Can Airport Utility automatically adjust a roaming wireless network to a non-roaming wireless network?

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Level 1

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Can Airport Utility automatically adjust a roaming wireless network to a non-roaming wireless network?

Greetings,

I’ve extended my wireless network by way of Ethernet cable (Roaming Network).

The Time Machine (Primary base station) and Airport Extreme (#2 base station) lights are green and both base stations are functioning properly when viewed via the AirPort Utility.

I disconnected the Cat5 LAN cable from the Time Machine (that goes to the WAN connection on the Airport Extreme) assuming the green light would start flashing amber on the Airport Extreme. It did not. Everything still worked as far as I could tell. Whether I had the cable plugged in or not, everything still functioned “normal” as it should as far as I could tell.

So here is my question: by disconnecting the ethernet cable from the Airport Extreme, does that mean that Airport Utility automatically switched the Airport Extreme over to a non-roaming network? In other words, instead of extending the wireless network via ethernet, the wireless network is extended wirelessly?

What am I missing?

Airport Extreme-OTHER

Posted on Jan 1, 2016 7:09 PM

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Answer 1

Bob Timmons

Level 10

186,194 points

Jan 1, 2016 8:32 PM in response to semidriven

Go back to the setup with the Ethernet cable connected to the AirPort Extreme

Open AirPort Utility, click on the AirPort Extreme, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Wireless tab at the top of the screen

Check the current setting for Network Mode

It should be "Create a wireless network"

Is it?

If not, the AirPort Extreme was never configured for a Roaming set up in the first place.

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Answer 2

semidriven Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 1, 2016 8:24 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks for your reply!

It is not. Rather it is "Extend a wireless network."

Looks like I misunderstood how to extend a wireless network via Ethernet when reading the following links:

Wi-Fi base stations: Extending the range of your wireless network by adding additional Wi-Fi base stations - Apple Suppo…

W i-Fi base stations: Setting up and configuring a roaming network (802.11 a/b/g/n) - Apple Support

Can you point me to another link that may explain it so that I could understand it? 🙂

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Answer 3

Bob Timmons

Level 10

186,194 points

Jan 1, 2016 8:37 PM in response to semidriven

The links that you reference are pretty clear that in a roaming network......all AirPorts are set up to "Create a wireless network" using the same wireless network name and password.

"Extend a wireless network" is a setting that is used only when an AirPort connects to another AirPort using wireless.

Since you always use Ethernet in a roaming network, the "extend a wireless network" setting would never be used when AirPorts connect using Ethernet.

You really don't need setup stuff or links if you are using any recent operating system like El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, etc. Apple's setup "wizard" will automatically choose the correct setup and configure the AirPort correctly for you.

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Answer 4

semidriven Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 2, 2016 5:02 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Actually, it’s not that clear.

The first link has information saying:

“Multi Wi-Fi base station network - A network that utilizes more than one Wi-Fi base station to extend the range of a network, or to extend features such as Internet access, music streaming, printing, storage, etc. The Wi-Fi base stations may be connected together via Ethernet or wirelessly.”

In addition:

“For 802.11n Wi-Fi base stations, creating a roaming network is by far the best choice. This will provide the best throughput between the base stations and your Wi-Fi devices....This set up requires that your Wi-Fi base stations are connected via Ethernet....The primary base station provides DHCP Services, while the extended base station will be configured to use bridge mode.”

The diagrams also reveal the base stations connected by Ethernet cable.

The second link reaffirms what is said in the first link in the sub-title:

“This article explains how to set up multiple Wi-Fi base stations to create a single wireless network (known as a ‘roaming’ network) using Ethernet.”

My thought is that these two articles could be worded a bit differently to explain the nuances of connecting two Apple Wi-Fi base stations together using Ethernet and providing a generic overview of both using Airport Utility and not using Airport Utility in getting the Ethernet-based Wi-Fi network up and running.

Thank you for clarifying what the articles were actually saying!

I’ll start over, reset the Airport Extreme, and see how the iMac’s El Capitan setup wizard does for this process.

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Answer 5

semidriven Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 2, 2016 6:52 AM in response to semidriven

Your post here:

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

and here:

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

helped me realize that my 100' foot ethernet cable may be the culprit. After hooking up up the Airport Extreme using a short cable to the Time Capsule, running Airport Utility, seeing it connect successfully via Ethernet, I then plugged everything back where it is supposed to be with no success.

So either my wall jacks are bad, or more likely, the cable is bad.

Crud.

Thanks again for your help!

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