Does AirPort Express have a firewall?
Does AirPort Express have a built-in firewall? If so, why does my Security & Privacy say the firewall is turned off?
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)
The firewall software is on your computer, not the AEX.
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12 replies
There is a NAT firewall on the AirPort Express, which is enabled if the AirPort Express is configured normally with default settings as a router to provide DHCP and NAT service for the network.
Your Mac has a completely separate firewall setting which can be enabled or disabled. It sounds like the firewall on your Mac is turned off. That's OK if the firewall on the AirPort Express is enabled.
Thanks Bob. How do I check to see if it is enabled and configured properly?
If "it" is the firewall on your AirPort Express.....
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the AirPort Express, then click Edit
Click the Network tab at the top of the window
If the setting for Network Mode is DHCP and NAT, the NAT firewall is automatically enabled. No adjustments are needed.
If the setting for Network Mode is Off (Bridge Mode), the firewall on the AirPort Express is disabled.
Your modem also has a firewall, which would be "on" by default unless you have turned it off. So even if the firewall is "off" on your Mac and "off" on the AirPort Express, you still very likely have a firewall protecting you in the modem.
Hello again Bob. I got as far as Edit but couln't find the Network tab. You're dealing with a senior so I hope you'll bear with me. Thanks.
After you click Edit, click the Network tab near the top of the window and the following window will appear if the AirPort firewall is enabled:
If you click the Network tab and the window looks like the example below......the firewall is not enabled on the AirPort.
I can't bring up the AirPort Utility window that looks like yours. I don't know how to find it. When I go to AirPort Utility it comes up with the picture of a globe with a green dot for Internet -picture of AirPort Expess and a green dot for Base Station.
Step 1......Open AirPort Utility
Step 2......Click directly on the picture of the AirPort Express and another small window will open just to the side of the AirPort Express picture or icon.
Step 3.....Click Edit in that small window.
Step 4.....Click the Network tab as illustrated in the previous post above
I found a Wi-Fi network window and under advanced it came up with about 7 tabs. When I clicked on the TCP/IP it said, configure IPV4: Using DHCP! I guess I'm good. Thanks for all your help and your patience!!!!
I tried it your way. Wow, so easy. It says DHCP and NAT. I can't believe it was that easy. You're great!
Bob, appreciate your detailed responses in this thread. I just came across it--several months late.
I have an old Airport Express and did get the older Airport Utility extracted. However, all I'm seeing when I went to the manual set up process were four tabs!
Summary, Base Station, Wireless, Access
No Network one. Any ideas?
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A bit later... for anyone else stumbling across this... certain versions of Airport Utility are arranged differently. The tabs are as I mentioned, but above the tabs is a series of icons: Airport, Internet, Music, Printers, Advanced.
If you click on Internet, you'll see the Connection Sharing pull down menu. That's where, as Bob points out, you may see the Off (Bridge Mode).
However, the other choices in the menu do not involve DHCP and NAT, but share or distribute Internet addresses...
Above that it says, Connect: Using Ethernet (the other choice is PPoE).
In my case, however, my Airport Express is, in fact, being used in a bridge mode--connected via Ethernet to a Linksys router (which is attached to the cable modem). So, it needs to stay that way (AFAIK, and as far as I remember from the hours of figuring out how to set it up).
Is that right?
So, I'd need to check my router for the hardware firewall, right? Off to Linksys config pages, although the last time I explored that, I bricked the router! 🙂
Is that right?
Yes
So, I'd need to check my router for the hardware firewall, right? Off to Linksys config pages,.....
Yes, but it is likely a software firewall, not a hardware firewall.
Does AirPort Express have a firewall?