Airport Extreme wired AND extend network - Need Input

Clarification question.

We tried this last night at the office, we've got 4 Airport Extremes. One is the "main" one. DHCP, etc is handled by a cable modem that the extreme is connected to over ethernet.

We wired up each Extreme like the diagram, but had all kinds of trouble. One thing i wanted to be clear on. In this configuration, would you see X number of networks all with the same address (and of course varying degrees of signal strength) or would you simply see the one network and connect to the strongest where ever you are?

Thanks!

jwilker wrote:

Clarification question.

We tried this last night at the office, we've got 4 Airport Extremes. One is the "main" one. DHCP, etc is handled by a cable modem that the extreme is connected to over ethernet.

We wired up each Extreme like the diagram, but had all kinds of trouble. One thing i wanted to be clear on. In this configuration, would you see X number of networks all with the same address (and of course varying degrees of signal strength) or would you simply see the one network and connect to the strongest where ever you are?

Thanks!

1. Do you have Lion? 2. Did you ever set up iCloud? 3. If the answer is yes to 1 and 2, an easier way would be to set up Back to My Mac. 4. Get the main unit working - dont worry about the other units. Un plug them from the main unit. Once the Mai n Unit is working, Put the other 3 units where you want them. They will connect wirellessly to extend the main signal. Setting them up wirelessly is much nicer if you a. have Lion, b. have the latest Airport Utility 6.0 and c. the latest firmware for your extremes, d. have set up iCloud and Back to My Mac. 5. Open your airport utility find the other three units and extend the main unit.

If you feel wired is better then use the diagram above... and in some ways wired is better and easier. If you want wireless, then you have to set it up as wireless all the units. good luck.

yeah I'm on Lion, and that's the set up we're using now, but would prefer to set them up connect by ehternet (faster between devices). But i don't want 4 networks of the same name showing up, which is what I think the diagram would result in, yes?

umm no.

uh thanks?

Hello,

Quick question. Having the airport extreme as my DHCP base, is there a way to have more than 3 wired routers on a roaming network (there are 3 ports for connecting routers)?

Thanks in advance

Connect an Ethernet switch to one of the LAN <-> ports on the AirPort Extreme to add as many additional Ethernet ports as you need.

Ethernet switches come in 5-port, 8-port, 16-port, etc versions.

Excellent, Bob, many thanks. I guess I need to ensure the switch has gigabit ports, correct? Any other hint to ensure I don't loose performance with the addition of the switch?

Again, thanks for taking the time to respond.

Yes, since the AirPort Extreme has Gigabit Ethernet capability, you would want to have a Gigabit Ethernet switch feeding signals to other AirPort Extremes.

Make sure that all Ethernet cabling is rated for CAT5e or CAT6.

This is indeed a very helpful and clear thread. One additional question. My modem takes care of the DHCP as this can't be turned off. My AirPort Extreme is attached to the modem with an Ethernet cable. The AirPort Extreme creates the wireless network. I want a second AirPort Extreme upstairs. Will this work as described at the beginning of the thread even though neither AirPort Extreme do the DCHP?

I want a second AirPort Extreme upstairs. Will this work as described at the beginning of the thread even though neither AirPort Extreme do the DCHP?

You can have as many AirPorts as you want, as long as all of them are configured to operate in Bridge Mode.

In other words, except for the name of the device (to keep things organized), the AirPorts would all be configured exactly the same.

This didn't work for me. AirPort Utility said I needed to power down my modem for a bit and then continue.

I am having the exact same issue as coleclark. I have an Airport Extreme and an Airport Express that I purchased new in December 2012. Setup is Modem -> Airport Extreme WAN Port -> Gigabit "dumb" switch -> Airport Express. Latest firmware, latest Airport Utility etc. Airport Express works fine for streaming audio etc. and will show up in the Airport Utility, but as soon as I set it to extend the wireless network of the Airport Extreme, the whole system comes crashing down and nothing can connect to the wireless network. The only way that I can connect again is by unplugging the Airport Express.

If Coleclark is out there (or anyone else) did you get this issue resolved and if so, how?

but as soon as I set it to extend the wireless network of the Airport Extreme, the whole system comes crashing down and nothing can connect to the wireless network.

You don't really need to set the Express to do anything other than accept the recommended settings if you are using the latest version of AirPort Utility 6.x.

AirPort Setup will literally take care of everything for you as long as you have "n" versions of the AirPorts. The Express qualifies as an "n" device. How about your AirPort Extreme?

The Set up that finally worked for me was

Modem.

Airport Extreme as Router. DHCP, etc.

A switch

Airport Exreme upstairs.

Settings wise, i gave up on the Wireless "extend existing network" was incredibly prone to collapsing and just bringing the whole network to it's knees.

This set up is a replication of what we did at the office with 4 AP Extremes.

Once we had the main AP set up, each subsequent AP was connected over ethernet and set to create the exact same network, same Channels, everything, Exception being, not set as DHCP etc.

Both at work and at home the end result was a seemless network spanning the building. No crashes, no drops, totally solid for months (8 so far at work).

Under the "extend wireless network" setup i had the same issues (in both places) as Bull frog. The network was up, but nothing could connect. Things that were connected sometimes stayed connected, sometimes lost and couldn't reconnect. That problem is now 100% gone.