Designing Airport Extreme 802.11N Networks (Manual)
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Designing AirPort Extreme 802.11n Networks 1 Contents Chapter 1 3 Getting Started 5 Configuring the AirPort Extreme Base Station for Internet Access Using AirPort Utility 6 Extending the Range of Your AirPort Network 6 Sharing a USB Hard Disk Connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station 6 Printing via an AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Express 6 Sharing Your Computer’s Internet Connection Chapter 2 9 AirPort Security 9 Security for AirPort Networks at Home 10 Security for AirPort Networks in Business and Education 11 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2 Chapter 3 14 AirPort Network Designs 15 Using AirPort Utility 17 Setting Up the AirPort Extreme Network 23 Configuring and Sharing Internet Access 39 Setting Advanced Options 57 Solving Problems 58 More Information About AirPort Chapter 4 59 Behind the Scenes 2 1 Getting Started 1 AirPort offers the easiest way to provide wireless Internet access and networking anywhere in the home, classroom, or office. The new AirPort Extreme Base Station is the perfect wireless router for home, school, or small business. It’s based on an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11n draft specification with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. AirPort Extreme features multiple antennas to deliver maximum speed and range. You can enjoy data transfer rates of up to five times faster than 802.11g. And, it offers more than twice the network range of the 802.11g wireless standard and provides coverage throughout your home, classroom, or small office. AirPort Extreme is dual-band, so it can work in either the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) or 5 GHz spectrum. And it’s 100 percent backward-compatible, so Mac computers and PCs that use 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, or IEEE draft specification 802.11n wireless cards can connect to an AirPort Extreme-based wireless network. It also works flawlessly with AirPort Express for wireless music streaming and more. AirPort Extreme has three additional 10/100 Base T Ethernet ports, so you don't need to include another router in your network. The AirPort Extreme Base Station comes with AirPort Utility, the easy to use setup and management application. AirPort Utility has a simpler user experience, with all software controls accessible from the same application. It provides better management of multiple base stations, with client monitoring features and logging. AirPort Utility enables guest accounts that expire, for temporary access to your network, so you no longer need to give up your network password to weekend visitors in your home or office. You can even set up accounts with time constraints for the best in parental controls. This version of AirPort Utility supports IPv6 and Bonjour, so you can advertise network services such as printing and sharing a hard disk over the WAN port. 3 With this version of AirPort Extreme you can connect a USB hard disk so that everyone on the network can back up, store, and share files. You can also connect a USB printer, or connect a USB hub and connect a hard disk and a printer so that everyone on the network can access them. And it provides strong, wireless security. It offers a built-in firewall and supports industry-standard encryption technologies. Yet it’s still easy for authorized users to connect to it, thanks to its simple setup utility and powerful access controls. You can use AirPort Extreme to provide wireless Internet access and share a single Internet connection among multiple computers in the following ways:  Set up the AirPort Extreme Base Station to act as a router and provide Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to computers on the network using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Network Address Translation (NAT). When the base station is connected to a DSL or cable modem that’s connected to the Internet, the base station receives webpages and Internet and email content from the Internet via its Internet connection, and then sends it to wireless-equipped computers, using the wireless network, or using Ethernet if there are computers connected to the Ethernet ports.  Set up the AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Express to act as a bridge on an existing network that already has Internet access and a router providing IP addresses. The base station passes IP addresses and the Internet connection to AirPort or wireless-equipped computers, or computers connected to the base station by Ethernet. This document provides information about AirPort Extreme and detailed information about designing 802.11n networks with AirPort Extreme and AirPort Utility for computers using Mac OS X v10.4 or later, and Windows XP with Service Pack 2. You can set up an AirPort Extreme Base Station and connect to the Internet without wires in minutes. But because AirPort Extreme is a flexible and powerful networking device, you can also create an AirPort network that does much more. If you want to design an AirPort network that provides Internet access to non-AirPort computers via Ethernet, or take advantage of some of the base station’s more advanced features, use this document to design and implement your network. You can find more general wireless networking information and an overview of AirPort technology in the previous AirPort documents, located at apple.com/support/manuals/airport. Note: The images of AirPort Utility in this document are from Mac OS X v10.4. If you are using Windows, the images you see in this document may be slightly different from what you see on your screen. 4 Chapter 1 Getting Started Configuring the AirPort Extreme Base Station for Internet Access Using AirPort Utility Like your computer, the AirPort Extreme Base Station must be set up with the appropriate hardware and IP networking information to connect to the Internet. Use AirPort Utility, which came on the CD with your AirPort Extreme Base Station to provide Internet configuration information and other network settings to your base station. This version of AirPort Utility combines the ease of use of the AirPort Setup Assistant and the power of AirPort Admin Utility. It is installed in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder on a Macintosh computer using Mac OS X, and in Start > All Programs > AirPort on computers using Windows. AirPort Utility walks you through the setup process by asking a series of questions to determine how the base station’s Internet connection and other interfaces should be set up. Enter the settings you received from your ISP or network administrator for Ethernet, PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE), or your local area network (LAN), give your AirPort network a name and password, set up a base station as a wireless bridge to extend the range of your existing AirPort network, and set other options. When you have finished entering the settings, AirPort Utility transfers the settings to your base station and your base station connects to the Internet and shares its Internet connection with computers that join its AirPort network. You can also create an AirPort network that takes advantage of the more advanced networking features of AirPort Extreme. To set more advanced AirPort options, use AirPort Utility to manually set up your base station configuration, or make quick adjustments to one you have already set up. Some of the AirPort Extreme Base Station advanced networking features can be configured only using the manual setup features in AirPort Utility. Set up your base station manually using AirPort Utility when:  You want to provide Internet access to computers that connect to the base station using Ethernet  You have already set up your base station, but you need to change one setting, such as your account credentials  You need to configure advanced base station settings such as channel frequency, advanced security options, closed networks, DHCP lease time, access control, WAN privacy, power controls, or port mapping or other options For instructions on using AirPort Utility to manually set up your base station and network, see Chapter 3, “AirPort Network Designs,” on page 14. Chapter 1 Getting Started 5 Extending the Range of Your AirPort Network You can extend the range of your network by using AirPort Utility to set up wireless connections between multiple base stations in your network, known as a Wireless Distribution System (WDS), or to connect AirPort Extreme Base Stations via Ethernet to create a roaming network. For more information on setting up a WDS or a roaming network, see “Connecting Additional Base Stations to Your AirPort Network” on page 39. Sharing a USB Hard Disk Connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station Using the newest AirPort Extreme Base Station, you can connect a USB hard disk to it, and computers connected to the network, wired or wireless, Mac OS X computers or computers using Windows, can share files using the hard disk. See “Sharing and Securing USB Hard Disks on Your AirPort Extreme Base Station” on page 55. Printing via an AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Express If you have a USB printer connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, computers on the AirPort network can print to the printer by selecting it via Bonjour in Printer Setup Utility, located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder in Mac OS X. You must use Mac OS X version 10.2.3 or later to print to a USB printer via an AirPort Extreme Base Station. For instructions printing to a USB printer from a computer using Windows, see “Connecting a USB Printer to the AirPort Extreme Base Station” on page 56. Sharing Your Computer’s Internet Connection If your computer is connected to the Internet, you can share your Internet connection with other computers using Mac OS X version 10.2 or later, or Windows XP with Service Pack 2.