Q: Adding AirPort Time Capsule to an existing network

There is only one right way to add the TC and that is by ethernet.. please do not even dream of trying to use the TC in wireless join mode.. it is poor.. like in "he chose, poorly" poor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGFuHC75aY

With the TC plugged into the main router by ethernet you have multiple choices.

1. Turn off the wireless in the TC. Just use the existing wireless.. everything will work exactly as it does now.. with the TC available as a network device.

2. Turn off the wireless in the existing router. Use the TC with the same name (SSID) and security settings.

3. Do a roaming network. Put the TC on the same SSID, Same security, same password as the existing router.. but move channels.. I prefer to do it manually although auto channels can work.. poorly..  in some cases. Simply set channels manually out of 1, 6, 11 make the router one of those. And make the TC the other.

See the doco. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260

It doesn't matter that you are not using two Apple routers. But this uses auto channels which I am suspicious of.

Some separation of the two routers is good.. if only a few meters.

4. Two separate wireless networks.. but due to the TC being part of the main network, they are still on the same network.. this is useful when you have large backups going to the TC so the main wireless network does not carry that load. Also 5ghz on the TC is much faster than the 2.4ghz network.. especially on the new TC with AC wireless.. which has the speed gain mostly on 5ghz.

La Pastenague,

I'm wondering if you would think it's important to add various devices to a network in any particular order?

I know that sounds like a dumb question, but I'm thinking of adding a Time Capsule to my stuff and have a ATV (2012), a Airport Extreme (2010?), and would like to add a wireless printer.

My assumption would be that I would start with the Time Capsule, and then connect each device to its network one at a time to test for consistency.  Does that sound...  idk, right?  I've seen other polite dissention here about how different network families interact with another, i.e., 802.11ac vs. 802.11n...

Thoughts?  Hurled tomatoes?

Mixing N and AC is a non-issue..

The most important device in the network, that is really important.. the router.. before anything else goes in the router is the most essential part. Even the modem which is the link to the outside world.. but modem can be added later or turned on and off.. whereas the network will stop when the router goes off. Most people have a modem-router in one box.

If you have multiple items that are part of the network infrastructure then generally they go in before the majority of clients.. but of course you need at least one client turned on to do the setup.

When people restart a network.. always a good idea when something goes wrong btw.. the order is..

Modem.. not because it is the most important.. I attribute that to the router.. but because the router functions better at turn on if it gets immediately the outside WAN address.

Then the router.. of course for most people modem and router are one and the same box.

Switch is next.. any switch should go on..

EOP adapters..

WAP.. if you have multiple points either connected by wireless or wired..

Then the clients. Including all the things like printers, NAS, etc.

Sometimes if you start things up in the wrong order.. eg clients before the WAPs are started.. then they fail to connect, or connect badly to a unit far away.

It is usually not difficult to figure out.. and things will usually sort out by rebooting.. just the one item.. I do a lot of network modfications in my testings and repair work.. my usual approach when things go sour is reboot the switch. That is because it is boots fast .. just a few seconds.. and restarting the switch forces all the clients off the network.. and when they come back they will all do dhcp discovery for a new IP address.

Make of it all what you will!!

THANK YOU.  Wonderful reply.  I had to look up a few things to follow you but this is very helpful.  I appreciate you taking the time.

HI, how do I go with option 1?

I assume I can setup my TC wirelessly, adding it to my existing wifi?

I had connected the TC with my router and assume that once the TC is setup, I can disconnect the ethernet cables?

I reset the TC, then use Airport utility's other option to add it to an existing network but get an error.  I tried twice already.

bclemans wrote:

 

HI, how do I go with option 1?

 

I assume I can setup my TC wirelessly, adding it to my existing wifi?

 

Having read the fact that it is the worst most horrible method.. slow and kills the usefulness of the TC to any network function whatsoever.. you then want it setup this way..

Do not setup the TC with ethernet to the Router.. that will mess things up completely..

You should have the computer connected to the wireless network you want the TC to join.

Reset the TC to factory..

Locate the new TC in the list under the wifi icon in the top menu area.

Click on it and it will open airport utility.. it will then attempt .. and I emphasise attempt to join the TC to the wireless network.

According to Bob Timmons.. it is successful occasionally.. ie if it fails.. just go back and try again.

