Hi Catr and others that may want to do IMPLEMENT an APPLE TIME CAPSULE on a different subnet other than the '.local' bonjour or primary network. The main issue with the solution posted in the reference thread here by @scottpanzer is that it relies on a reference to a STATIC (hardcoded) IP address. Yes this will certainly work in a home or simple SME network however it's quite problematic to administer with medium to larger of more dynamic networks.
Certainly reserved IP addresses for the TMs and AP's can be used however the reference is still via the IP address. This would certainly work in a small home network.
We have successfully implemented timecapsule and an Airport Extreme with some USB attached file systems on a secondary internal only subnet that uses NAMESERVER for references rather than a hardcoded IP address. This is not "rocket science". 😐
Its a very small cost that contributes to long term ease of administration.
To be clear, this implementation deploys the networked TIME MACHINE devices (Time Capsule and any expensive spare APPLE Airport EXTREMES Base stations ) on another subnet instead of the primary DEFAULT .local (bonjour) network. Printers are also able to be deployed as such.
OSX SERVER.app
I'd suggest that a simple implementation of MAC OSX SERVER (V3.x.x) for OSx 10.9.x (or later) using its DHCP and DNS. It's cost is a modest $HK158 / €15 / $USD20 on Mac Store is quite reasonable value and is straightforward to implement.
Notes:
Details of the network implementation (How to do it) are highly available on these Apple and other forums and won't be expanded in this post.
Software Needed:
Mac OSX Server V3.0.x or later (for Mavericks 10.9) at Mac Store
Hardware Utilised:
- Time Capsule or Airport extreme
- optional 1000baset gigabit switch (these are very cheap) - 8-16 port depending on your using for a separate subnet example (10.0.2.0/24)
- optional additional USB 2 selfpowered DISKS (additional file systems for Time Machine)
BASIC Method:
- deploy OSX Server on a dedicated MAC on the subnet to be used - plenty of instructions to do this (download and install and basic customise)
don't be intimidated.. i'ts easy to use 😉
- network connect the timecapsule using one of the LAN ports 2-4 (or enable BRIDGE MODE and also use port 1 WAN port) or bia WIFI access point using the alternative subnet)
- Using OSX SERVER on the mac where it's installed...
- enable DHCP server and add a STATIC client record and filter by MAC address for the Apple AP extremes and Time Capsules.. verify with UNIX nslookup or dig.
- enable an INTERNAL DNS (domain name server) for an internal subnet
- add machine and name server records: eg timecapsule04.myprivate.network etc
- On each MAC that will use the TIME MACHINE / Time Capsule, add the address of the DNS server address (IP address) and its domain name suffix to its System, Preferences/ Network/ Advanced/ DNS
there's plenty of articles on how to do this and is beyond the scope of this post.
- On the MACs access and administration will be available by the AIRPORT utility.app using the interface (ethernet 1, ethernet 2, Tbolt, wifi etc) using the list box in the Airport Utility.app
- files systems available by Finder "connect to server" +k using the nameserver name.. "timecapsule04" or the FQN.
- The file systems will show up in the FINDER "Shared" side panel
- verify that access can be made to the file systems in the DISK on the TM's and the AP extremes. (use finder)
- also try terminal.app : nslookup "timecapsule04" and lso try FQN timecapsule04.myprivate.network
- al te aboev will work when teh DNS is set up correctly. Its very straightforward to do.
- For iOS devices using iOS Airport Utility, provision must be made to access the subnet. This is beyond the discussion for this post.
- OSX Time Machine.app on each mac that will use the TM, do..
- system preferences / time machine / turn off time machine.
- system preferences / time machine / delete the existing time machine disks
- then add the NEWLY defined ones from steps 3-5 above
- the existing Backups.backup will be reused and is NOT over ridden.
- system preferences / time machine enable time machine.
Summary:
- Use OSX SERVER.app 's facility and NOT the inbuilt dns on the TM and AP Etreme.
- Using the nameserver names makes the management of the timemachine.app (over airport extremes and timecapsule) mush easier to administer.
Post your results for others to see.
Warwick
Hong Kong
