cmmaia wrote:
Hello all.
I've been a PC user for the past 20 years or so and just recently moved on to Mac (at last!).
I have an ISP provided fiber gateway which serves as a router, wireless N acess point and voip server.
Basically I want to buy a new Time Capsule in order to disable wireless on my ISP's gateway.
I've searched the forums but I've compiled a list of what I need and might be easier to get my answer(s) on this thread.
So, here are my usage requirements for the TC:
1 - NAS + Wireless Access Point only! NOT use it as a router (aka Bridge mode)
2 - Time Capsule with Fixed LAN IP
3 - DHCP off altogether
4 - SSID broadcast disabled
5 - WPA2-PSK AES security (still the "gold" standard for home/office use?)
6 - Manual channel selection (does this still apply to AC mode? Or 2.4Ghz only?)
7 - Use the TC drive to run Time Machine from my rMBP drive and also to store my content (movies, music, etc)
8 - Access the TC drive from the internet (I have dynamic IP on the WAN side)
9 - Plug in a USB drive for extra storage or backup of the Time Capsule (and possible access from the internet in case of extra storage)
Thank you and best regards,
cmmaia
1. You can setup the TC as network drive for wireless and no router.. bridge is most common setup.
However the TC is not designed as a NAS and lacks some key ingredients.. eg speed.. TC is slow. Although your wireless is probably even slower. But backup.. all NAS can back themselves up .. TC cannot.. since it is a single domestic quality hard disk in a router it is prone to disk failure.
2. Fixed IP is no problem. Although in bridge you would normally control this from dhcp reservation in the router.
3. In bridge the TC has no dhcp running.
4. SSID can be hidden.. Of course any true hacker can get in without any trouble as SSID is never really hidden.. most wireless analysis software can find it.. and it is not part of the IEEE standard so it causes client issues. But that is up to you.
5. The TC supports WPA2 Personal = AES. This is still the best available and with a decent password is not hackable.. hence hiding ssid is useless.
6. Manual channel selection only works on 2.4ghz. The TC needs 80mhz of bandspace on 5ghz and does not allow end users to allocate the channel.
7. Your TC is made for TM.. that is its primary function.. no issues doing that.
Storing content.. not such a great idea.. remember no backup.. no ability to backup by Time Machine. Since there is no backup all files stored on the TC will one day become unavailable.. lost .. disolved into ether.
The TC is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. it handles iTunes poorly.. It handles iPhoto even worse.. strongly recommend against using TC for iphoto as it easily corrupts the library.
8. You can access the TC by a few methods..
See https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3413
9. You can use USB drive.. super slow though.. half the speed of usb2 drive plugged into your computer. No internal backup on the TC so backup via a computer will go TC.. computer.. TC.. USB. it is super duper slow.. painful .. it is much much better to use a USB3 drive plugged into the computer.. TC--computer--usb3.
If you do that then you may as well store the files on the USB3 drive.. and use the TC as it was designed .. for backups.
