edit6969
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: 2nd airport brining network down

Hi all, I administer a medium sized net work running about 35 Macs and about 10 PCs and 5 Linux boxes, throw into that mix lots of laptops, iPhones, iPads etc.

We have Mac OSX server running 10.6.8. Cyberroam i35a Router, Cisco GB switches and DELL 10G switches.

 

We have a 2 storey building. To get Wifi to work properly I need an airport on each floor. ATM I have one airport pluged into the LAN (Upstairs) as the primary acces point in bridge mode to the wired network and it works well, as soon as I plug in the second airport to the wired LAN the whole network, MAC workstations and server freeze up and of course all goes to ****. If I have the 2nd Airport in wfi extend mode NOT conneted to the Wired LAN it works but that relies on good Wifi reception downstairs which of course I dont have due to the nature of the structure. Both Airports are Extreene 4th Gen. The same happens if I swap the roles of the Airports. I then purchased a new AirPort Extreme 802.11ac and the same thing happened, this time Airport Utility opened on EVERY MAC in the building and the same crashes happened.

 

This is very frustrating. I need to have the wifi running on both floors but without the network freezes and interuptions.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Many thanks

 

Mike

Mac OSX server 10.6.8, OS X Server

Posted on Sep 29, 2013 6:53 PM

by Tesserax,Solvedanswer
Tesserax Tesserax
Level 9 (54,906 points)
Wireless
A:

Looks like you are trying to configure a roaming network with the AirPort base stations.

 

I would recommend that you configure both of these base stations in a controlled environment so that you do experience network crashes during the setup phase.

 

For this environment, just connect both AirPorts to a stand-alone Ethernet switch. You can connect the administer computer to this switch as well. Go ahead and configure both base stations for a roaming network as per the information in the Apple Support article that I referenced. Once configured you can move each of the base stations to the desired locations.

 

Also, I would suggest that you disable the AirPort Utility's "Monitor AirPort base stations for problems" feature on each of the network computers so that they don't all get the pop-up messages.

Posted on Sep 29, 2013 7:29 PM

Close
edit6969

Q: 2nd airport brining network down

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Tesserax,Solvedanswer

    Tesserax Tesserax Sep 29, 2013 7:29 PM in response to edit6969
    Level 9 (54,906 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 29, 2013 7:29 PM in response to edit6969

    Looks like you are trying to configure a roaming network with the AirPort base stations.

     

    I would recommend that you configure both of these base stations in a controlled environment so that you do experience network crashes during the setup phase.

     

    For this environment, just connect both AirPorts to a stand-alone Ethernet switch. You can connect the administer computer to this switch as well. Go ahead and configure both base stations for a roaming network as per the information in the Apple Support article that I referenced. Once configured you can move each of the base stations to the desired locations.

     

    Also, I would suggest that you disable the AirPort Utility's "Monitor AirPort base stations for problems" feature on each of the network computers so that they don't all get the pop-up messages.

  • by edit6969,

    edit6969 edit6969 Sep 29, 2013 7:46 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 29, 2013 7:46 PM in response to Tesserax

    So thats what I am doing wrong, I need to daisy chain the Airports not conect direct to the network switch!

    Many thanks, I shall test when I can.

     

    Mike

  • by edit6969,

    edit6969 edit6969 Oct 2, 2013 8:33 PM in response to edit6969
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2013 8:33 PM in response to edit6969

    Thanks Tesserax, it worked a treat, we now have great WiFi all over the building.

     

    Many Thanks

     

    Mike