet routing in Bridge Mode

i had(!) the following scenario Airport Extreme (5th Generation) .. via WAN connect to the modem, Ethernet to serval switches, WiFi acting as WDS Main

the WDS Slaves are 3 small Airport express and one Airport Extreme (1st Generation)

due a cabeling problem i had to move the WAN Modem .. and connected it to the 1st generation airport extreme created a Joined network (not WDS) enabled DHCP on the same device.

the new Airport extreme (5th generation) and the Airport Express joined the same network and running in bridge mode.

everything works just like before .. all networks parts can connect to each other, anywhere else including the internet.

exept of anything connected to the ethernet ports of the (now slaved) airport extreme (5th generation) anything connected there seems not to be routed at all ..

they have a physical connection (link show on the Airport and on the Switch. but there is zero data going trough ... no DHCP adresses assigned. manually assign a IP in the same network results in the same effect (can't even ping the directly connected Airport Extreme.

is this a Bug ?

Posted on Jan 10, 2012 6:35 PM

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Answer 1

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,096 points

Jan 10, 2012 6:47 PM in response to AltF4

Sorry, you might have lost me here.

The AirPort Extreme that you mention that is "not routing".....

You say that you "joined" the wireless network if I understand that part correctly.

When the AirPort Extreme is configured to "Join a wireless network", it performs no routing functions....because it is in Bridge Mode....DHCP and NAT are turned off. The Ethernet ports are not enabled. The only thing that really functions is the USB port.

Can you clarify your settings?

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Answer 2

AltF4 Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 10, 2012 6:53 PM in response to Bob Timmons

yes that is exactly the situation.

i was really wondering .. because just like you saying .. the USB Port works fine (i share a printer and a Disk on the port) .. but the connected ethernet ports are non functional.

yes i have Joined the network .. because the WDS function with a first generation WDS host turned out in terrible connection times.

however, this is clearly a Bug then ! since i have sucessfully "extended" the network by joining the first one .. the USB port working .. "just" the ethernet ports does not.

btw, the Airport Extreme (1st generation) ... can use the ethernet port in the same configuration !

i had it in WDS Mode and Joined network before ... and had my SIP Phone connected to the ethernet port ...

it got an ip from the remote Airport extreme and the routing worked perfectly..

the problems seems to be something with the Bridge mode on 5th generation Airports

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Answer 3

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,096 points

Jan 10, 2012 7:07 PM in response to AltF4

this is clearly a Bug then ! since i have sucessfully "extended" the network by joining the first one .. the USB port working .. "just" the ethernet ports does not.

It's not a bug according to Apple, so I would not look for a "fix". The Ethernet ports are enabled in "WDS" mode, but not in "Join" mode.

The Ethernet ports will work on newer "n" Extremes that are configured to "Extend a wireless network" when the wireless network is provided by another Apple "n" router.

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Answer 4

AltF4 Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 10, 2012 7:08 PM in response to Bob Timmons

oh ic ... thats why it worked before the other way arround ...

well does still not make any sense to me .. but you are 100% right ..

enabeling WDS on the Airport Extreme (1gen) and doing slave the Airport extreme (5 gen) works fine .. but the connection times are about 10 times slower than in a joined network.

which makes the whole show extremly slow ...

it takes some times 5 minutes and a million time clicking (assign new) to just get an IP adress ... even if the dhcp running on the same Airport where the client is connecting to ..

if the 5gen APE is WDS master .. and the 1gen is WDS Slave (my old setup) .. this problem is not existing ...

but then ican't connect the WAN modem to the slaved Airport since the slave is always bridged and the master requires internet connectivity trough the local Wan port

any idea to get arround this ?

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Answer 5

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,096 points

Jan 10, 2012 7:18 PM in response to AltF4

1st Generation AirPort Extreme is listed as being an "n" wireless device, so it would be able to use the much, much faster "extend a wireless network" settings instead of WDS.

Or, do you mean that you have one of the older "flying saucer" shaped AirPort Extremes?

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Answer 6

AltF4 Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 10, 2012 7:54 PM in response to Bob Timmons

yes it's a G type, a Flying Soucer (not a n-type) ... sorry i was at the impression this was the "first" extreme Airport ...

extending the network fails into "this network can not be extended" error

but joingin works fine ... and so does WDS ... just the old guy can't be the WDS master ..

(exept you can live with 40secounds ping time) 😝

strange is .. if the old one is WDS slave ... everything runns smooth as silk.

including connections from the old to the new .. no matter if ethernet or wireless.

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Answer 7

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,096 points

Jan 10, 2012 8:06 PM in response to AltF4

WDS works fine, it's just S-L-O-W. Your 5th Generation device drops down to "g" wireless levels as soon as you invoke the WDS setting, so you are losing a ton of performance right off the bat.

Then, the second Extreme cuts the bandwidth on the entire network in half again.

If the budget will permit, another AirPort Extreme will likely provide much, much better performance for you.

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