Airport Extreme Base Station as Extender to Airport Extreme Time Machine

Good luck with this. Replying this question to follow it. I have had this issue since 2013. I suspect that this may never get fixed.

ANYONE that has bridging on a 6th gen AE with some other device (Airport Extreme/Express, Netgear, D-Link, etc.) without the WiFi freaking out please speak up.

Similar threads:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6518354

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6518710

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6508056

And the end of this section. (Page 6+) Not the OP's issue which was fixed.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5134485

howto - extending airport 802.11n networks

Pre-Requistites

1) Ensure all have most recent firmware - 7.7.3 for AC devices, 7.6.4 for 802.11n devices

2) Have most recent Airport Utility (OS X 10.7 thru 10.9, use 6.3.2, IOS6/7 use 1.3.3)

3) Only have the Primary Airport/TimeCapsule powered on for now

Set up the Primary/Anchor Airport Base Station

1) Do this over ethernet - ensure that the Modem and TimeCapsule/Airport is connected on the WAN port

2) You'll be prompted by Airport Utility to name the Network and the Base Station

Network is the SSID of the Wireless LAN

BaseStation is the name of the Airport/TimeCapsule

3) You'll be prompted for a password - this will be for both the WLAN and the Base Station on initial setup

Note here - there are at least three passwords to worry about post setup

a) BaseStation Management - in this how-to, this will be carried thru to the extended basestations

b) WLAN Access

c) Disk Access for TimeCapsule and AirDisk

They can be same or unique, up to you...

Configure the Airport/TimeCapsule for WiFi/Network

4) Select the named BS in Airport Utility - click the 'edit' button

5) Review 'Base Station' Tab

5a) BaseStation Name

5b) BaseStation Password - you can change this now if desired, this does not affect WLAN password

6) Review Internet Tab

6a) set as appropriate for your network - e.g DHCP or other depending on needs

6aa) focus here is getting the primary BS set up first

6b) Click Internet Options - this is IPV6 setup - for now...

6ba) Set to Link-Local Only, click save, you can go back and change this later if needed

7) Go to Wireless Tab

7a) Set Network Mode to "Create a wireless network"

7b) Check Wireless Network Name

7c) Wireless Security - recommend WPA2 Personal - this is important as you'll need this later

7d) Wireless Password - the password entered in step 5b above is what is used here, feel free to modify or not - if so, note this

7e) disregard Enable Guest Network for now

7f) Click Wireless Options

7g) ensure 5Ghz network name is unselected

7h) Country as appropriate - since I'm in California, I choose United States

7i) Leave 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Channels as "Automatic" for now, click save if needed

8) Click Network Tab

8a) if this is your primary router - use DHCP and NAT

8b) Click Network Options

8c) DHCP Lease - I use 12 hours

8d) IPv4 DHCP Range - every here is a bit different, but my recommendation for most folks

192.168.1.100 to 150

Use what works for you, keeping in mind that the AP Extreme, TimeCapsule, and 2012 Airport Express can handle 50 clients, max

8e) Ensure that Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol is selected

8f) can worry about Enable default host at: [] later, this is the DMZ'ed host

8g) can choose to enable IGMP Snooping or not - doesn't affect the primary setup

8h) click save

TimeCapsule Only - for Airport Extreme, worry about AirDisk later

This is TimeMachine support, along with FileShares

9) Select Disks - you should see a partitiion named "Data"

9a) ensure that Enable file sharing is selected

9b) ensure that Share disks over WAN is unchecked for now

9c) Secure Shared Disks:

Choices here -

device password - noted in step 5b above

disk password - this will be for all LAN clients that can see the Data Partitiion

accounts - you can set up separate users and passwords - this is beyond scope of this how-to

Recommendation if using as TimeMachine only, use a disk password - note this as you'll need it for timemachine on the clients

Save Settings to the Airport/TimeCapsule

10) Click the "update' button

The Airport/TimeCapsule will restart

Everything now should show green and shiny - open a web browser and attempt to go to Apple/Google/Yahoo, to ensure that you've got network connectivity

Reviewing things in the Airport 6.3 utility, you should see your base station and the Internet - both with green status

Once done here, let's extend the Wireless Network

Note - again, it helps to be connected to the primary base station on ethernet, wireless makes things, erm, challenging

11) with another decive - Mac/iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch or PC, ensure that Wireless LAN is working on the primary AP/Basestation

Once this is done, then proceed to the next step

Enable the "Extended" Airport - can be another TimeCapsule, Airport Express or Airport Extreme

For purposes of this discussion - assume all ore 802.11n capable at a minimum, so this applies towards more recent gear

a) Airport Extreme AC (2013)

b) Airport TimeCapsule AC (2013)

c) Airport Express 2012 Dual-Band (Looks like AppleTV)

d) Airport Extreme 802.11n 5th Gen, TimeCapsule 4th Gen

e) Airport Express 802.11n - similar to the 802.11g variant, looks like a MacBook Pro power adapter

Assumptions here is that the extended airport is factory defaults - see link below for more info:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3728

Once this is done, plug in the Airport that is intended for extending the wireless network

after about a minute or so, you should see a blinking orange light, this is normal...

