Home Networking Question

KenDRhyD

Registered
I have a home network that has been working well for some time, but a recent change has introduced a new problem.

First, I have 4 MacOS X based systems, two with Airport cards and two with Airport Express cards. I also have an Airport Snow (not express) base station.

The system started out with a single computer connected directly to first a cable modem, but we had to add a router when we wanted to support more than one computer so I had some direct ethernet connections to a router that was connected to the cable modem. The cable modem was replaced with a DSL modem when we switched ISPs for performance and reliability reasons. One PC was also occassionally connected to the router, permitting me to share files with the MacOS X based systems (and the internet connection).

As we added some more systems, and replaced the only MacOS system not wireless capable, we added the Apple Snow base station. So, at that point, all four of the Mac systems was connection to the Airport base station, which was connected to the router via ethernet, which was connected to the DSL modem via ethernet. I was able to plus the PC into the router and access the internet, but I had to plug it into the extra ether net port on the Airport base station to be able to share files.

After a few years the router went on the dritz and started to freeze, requiring a power reset to get it working again. Eventually this started to happen at least once a day, so we decided to replace it. Since we had two Mac OS ssytem capable of higher speed, we looked around and were able to find a new wireless router that is capable of Airport Express speeds as well as acting as a router. The Airport base station is still connected to this router via ethernet, ensuring that the slower MacOS X systems do not degrade the 802.11g speed router to 802.11b speeds! The two faster MacOS X systems connect via the wireless network on the router itself, permitting them to operate at 802.11g speed.

My problem is this: how do I configure the Airport base station and the router to permit the two 802.11b based Mac OS systems connecting via the Airport base station, the two 802.11g based systems that are connecting via the new wireless router, and the PC system (which will likely connect to the new wireless router via an ethernet cable), to all 'see' each other on the same subnet, or across subnets?

The Airport is current set to the default 10.0.1.xxx domain, and the router is currently set to the defauolt 192.168.2.xxx domain. I am more than willing to change the domains on either or both, especially if that will improve security. I know that I have to make some other setting changes to permit this to happen, but I am not a networking expert, and I want to make certain I do not mess things us too severly and lose my ability to browse the internet to ask for help!

Can someone provide some basic intructions concerning the best way to approach this problem?

And yes, both wireless networks are password protected.

-ken
 
(I personally would just remove the Airport base station - the router can handle the two different wireless speeds just fine.)

It sounds to me like you understand your network quite well. You have two separate subnets going at once, the 10.x.x.x network and the 192.168.x.x network. Having two networks is why you can't (easily) file share. You should go to Airport Admin and set the old airport base station to Not "Distribute IP Addresses." The new router will now be the router for everything, and the old airport BS can still be the wireless connection (on a different channel, right?) for 802.11b computers.
 
gsahli said:
(I personally would just remove the Airport base station - the router can handle the two different wireless speeds just fine.)
Actually, on mant 802.11g routers, introducing an 802.11b system drags the speed down to that level. I am in the process of attempting to prove that with this router, but the preliminary evidence is that this may be the case.

You should go to Airport Admin and set the old airport base station to Not "Distribute IP Addresses." The new router will now be the router for everything, and the old airport BS can still be the wireless connection (on a different channel, right?) for 802.11b computers.
Yes, the two wireless stations use different, but adjacent channels, and after reconfiguring the Airport base station twice this worked -- for some reason the first time it did not take and the clients were still getting address from the Airport station, now they are getting them from the main router and I have a network back again!

Thanks.
 
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