Q: Time machine added to existing network
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Jul 19, 2012 9:02 PMby mvest20,Helpfulelmwoodestate,
Haha, no offense but networking by its very nature requires at least a little (and oftentimes more) geekiness. Distilling the essence of the other post down to its basics, you have to make a decision before we can assist you with next steps. Do you want your Time Capsule to be its own wireless network, or to join the existing network? Either way is possible, but will require some configuration on your part. Another way to ask this question that may make your answer easier is will you be able to plug your Time Capsule directly in to the exisiting Airport Extreme using ethernet, or will it be in another portion of the house?
Fair warning, any configuration we attempt may require several posts back and forth as there are few things in the tech world that are more difficult and potentially troublesome than networking (and that's coming from someone who works in IT!) That being said, I'm willing to give it a shot if you want.
Let me know, and I'll try and put together some next steps.
-Matt
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Jul 21, 2012 12:09 PMby elmwoodestate,Hi Matt, thank you so much for your kind offer and yes, this does help quite a bit. We are renting a luxurious and quite a large single story home here in Muscat that has been completely wired for Wifi. There is a master router that distributes the wifi signal to nearby devices and several airport extreme slaves that receive and amplify the signal at a distance to the master.
I was hoping to allow the Time Capsule to join the network and function as one of the slaves while also allowing it to perform its mission as a backup device. I removed one of the airport extremes and installed the Time Capsule in its place. The time capsule warmed up and began to blink yellow. When I opened the airport utility on the master computer it offered to take me through a process that I was afraid to try because it indicated that I would be modifying the network... hence the original query - to try to learn from this forum so that I could do this without making a mistake and screwing up what is presently a wonderful system...
Is this helpful regarding your queston?
Thanks and best regards
Chris
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Jul 22, 2012 9:53 AMby mvest20,HelpfulYes, that should actually be a pretty simple task to complete. Sounds like you have everything already set up correctly,so you should be ready to make the configuration changes in Airport Utility. This article (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4259) walks through configuring the time capsule to extend the network. The first set of directions in the article, the primary base station set up, would not apply, but the second set, Configuring an extended Wi-Fi base station, is exactly what you need to do.
Give that a shot, and let me I ow if you run into any issues.
-Matt
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Jul 25, 2012 10:06 AMby elmwoodestate,Thanks again very kindly.
I followed the instructions but when I opened airport utility it does not see my time capsule. My time capsule is configured already under a previous set up to be its own router. It says it is my own network and is not seen in airport utility. Is there some way I can reset time capsule to its setting when it was new and then possibly it will be seen by airport utility. But also I do not want to loose all of the backup stored on it. So, in fact, its still very confusing to me. Can I add my time capsule that was previously my home router to an existing network in someone elses house? Again thanks for your kind support.
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Jul 25, 2012 5:39 PMby mvest20,Yes, in fact I would recommend resetting the Time Capsule due to any settings that may have been modified over time. I would recommend doing a factory restore, as explained in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3728. Definitely do not just do a soft reset, and a hard reset could bring back additional problems. Keep in mind, this will delete the configuration settings on the base station, but will not delete any information on the hard drive itself, regardless of whether the drive has backups or other information.
Give that a shot, then try the directions from the previous article, and reply with any additional roadblocks.
Good luck!
-Matt