Try it from an iOS device running airport utility.

If it is a Gen4 TC or earlier.. then you can do it manually via the v5 utility.. hold down option key when you select wireless mode. .and join wireless network will appear.. it is hidden because Apple do NOT support or recommend anyone use it.

You cannot do this with AC version because the v5 utility no longer works.. and apple include no method at all to join a non-apple wireless network.. except for automagical flummery.

Good luck.. as Han Solo would say.. your gonna need it!!

Deleted post....posted to wrong thread by mistake.

Looking at the recent post though....I agree strongly with LaPastenagure that trying to configure the TC to connect wirelessly is by far the worst possible choice.

La Pastenague (or anyone else you may be able to help),

I am relatively new to using Mac's so I am not the most familiar with them.  With in the last year both my wife and I have got new Mac (MBP and MBA), and just a few days ago I purchased a TC.  What I would like to do is hook it up using my existing modem/router (in one) that was provided by verizon fios. 

From following previous posts I believe I have it set up correctly but am unsure about some things.  What I have done is connected the TC from LAN1 on the previous router to the WAN on the TC and turned off the wireless in the FIOS router.  From there I just went through the set up with the TC and had it create a new network with a new network name and password.

It seems that the Internet is working well, however when I go into the Airport Utility it does not seem to show what other wireless devices are connected to the TC Network (i.e. my wife's computer and both of our iPhones and iPads).  Is this normal or am I just missing something, or maybe I do not have it set up correctly?

My other question is that since my wife has the MBAir, I don't want it to get low on storage and would like to store her iTunes library as well as pictures on the TC for access.  Is there a best way to do this?  I understand doing this is not optimal in the sense that you take away the backup in a way, but we both have the same iTunes library so my computer will have another copy as well as I have the library and her pictures on another drive, basically I just do not want her to have to bother connecting a drive each time she wants to access these things.  When I go into the finder, I can see the TC and when I access it there is a Data folder, would I just go into there and create a new folder for her stuff and possibly one for me?  If so is there a way to make these folders not shared if I choose too?

Thanks in advance for any help that anyone may be able to provide, it is appreciated.

when I go into the Airport Utility it does not seem to show what other wireless devices are connected to the TC Network

Open AirPort Utility, then click on the Time Capsule icon

Then look for Wireless Clients

and would like to store her iTunes library as well as pictures on the TC for access.

Unfortunately, this is never a good idea. The Time Capsule is for your backups.......not everyday files or "working" libraries.  Both the iTunes library and photo library will tend to get "lost" if you try this.

And, if you move your "original" libraries to the Time Capsule....how do you plan to back up those librairies?

Things will be much easier and a lot more reliable if you add a USB or FireWire hard drive and connect it directly to the Mac. Move the librairies over to the attached hard drive.

Then....magically....Time Machine will back up both the Mac and the hard drive. Now you have "originals" on one drive and "backups" on another drive.  That would be a minimum backup plan.

Just be sure to set the drive to be backed up in Time Machine Options on the Mac.

Hi aj,

I'm by no means an expert, but I have struggled mightily with a few of your needs.  First, certainly listen to Bob, above me, as he seems pretty expert at these issues.  I've haunted his messages a few times to learn how to do things through the work of others.

I tried once to host an iTunes library on an Airport Extreme, and it doesn't work. The unit (and, I'm assuming, the TC as well) is just not set up as a file sharing device. You want to believe that it can do that, but I think it just can't... or does so so poorly that it's not worth the time you'll put into trying to get your connected devices to communicate with it properly.

Second, again keeping in mind I'm not a professional... I have really battled for a long time with the idea of two people (or more) working off different iLibraries, and I gave up early this year.  What we have done and what has worked so far is connect our different devices to the same iCloud account.  This has worked for us so far, and depending on the size of your music library, would save you the initial cost of a wireless HD if that's what you want to do--I say initial because presumably after a time you'll be paying annually in iCloud storage what you'd have paid once for a device.

This meets her need to access as much stuff as possible and not worry about it and my need to bring my OCD-level of crazy to the problem of "syncing" across devices.  We have not had any issues so far.

Soon I'll be installing a new home system, though, with (ideally) the "home" libraries on a desktop iMac... this will keep the hard drive copies and the TC will keep the backups... Then, (again, ideally, I'm not sure how this will go), the other iDevices and Macbooks in the family will point towards that iCloud account, and things should work out.

