Setting Up Roaming - New AirPort Extremes and Utility

That is, you don't have to have the primary Airport device in DHCP mode as the Apple article suggests.

Not Tesserax, but I will offer a comment or two here.

Apple could have made their roaming network illustration a bit more clear with several examples.

First, Apple assumes in the example that you will use nothing but Apple routers, which would be expected. Second, the illustration also assumes that you have a simple modem....not a modem/router or gateway device.

So, the first AirPort in the Apple example would provide DHCP and NAT services for the entire network and all the other AirPorts would be configured to operate in Bridge Mode, so they would operate as wireless access points.

It would have been nice if Apple provided another example....one showing that the user did not have a simple modem, but instead a modem/router or gateway type of device.

In this example, the modem/router or gateway would be providing DHCP and NAT services for the network and all the other wireless access points would be configured in Bridge Mode.

I'm sure that Tesserax will tell you his setup works very well.

Also does this setup work with the Netgear router also running a Wi-Fi network with the same SSID?

It should, assuming that all the other wireless access points....Apple or other manufacturer.......are configured to use the same wireless network name (SSID), same wireless security setting, same wireless password and each wireless access point is configured in Bridge Mode.

So, you could use your Netgear router as the "main" router providing DHCP and NAT and a mix of other products as wireless access points.

Thank you Tesserax, after two weeks of frustration trying to set up a roaming network in our new house, your response solved the problem in about 5 minutes.

I really appreciate it, thanks.

Nick

Hi Bob,

First of all I would like to thank for all the help on these discussions. Been following your posts and I have been able to successfully set up a roaming wifi network at my home. I have a simultaneous dual band Cisco EA2700 router as the primary router and have connected an Airport Express and Cisco WAP300N (set to 5 Ghz) to this via ethernet as additional access points. I also have an Apple TV2 connected to the network via wifi.

The trouble I am having is that the Apple TV does not show in the list of available devices on my ios devices - iPhone and iPad. No trouble with the Airport Express showing as an available device in both devices and there is no trouble with Air Play to the AE either.

I checked to see if its the same on the laptop but the Apple TV shows up as an available device on my Macbook Air and I am able to air play music and videos from the Air to the ATV without any difficulty.

I have tried rebooting the Apple TV a few times. It shows up on the ios devices briefly and then disappears again.

Any thoughts on why this might be happening.

Thanks again for all the help!

This is an old response, but why not just configure the TC to "replace" the netgear? It should copy over all of the port forwarding settings, etc. If not, you can easily manually enter them in the TC setup. Then you will have the netgear out of the picture completely. If you need more ethernet ports, then configure the netgear as an ethernet bridge to the TC.

Hello - thanks to the contributors of this thread for providing such clear and helpful instructions. A model for forum citizenry!

Quick question - I've had a "roaming" network with a pair of airport extreme base stations funcitoning well for several years. The only setting different from the setup recommended on this thread was that I selected channels manually rather than using the automatic setting. (I was having problems several years ago with interference from a 2.4Ghz phone, but we got rid of it, so now I'm using Automatic).

At any rate, I notice that when I am using Skype or any sort of bandwidth intensive/connection dependent app on either my Macbook or my iPhone and I move from the front of the house to the rear or vice-versa, my connection always gets dropped. It doesn't seem that my two airports are successfully "handing off" my connection when I transit the house. The connection is reestablished within 30 seconds after I move, but as you might imagine, it can be frustrating during the middle of a GoToMeeting or Skype session when the call gets dumped.

Is this normal behavior (brief connection drop while handing off) or should the experience be more seamless? If the latter, what might I have misconfigured? Thanks in advance!

Tesserax,

Thanks for the detailed step-by-step setup instructions using Airport Utlity 6.x -- a couple of follow-up questions (if you are still taking them):

1. In my home network setup, the internet is provided via my FIOS router that is providing DHCP services.

To set up a Airport Roaming network, does my "main" base station by defintion have to be set with"Network tab > Router Mode: DHCP and NAT" or can roaming still work if it is instead set as "Network tab > Router Mode: Off (Bridge Mode) with the FIOS router providing DHCP services?

2. If it is required for a Roaming Network to work properly to have the main base station set with "Router Mode: DHCP and NAT" under the network tab, can you provide some clarification on recommended IP address values should be entered in the Airport Utiltiy under Network > Router Mode: DHCP and NAT > Network Options? In my case, the FIOS Router's gateway address is 192.168.1.1 and the "main" base station's iP address assigned by DHCP is 192.168.1.2.

Note: the FIOS router has assigned IP addresses of 192.168.1.2 -- 192.168.1.30 and 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.110 already, to clients that will not be on the roaming newtork.

SBsyncro... I am not the expert but based on my experience I find your routers' behavior similar to mine. I experience the drop out for about 20 seconds when I'm streaming music from my iPhone and moving around the house. I'm not sure if there is any way around this but would love to hear from the experts.

To set up a Airport Roaming network, does my "main" base station by defintion have to be set with"Network tab > Router Mode: DHCP and NAT" or can roaming still work if it is instead set as "Network tab > Router Mode: Off (Bridge Mode) with the FIOS router providing DHCP services?

If you will read back up a few posts, you will see that I have already answered this question for you.

First, Apple assumes in the example that you will use nothing but Apple routers, which would be expected. Second, the illustration also assumes that you have a simple modem....not a modem/router or gateway device.

So, the first AirPort in the Apple example would provide DHCP and NAT services for the entire network and all the other AirPorts would be configured to operate in Bridge Mode, so they would operate as wireless access points.

