Airport Utility/Airport Express

Question

Airport Utility/Airport Express

I have an old Airport Extreme and an old Airport Express, with the Express connected via powerline and set as an access point and using the same SSID as the Extreme.

The system actually works just fine, but my question relates to Airport Utility, namely that the Express shows up in AU once in a while, has a green mark next to it for a while, then has the exclamation mark in a yellow triangle telling me that it "used to be" part of my network but is no longer accessible.

Is this a function of its being set as an access point, or is it just a quirk I should live with? Having a working system but not being able to check it through Airport Utility is a minor inconvenience and obviously a lot better than the other way around but I'm curious why this is happening. Thanks

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Sep 4, 2016 11:50 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,490 points

Sep 4, 2016 12:23 PM in response to Peter Roussak

The AirPort Utility relies on both the mDNS (aka, Bonjour) & the IPv6 IP protocols to find an AirPort base station. Be sure that both of your AirPort base stations plus your iMac are configured for IPv6 Link-local only.

For a Mac: System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi or Ethernet > Advanced > TCP/IP tab > Configure IPv6: Link-local only
For the AirPort base station:
Note: You may need to temporarily connect your Mac or PC directly to the base station by Ethernet to access it.
- From a Mac: AirPort Utility > Select the base station > Edit > Internet tab > Internet Options… > Configure IPv6: Link-local only
- From an iOS device: AirPort Utility > Tap on the base station > Tap on Edit > Tap on Advanced > Tap on IPv6 > Change Configure IPv6 to: Link-local only > Tap on Done

For mDNS, this has been a "hit or miss" issue since OS X Mavericks. Unfortunately, there are no actual settings you can change for this.

A couple of references for additional information:

AirPort base station not seen or "An unexpected error occurred" appears in AirPort Utility 6.3 - Apple Support
AirPort base station doesn't appear in AirPort Utility 1.3 for iOS - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,990 points

Sep 4, 2016 12:30 PM in response to Peter Roussak

Should we assume that you are using the iMac running OS X Mavericks (10.9.5) mentioned in your tag line.....or.....have you updated to a more recent operating system?

The most common reason for a "disappearing AirPort" is an incorrect setting for IPv6 connections both on your Mac and on the AirPort router or access point itself.

Unless your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has given you specific settings to use for IPv6 connections on your network, you should use the Link Local Only setting for IPv6 on your Mac(s) and AirPorts.

Check your Mac first as follows:

Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)

Open Network

Click on WiFi to highlight it

Click Advanced in the lower right section of the window

Click the TCP/IP tab

Make sure that the setting for Configure IPv6 is set to Link Local Only

Click OK

Click Apply

That will bring you back to the main Network window again. This time, click on Ethernet to highlight it and repeat the exact same steps as above.

After you click OK and then Apply, restart the Mac.

On the AirPort Extreme.....

Open AirPort Utility

Click on the picture of the AirPort Extreme

Click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Internet tab at the top of the screen

Click the Internet Options buttons

Make sure that the setting for Configure IPv6 is set to Link Local Only

Click Save, then click Update to save the new settings

Do the same for the AirPort Express

If the Express continues to disappear, then the powerline connection may be the culprit. As a test, move the Express close the AirPort Extreme and connect a spare Ethernet cable....any length will do....from the Extreme to the Express and watch the connection that way for a few days.

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Answer 3

Sep 4, 2016 5:29 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks to both of you for the quick reply. I followed the recommendations and (a) made the change on the iMac (yes, still running Mavericks I'm afraid, just had bad experiences updating this particular machine before!), (b) the Extreme was already set as suggested, but (C) something of a Catch 22 as regards the Express since I can't see it on Airport Utility to make the change in the settings. I'll try connecting it to the Extreme directly rather than through powerline and see if it shows up that way.

However the change I made on the Mac has resulted in an odd situation perhaps you can resolve for me: in System Preferences under the line in the left hand window for the Wifi connection (which is all I use for the Mac because the Extreme is in a different room), the button that used to be green is now yellow and it says "Self-assigned IP" and in the right-hand window it says "Wi-Fi has the self-assigned IP address 10.0.1.4 and will not be able to connect to the Internet" - yet my Internet connection through wifi is just fine! I've given the Mac that IP address through the DHCP reservation tab for the Extreme in Airport Utility (I've forgotten exactly why but it was recommended by someone in the past) so is that somehow why it's still working despite this error message?

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Answer 4

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,990 points

Sep 4, 2016 5:49 PM in response to Peter Roussak

Power off the entire network.....all devices....modem. AirPorts, computers, powerline adapters, etc.....in any order that you want.

Temporarily, move the Express so that it connects directly to the AirPort Extreme using a spare Ethernet cable.

Power up the modem, and let it run for 4-5 minutes by itself

Power up the AirPort Extreme and let it run for a full minute

Power up the AirPort Express and let it run for a minute

Keep powering up devices one at a time about a minute apart until the entire network is back up

Check the network

If the Express appears, power it off and move it back to the remote location where it is connected to the powerline adapter.

If the Express does not appear when it is connected directly to the Extreme, reset it back to factory default settings and then set it up again using the spare Ethernet cable connected directly to the AirPort Extreme.

Report on your results.

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Answer 5

Sep 4, 2016 5:56 PM in response to Peter Roussak

Just to add to my confusion: I tried Airport Utility on my Macbook and was able to see the Express briefly and change the settings on that as suggested, and also changed the setting on the Macbook and rebooted. However, the Express is still not appearing in Utility on either machine, and the wifi connection on the Macbook is showing green/connected unlike the Mac issue described above. (The Macbook also has a DHCP reserved IP address.)

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Answer 6

Sep 4, 2016 5:59 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks, will do.

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Answer 7

Sep 5, 2016 9:42 AM in response to Peter Roussak

So somehow I've found a configuration that works, which is to have both the Extreme and the Airport set to Link Local Only as you recommended but both Mac and Macbook set to Automatically. I'm not a fan of living in "works in practice but will never fly in theory" mode but I'll take what I can get, at least until it stops working again. And at least this way my Mac doesn't tell me I'm not connected to the Internet when I am.

Thanks again

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Answer 8

Tesserax

Level 10

158,490 points

Sep 5, 2016 10:46 AM in response to Peter Roussak

So somehow I've found a configuration that works, which is to have both the Extreme and the Airport set to Link Local Only as you recommended but both Mac and Macbook set to Automatically.

Interesting. As you are probably already aware, the "Link-local only" option basically restricts IPv6 traffic to your local network. On the other hand, the "Automatically" option would, in theory, select the appropriate IPv6 settings based on what it "senses." Typically, this option would be used where your ISP has implemented IPv6 and you wanted to take advantage of it.

Not sure why this option worked better with your Macs for the AirPort Utility.

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Answer 9

Sep 6, 2016 9:24 AM in response to Tesserax

Maybe Time Warner internet service in Los Angeles has implemented v6 now?

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Answer 10

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,990 points

Sep 6, 2016 11:11 AM in response to Peter Roussak

Time Warner has partially implemented IPv6 in most of their markets, but I don't have specific information about the Los Angeles market.

I have been using IPv6 settings for my Time Warner connection in North Texas for the past 14-15 months, with no issues at all.

If you want to try out IPv6, then some settings will need to be changed on your "main" AirPort router. Here, I am assuming that the main AirPort is configured as the network router using a Router Mode of DHCP and NAT.

I can provide the IPv6 settings that I use with Time Warner's service if you are curious, but cannot say how well.....or if....they will work for you.

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