In Airport Utility, you should see in the upper left hand, "Other Wi-Fi Devices (1)" - click this, if you don't see this, exit and restart Airport Utility

12) clicking on the button, you should see an entry menu as "Airport Extreme xxxxxx", select this

13) Once selected, you'll see "This Airport Extreme/Express/TimeCapsule will be set up to extend "Primary Base Station"

14) Enter the name for this base station - it should be unique from the name of the Primary noted in step 5a

15) Click "next"

16) Should see "setting up this base station to wirelessly extend..."

you'll see some progress messages.. this is the two basestations handshaking....

If successful, you'll see the BaseStation named in step 14 as "is now wireless extending "base station named in (step 5a)"

STOP - the Airport is now extended, repeat steps 11 thru 16 for each addtional Airport

For advanced features - such as port forwarding, DMZ, IPv6 Tunnels, Back to my Mac, etc - perform this only on the Primary Base station outlined in steps 1 thru 8h

Good Luck!

Question... Have you actually set this up and have it working on the 802.11ac AE? Or is this just a regurgitation of some instruction manual that I have already read, but found of no help?

Works fine... this is my work notes, not something regurgitated from some other post/web site...

Are both the AETC and AE the 802.11ac models? If the AETC is the newer 802.11ac and the AE is the older 802.11n (non-AC - flat one), does the same setup work? If you use the Windows version of Airport Utility (which is still 5.6.1, it gives you better functionality and may support 802.11ac). It is not explicitly mentioned in AirPort Utility software and firmware downloads though. This is the Windows version - AirPort Utility 5.6.1 for Windows.

I would take both units to the Apple Genius and let them sort out - I suspect that perhaps one of them may be defective,

Tim

Yes, I have been successful both with extending the wireless network (meaning the network is extended using wireless) and setting up roaming (the remote system is connected using an ethernet cable)

I used Airport Utility 6.3.1 for both of these.

If you use Airport Utility 5.7 there may be some options that you might choose that will break things. I haven't tried to configure using 5.7, but I have accessed my systems using it to check on configurations.

I have an Airport Extreme (ac) -- the tower. It is configured in Bridge Mode since I allow the cable modem to provide the DHCP address. The Airport Extreme (ac) WAN port is directly connected to the cable modem via ethernet cable.

When I had my network extended it was to a Airport Express 802.11n (first generation).

FWIW, I also have some older Airport Express 802.1g, but I do not use these to expand my network since they are not supported by Airport Utility 6.3.1. They join the network to provide Airplay functionality.

The configuration in the Airport Extreme (ac) did not change using either the extended network or the roaming network.

The configuration on the Airport Express (n) was configured to "Extend a Wireless Network" when the expansion was over wireless.

The configuration of the Airport Express (n) was configured to "Create a Wireless Network" when the expansion was via ethernet

Otherwise the configuration on the Airport Extreme (ac) is exactly the same as the Airport Express (n). (meaning wireless access lists. I have often been foiled in past configurations by failing to pay attention to this.)

(FWIW, the Airport Express (n) is connected via a 150ft Cat5E ethernet underground cable to a Levitron 8-port Gigabit switch in a media cabinet which is then connected via Cat5E ethernet cable to the cable modem)

In all cases none of the apple products were set up to provide DHCP, in other words they were configured as bridges.

NOTE: I did NOT use WDS. It is not supported by an n or ac network.

NOTE: if trying to wirelessly extend the network, all systems configured to "extend a wireless network" MUST have direct wireless connectivity to the AP (access point) that is configured to "create a wireless network".

NOTE: I have had more success when my network is configured to support "roaming"

NOTE: I have found that if I move my Macbook Pro between APs, I have to toggle the MacBooks wireless on/off to get it to move to a different AP even though the signal from the closer AP is much, much stronger. This includes moving from a 5GHz connection to a 2.4GHz connection or between a 2.4GHz to a 2.4GHz connection.

DLF:

I am moving on and away from this lemon apple device. I am tired of constantly working on this thing to coax it to work properly. I intended for this device to be a "set it and forget it" type of device... Sadly, this is by far the worst AP I have ever owned.