It would have been nice if Apple provided another example....one showing that the user did not have a simple modem, but instead a modem/router or gateway type of device.

In this example, the modem/router or gateway would be providing DHCP and NAT services for the network and all the other wireless access points would be configured in Bridge Mode.

So, with a FIOS router (gateway) "upstream" on the network, any and all Apple routers would be configured to operate in Bridge Mode.

I have multiple Airports in a roaming setup, each to be connected by Ethernet. When I connect the Airports 2 and 3, is the Ethernet cable plugged into the WAN or LAN ports on the downstream Airports (2 and 3)?

WAN ports on 2 and 3 for the setup.

Although technically, once the downstream AirPorts are setup to operate in Bridge Mode, the WAN port operates as another LAN port.

Bob Timmons wrote:

To set up a Airport Roaming network, does my "main" base station by defintion have to be set with"Network tab > Router Mode: DHCP and NAT" or can roaming still work if it is instead set as "Network tab > Router Mode: Off (Bridge Mode) with the FIOS router providing DHCP services?

If you will read back up a few posts, you will see that I have already answered this question for you.

First, Apple assumes in the example that you will use nothing but Apple routers, which would be expected. Second, the illustration also assumes that you have a simple modem....not a modem/router or gateway device.

So, the first AirPort in the Apple example would provide DHCP and NAT services for the entire network and all the other AirPorts would be configured to operate in Bridge Mode, so they would operate as wireless access points.

It would have been nice if Apple provided another example....one showing that the user did not have a simple modem, but instead a modem/router or gateway type of device.

In this example, the modem/router or gateway would be providing DHCP and NAT services for the network and all the other wireless access points would be configured in Bridge Mode.

So, with a FIOS router (gateway) "upstream" on the network, any and all Apple routers would be configured to operate in Bridge Mode.

Thanks, Bob -- I appreciate the clarification. This worked like a charm today. Problem solved!

Bob,

I have read carefully through this thread and have somewhat an off topic question. I have a verizon FIOS router that I have connected to a a/c Time Capsule. I have several airport expresses connected via roaming (ethernet connection). Obviously because of FIOS setup the Time capsule and all airports are in bridge mode. I am having an issue with my wifi sync to my computer. When the computer is awake the sync from any iOS device goes thru. When the computer goes to sleep it is hit or miss. I know that the wake-on-pan packet is going thru because when the wifi sync tries to initiate the hard drive spins up.

Any thoughts? ideas?

Would really appreciate anyones input on this matter.

Thanks

Oh my goodness. Thank You!!! I've been trying to figure out how to set up a Roaming Network, and trying to use the OLD instructions on Apples support site is very confusing. 😕

Is there any way to send Apple a message to update their info? It took me quite a while to find this post and believe it or not this is the ONLY accurate set of instructions out there. You are very generous to donate your time and the instructions. They are about as clear and easy to understand as one could want. I actually signed in to these forums just to say thank you. Hopefully Apple will get on it and update the support site. Pretty ridiculous they haven't yet. I would imagine Roaming Networks are a fairly popular endeavor.

Update: My second Airport Extreme just showed up and I'm ready to give it a shot. Chances are it will probably configure itself, but it's nice to have these instructions as a back up. Thanks again. 😎

Tesserax wrote:

The good news is that the basic roaming network setup is the same with the new 802.11ac base stations, but you did discover that the Apple Support article is a bit dated. I would expect them to update it soon.

In the mean time, let me try to give you some step-by-step instructions using the 6.x version of the AirPort Utility. First, there are a few key elements to successfully configuring a roaming network, and they are:

• All of the base station must be interconnected by Ethernet. Note: You can use non-Apple routers in this type of network.
• All base stations must have unique Base Station Names.
• All base stations must use the same Radio Mode and Wireless Security Type/Password.
• Each base station should be on a different Radio Channel. Using "Automatic" works well here.
• All base stations, other than the "main" base station, must be reconfigured as a bridge.

Let's start with the "main" base station. This will be the one directly connected to the Internet modem:

• AirPort Utility > Select the "main" base station > Edit
• Base Station tab > Base Station Name > Enter a unique name here
• Internet tab > Connect Using: DHCP
• Wireless tab > Network Mode: Create a wireless network > Wireless Network Name > Enter the desired name. This will be used on all base stations > Wireless Security: WPA2 Personal (recommended) > Wireless Password > Enter the desired wireless password. This will be used on all base stations.
• Network tab > Router Mode: DHCP and NAT
• Click on Update

For each additional base station added to the roaming network:

• AirPort Utility > Select the appropriate base station > Edit
• Base Station tab > Base Station Name > Enter a unique name here
• Internet tab > Connect Using: DHCP
• Wireless tab > Network Mode: Create a wireless network > Wireless Network Name > Enter the desired name. This will be used on all base stations > Wireless Security: WPA2 Personal (recommended) > Wireless Password > Enter the desired wireless password. This will be used on all base stations.
• Network tab > Router Mode: Off (Bridge Mode)
• Click on Update

Thanks again! Hopefully Apple will update their support page to reflect the latest version of Airport Utility.

Side Note: If you are using a brand new Apple Router as your Bridge or one that has been Reset (push in reset button on back for 8 seconds) it *should* configure itself automatically to be used in Bridge Mode and will copy over your settings from the Primary Base Station. Worked perfectly for me, but it's still important that people can see these instructions if for some reason they will need to set it up manually.

Thanks Tesserax, I have exactly the same setup as Tim Hassett and used your magnificent description to connect my devices the correct way. Many thanks.