I hope. 

But the point of all that is I played the "This is my stuff, That is your stuff" game with my spouse for years and it never worked out.  Having a merged iCloud account has done wonders.

Thank you for your reply Bob, I appreciate the help.  Unfortunately however, your help has left me with a couple other questions if you have some time.  First I did see where it does show the clients on my network, I am sure I noticed it before, I just thought it would show the name of the device rather than the IP address.  The way my previous routers were, if you went into the network map it actually stated the name of the device (My pc, iPhone, iPad, My wife PC ect.)

My first question is if I have set up the TC properly and most efficient?  I guess what I am hung up on is why do I not use the WAN port on the Fios router, and connect it to the WAN on the TC?  As I said, I currently have it going from the LAN1 (Fios Router) to the WAN port on the TC and have gone into the old routers setting and turned off the Wireless.  From there I just let the TC create an intirely new network. 

Next is on to the storage problem/solution.  Believe me when I say, I do understand that using a "backup" drive to store everyday files is not the smartest, and I do not intend on doing it for the long term.  Unfortunately I just spent $300 on a TC so I do not have the money right now to get another drive to just store her music and pictures.  She has the 128gb MBA, and its already more than half full with no more than half the photos on it and I havent even transfered her iTunes library.  So for the time being I just want to use the TC till I can get another drive. 

Thins brings me to another question.  I have seen it said by many to just hook up a USB drive to it to store these files, which like I said I plan to do in the future.  My question is if there is a way to do this wirelessly as well?  Could I plug the drive into the TC's USB and access the store/access her photos and iTunes that way?  Ultimately what it comes down to, and it may be petty, but you loss much of the portability of the MBA if you constantly have to move a drive and plug/unplug it all the time.  With this as well, would you reccommend any drives for this?  Preferably 500gb-1tb, and possibly being cross platform MAC/PC, since she still has a lot of files on her PC.  Finally regardless of how I do it, is it easy to set up the Time Machine to back up the connected drive? I haven't used time machine yet.

I think that is it for now, granted I'll probably think of more questions...Again thank you very much for your help!  It truely is appreciated. 

brdaykin,

Thanks for the response and suggestions.  Fortunately for my wife and I, we have shared an iTunes account for as long as I can remember.  We do however have separate iCloud accounts, which we use mainly for separate, calendar, and contacts. 

So like I had replied to Bob, currently it just comes down to storage space, and that I do not have the money to go and purchase another drive to be able to store her photos and iTunes library on for her to access.  Regardless of how it can be done, I would like it to be wireless, otherwise it just seems to take away from the portability of the MBA, at least in my opinion. 

I do think that the "cloud" is a good idea for many, I just cant bring myself to use it for much.  I do not like the idea of everything being stored somewhere else, however I am pretty sure whether you back up your iTunes to the cloud or not, you always have access to songs/apps you have purchased.  At least I know when I look at an app on my phone that my wife has already downloaded, it was just prompt me to download it rather than having to purchase. 

Thanks again, and I will ask you as well as I asked Bob, but if you have any ideas on how to do what I am looking to do wirelessly it is appreciated.  Then I can just store everything on the external drive, and as Bob said, back her computer and the drive up to the TC (if I figure that out as well )  Thanks again, it is appreciated.

I guess what I am hung up on is why do I not use the WAN port on the Fios router, and connect it to the WAN on the TC?

Because things will not work if you connect WAN to WAN. 

I currently have it going from the LAN1 (Fios Router) to the WAN port on the TC and have gone into the old routers setting and turned off the Wireless.  From there I just let the TC create an intirely new network.

That would be correct.

So for the time being I just want to use the TC till I can get another drive.

Not recommended, but it is is your call.

Could I plug the drive into the TC's USB and access the store/access her photos and iTunes that way?

You could, but it is not recommended for the same reason as not putting the same files on the Time Capsule.

would you reccommend any drives for this?

I use LaCie drives, but there are many other good choices.

is it easy to set up the Time Machine to back up the connected drive?

Time Machine will only back up a drive connected to a Mac.  It is a matter of a few clicks in Time Machine Options to include the drive attached to the Mac in Time Machine backups.