I have talked to quite a few people (in person/non apple) about this device over the past year. I have yet to hear something good about it. Every person that I know or have met that has purchased the Airport Extreme has returned it and purchased something else.

Like others here, I have a new Extreme ac and was hoping to extend my network with my old Extreme (square, not cube). Despite dozens of hours of research, even finding the way to run the *old* version of Airport Utility and following hundreds of postings, documents, and instructions, all fail on every level possible. Of course, add to the frustration is every bit of Apple documentation and support on the issue is years old. This is disconcerting, let alone infuriating.

Of course, Apple's geniuses said, "Oh, just install your new ac, then simply plug in your old Extreme and you're done. There's nothing you have to set up as the system will find it and set everything up automatically". Are they kidding?? So, is it they are paid to lie now? The ac has been out for quite a while now and I cannot believe there *still* no fix for this.

My experience of getting the two extremes to expand have ranged from nothing happening at all, to the entire system going down. After finally having to a do a fresh default re-install of the ac, and going through the whole process again, AU will find the old Extreme but then only to result in an error allowing nothing else to happen.

While the ac is working beautifully on its own, my old Extreme (which works perfectly on its own too) is now nothing more than a very expensive paper weight. Well, isn't this just a dandy holiday surprise.

Note that "expand" and "extend" are two different things. You "extend" your network when you connect APs wirelessly. "expanding" the network could mean either wirelessly or via ethernet cable. (The ac does not support WDS)

I had no trouble "extending" my network but I was frustrated when I tried to expand it using ethernet. Now that it has been in place for a month, I cannot tell you why there was such a problem expanding through ethernet.

If you are running the old version of Airport Utility and configuring your Extreme-ac with it, you are going to cause yourself problems. If your old extreme is recognized by Airport Utility 6.3, there is no need to use the old utility. If you did use the old utility to configure a system that you could have used 6.3 on, you should reset both Extremes to factory default and start over again. I use the old utility only to configure Airports that are not supported by 6.3.

Do you have access control configured? Be sure you have the MAC address (Airport ID) for each of the extremes in the access list of both systems. (This was one of my problems) You might turn access control off for a bit to see if that helps. Note that there is a separate MAC for the 2.4GHz network and the 5GHz network. (another one of my problems, then the fact that I couldn't type the right Hex sequence.)

Where is your DHCP server? You only want one throughout your entire network. That should be your cable modem not your extremes.

You can look at the configuration of the Extreme-ac with the old Airport Utility, in which case, you'll see that it is by default configured to "extend" a wireless network (the check box not the wireless drop-down) The ac is used to "create" the wireless network. The old extreme is used to "extend" the wireless network. I'm assuming that you are not hooking your old extreme to an ethernet cable, in which case you would also "create" a wireless network there. (I've found that with my Mac if I move from one AP [access point] to another I have to turn the Wi-Fi off and on to get my Mac to switch to the much stronger signal. This is, of course, a bug but it is one that I've dealt with for years. Sometimes the bug isn't there, sometimes it is.)

It isn't clear how old your old "square" system is. This page may help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_Extreme

Note that it wasn't until 2009 that you could do 2.4 and 5GHz simultaneously.

If your old system is really old Pick one frequency. To extend your network, it would be "best" to choose the 2.4GHz band since it has a greater range.

On the ac, name the 5GHz network something different. FWIW, even though I don't move and my ac is a mere 10 ft away, the signal quality is constantly changing between "good" and "excellent" as reported by Wi-Fi Notifications. I also found Wi-Fi Explorer helpful when "expanding" my network (moving the express from "extending" to being connected via ethernet cable and therefore "creating" the network on both the extreme and the express.)

You did not say that you totally reset the old extreme.

My ac covers my house and barn (about 150ft away). I placed an Express in the barn (which only supports one frequency) connected via Ethernet which supports the Apple-TV located there. I had to reset the Apple-TV to get it to wirelessly attach to the express in the barn. It kept trying to connect to the ac in the house so reception was intermittent. It had been in the house previously. I can get "good enough" wireless on my mac without the expanded network, but the Apple TV required the expanded network

Hello John and thanks for the prompt reply. To follow up:

Correct, the old version of Airport Utility can cause problems with the new ac. I tested various configurations, none of which responded well, inevitably discarded using the old version software altogether and use the latest version entirely. With that, yes... did a full reset to factory on *both* Extremes, started again, finding it still not possible to get the old Extreme to connect wirelessly.

