Instead of daisy-chaining the Airport Extremes is it also possible to connect both Airports and the internet modem each to a port of a gigabit switch ?

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Instead of daisy-chaining the Airport Extremes is it also possible to connect both Airports and the internet modem each to a port of a gigabit switch ?

My internet modem is in the garage, one AirPort Extreme is in de living room and the other one is in my office. Both AE are connected to the internet modem with a Cat5e cable.

If one AE needs to connect to the internet modem, and the 2nd AE to the 1st AE, I need to install an additional cable, which I want to avoid because it is very difficult in my house to add cabling.

Is it possible to connect both AE and the internet modem to a gigabit switch ? If not, would a hub do the job because it passes all packets without filtering ?

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017), macOS Sierra (10.12.6), MacBook Pro; MacBook; iMac

Posted on Jan 1, 2018 5:40 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,114 points

Jan 1, 2018 6:03 AM in response to Frank Melis

Is it possible to connect both AE and the internet modem to a gigabit switch ?

No, the Internet connection must go directly to your modem.

IF......you have a simple modem (it will have only one Ethernet port), the modem must connect to a router.....like an AirPort Extreme and then a switch could connect to the AirPort Extreme and other devices connect to the switch. So, things would look like this:

Internet > Modem > Router > Switch > Other routers and devices

IF.....the device that you call your "modem" is really a modem/router or gateway type of device (it will have multiple Ethernet ports), then the "modem" can connect to a switch and other devices connect to the switch. So, things would look like this:

Internet > Modem/Router > Switch > AirPorts and other devices. In this type of setup, both AirPorts could connect to the switch, or one AirPort could connect to the switch and the second AirPort connect to the first AirPort.

If you are not sure what type of "modem" that you have, post back with the manufacturer name and model number of the device, and we'll do some checking on the product.

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Answer 2

Frank Melis Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 1, 2018 2:43 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks Bob for the useful info.

The box I refer to as "modem" is delivered by my provider Proximus in Belgium. It is made by Sagem, and it has 4 ports; each port can be used for internet or for a TV decoder. It also handles DHCP for my LAN. It has 2.4 and 5 GHz Wifi.

I'm sorry I forgot to mention te reason for my question : because of the size of my house and the thickness of the brick walls, I have installed 2 AE to have a strong enough signal everywhere. At the moment, each AE has it's own SSID, so they are 2 separate networks. I would like to have 1 SSID by re-configuring them in a roaming setup. The Apple Support document Wi-Fi base stations: Setting up and configuring a roaming network (802.11 a/b/g/n) - Apple Support shows that one AE should connect to the modem and the other to the first AE. With the wiring that is in my house, that is impossible. That is the reason I wanted to have a star cabling instead of daisy-chaining.

I think I will test your second option Internet>Modem>Switch>AE next weekend (I need it to work during the week).

Thanks again.

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Answer 3

Jan 1, 2018 3:17 PM in response to Frank Melis

The document you refer to is very old.. and there never was a need to daisy chain apple routers.. although it did help if you were using one of the routers as the main router of the network.. since bonjour in some non-apple brand routers is not recognised or handled poorly. In the case where your airport is bridged anyway.. then it makes no difference if it is star wired or daisy chained.

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