setting up two Airport Extreme 802.11ac via ethernet for extending both lan and wan connection

Just follow the steps in the AirPort Extreme Setup Guide and the configuration "wizard" will take care of the rest automatically......no step by step guide needed at all.

We assume the following:

1) The "main AirPort Extreme in the basement is set up and working correctly

2) The living room AirPort Extreme has been reset back to factory default settings.....or....it is new and has not been set up yet

3) The Ethernet cable connects from a LAN <---> port on the basement AirPort to the WAN "O" port on the living room AirPort

4) The living room AirPort is powered up and has been on for a few minutes

On your Mac.....click the WiFi icon at the top of the screen and look for a listing of New AirPort Base Station. Just below that listing, click directly on AirPort Extreme.

When you click on AirPort Extreme, that will get the setup wizard running. It will take a minute to display a screen similar to this and tell you that the upstairs AirPort will be configured to extend the basement AirPort.

Enter a device name that you want to call the upstairs AirPort and click Next.

Watch the next screen carefully to confirm that the upstairs AirPort is being configured to extend using Ethernet, which confirms that the wizard has correctly detected the Ethernet connection between the AirPorts and will set up the upstairs AirPort accordingly.

When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done. And, you are done. You now have what is known as a "roaming" network.

The bottom line here in the setup process is that all that you really need to do is select the upstairs AirPort from the WiFi drop down, follow a few prompts and enter a device name for the AirPort. Everything else happens automatically.

Roaming Network (Manual) Setup - APUv6

The following are step-by-step instructions, using version 6.x of the AirPort Utility in manual mode, to configure a roaming network.

Notes:

• In a roaming network, the base stations can be from different manufacturers. It does NOT require all Apple products.
• To administer Apple base stations you must use the AirPort Utility (APU). For non-Apple devices you will, most likely, use their respective web-based administrator interface.
• When using mixed manufacturer equipment, the term "base station" can be used interchangeably with "wireless router." However, a "wireless router" is not the same thing as a "wireless access point (WAP)."
• The "main" base station must NOT be a WAP; all others could be.

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

For each additional base station added to the roaming network:

AirPort Utility > Select the appropriate base station > Edit

Unfortunately, this will not work if the base station to be added is in a factory default state.....as it should be for any new setup.

The AirPort to be added will not "show up" in AirPort Utility at all as a device icon at this point, so it is not possible to click the Edit button for the device to be configured.

Rather than clicking the WiFi icon and clicking on AirPort Extreme under New AirPort Base Station........which will get the setup "wizard" running.......it is possible to click on the Other WiFi Devices tab at the upper left corner of the AirPort Utility screen and then click on AirPort Extreme there.

That is an alternate method to get the setup "wizard" running.

An alternate, and recommended way to set up the second AirPort would be to use a short, spare Ethernet cable.....any length will do....and connect the two AirPorts together that way for the setup.

Once you have a green light on the new AirPort, simply power it off and move it to the desired location and power it back up.

If you now have a problem at the new location.....(it is amazing how often this will occur)......then you will have to start troubleshooting the long Ethernet cable connection between the AirPorts.....since you already know that the AirPort has been set up correctly.

Thanks Bob. You are correct! I will update my step-by-step "manual" instructions as a backup to using the automatic method.

There is a way to do things in a totally "manual" way with the AirPort as far as set up with the V6 utility. But, it is a bit tricky for most users.

From a factory default condition on the AirPort router, open AirPort Utility and click the File menu, then click Configure Other

Enter 10.0.1.1

Leave the password area blank and click OK. If AirPort Utility asks for a password.....try "public".....but I've never had to enter the password when I've tried this.

That should get you into a basic screen with all the tabs at the top of the window for Base Station, Wireless Network, etc.

Then, by selecting each tab and filling out the info, you can manually set up the AirPort bypassing the "wizard" setup utility.

There is a problem with this type of setup though.......and that is if you already have an Apple router set up on the network, it is likely already using the 10.0.1.1 address, so AirPort Utility will open up to show you the settings of the AirPort that is already configured.

In that case, you have to power off the AirPort that is already set up if you want to use the direct 10.0.1.1 method.

Give this a try when you can, to see how it works for you.

Bob - would this work if I have 2 airport expresses both setup in Bridge mode (i.e. one isn't acting as a router too)? I have a FIOS G1100 modem that I'm forced to use as a router so I'm using one Express as a WAP basically and want to extend the network over ethernet to other parts of my house.

Thank you.

would this work if I have 2 airport expresses both setup in Bridge mode

Yes

Thank you. Any network considerations I need to be aware of?

Normally no, but without knowing any of the details about your network, I cannot say.

Worked perfectly. Thank you.