Like you, I find the new ac is much better in coverage, but I do not get the span you do. Unlike you, I *am* able to get the set up to work only by direct ethernet. But, this is not the configuration I need as the old Extreme will be placed 2 rooms away. The placement is a perfect overlap to the base and will provide the additional coverage I need in one particular hole in coverage I have.

The old Extreme was purchased in 2011. Access controls are configured correctly, as well as MACs properly assigned. Channels are clean (across both Extremes and across the new Extreme's dual 2.4/5.0 frequencies). This was further verfied when direct-connecting via ethernet. And yes, the new Extreme ac is the *main* base is the only DHCP. Just for some reason, when that old Extreme goes wireless, the AU will *find* that old Extreme, try to set it up and merely results in an error.

Its baffling. I have reached the limit of my due diligence both in analysis of tactile testing of this and have given up on this configuration. The headache to get something as simple as this, connected to an existing system, only to fail, is not worth it. I think the *cherry on top* of the disust is the lack of updated information Apple has for this. For me, that's just maddening. Regardless, I have resolved that I will call my cable company and have them add an ethernet drop to the area I need and directly plug the old Extreme in to that. Though it still chaps my tail to have to do this because of the added expense, I do know this is the most prime scenario for ensuring best throughput anyway.

Thanks again!

I did the same thing and I got it working - with the same boxes as you. Here is how.

1. Install the new airport extreme on its own. Give it the name of the networks and pass you want. This is really easy.

2. Unplug it and plug in the old extreme box. Rename the network and SSID etc. I just appended "old" to the name. Check it works.

3. With the AirPort Utility, edit the settings on the old box. Go to the wireless settings tab and change create a network to extend a network. Fill in the name of the other network (the one minus the "old") which is currently unplugged and fill in the password. By default it is probably already the correct (old) one.

4. Unplug the box.

5. Plug in the new tower (base station). Check it works...

6. Plug in the extender (old) box. Wait for it to go from amber, flashing and eventually green as it finds the network to extend.

7. AirPort Utility will show the topology and the respective roles of each box (identified by whether it has the "old" suffix).

8. Turn off wifi on the devices you wish use the repeater. Turn them back on. Otherwise they will stick to the base station and not pick up the repeater.

9. Test. I found that putting the old extreme box in my home office (a long way from the base station) boosted performance from 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

Let me know it that works for you. It really works well!

Alright this thread got my interest since I started having some similar issues with my home setup and thought I would share my findings about extending wireless network with the new addition of a 6th Gen AExt .

First I have the following devices all with the latest firmwares (7.7.3 and 7.6.4).

2x AExt 5th gen

AExt 6th gen (AC)

AExp 1st gen (N)

AExp 2nd gen

I ran all my experiments alternating between 2.4GHz band (N) and 5GHz band (N). I only have a couple of devices using the AC band.

I have a wired ethernet network allowing me to run different tests.

Extending AExt 6th gen:

2.4GHz all the devices work.

5GHz band all work except for the AExt 5th Generation.

Extending AExt 5th gen

All devices work for both frequency bands.

Extending Aexp 1st gen. Since it is not bi-band and I had no interest in the 2.4GHz band I only tested at 5GHz.

All devices extend correctly. I did not test the AExt 6th gen as an extender to this device though.

Extending Aexp 2nd gen.

All devices work on both bands.

My devices never go crazy and drop connection like others have reported. When failure occurs, it just won't connect at all. The only devices which don't talk to one another are the AExt 6th and 5th gen when the 5th gen tries to join or extend the 6th gen in the 5GHz band. I am suspecting that it is due to the AC mode but why none of the other devices have this problem???

I was going nuts trying to get my AExt 5th generation to extend my network and could not understand why it would not work. I had my setup extend on 5GHz only and it would rather join one of my AExp which was already extending my network but with a low signal or an AExt 5th gen with an even lower signal. I ended up giving up and switching to the 2.4GHz network on that one Aext 5th gen which in turns expands on both bands. Of course I could just remove the specific name for the 5GHz band, I tried but it made no difference. The 5th gen Aext join the 6th gen only on the 2.4GHz band and all the other devices on the 5GHz band.

One alternative would be to flip the locations of the 5th and 6th gen AExt but I wanted the 6th to be on the wired network and the main unit at the center since it has the largest range...

The way the testing was conducted was under the following conditions for those who are interested:

I set my network by creating a wireless network with one name and then assigning a different name to the 5Ghz band. This gives me control over which band I will be joining/extending. I then set my extending device as either joining or extending a wireless network alternating between the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz network. My network is also access controlled and I have all my devices have one another's MAC addresses for both bands. All devices use WPA2 personal.