Best way to make network

A couple questions:

Are you sure your computers can't connect wirelessly, even from different rooms?

Do any of your machines support 802.11n? (I could be mistaken, but I don't think any of the models you listed do support 802.11n)

If your computers can reach your base station from their separate rooms, go for that. But I'm assuming they can't, since you're asking this question in the first place.

If you do need more range, you can absolutely create a wireless bridge. You will have to experiment some to find the optimal placement to reach all of your computers. That will work fine. It will force your network to use 802.11g, but it doesn't sound like that's a hardship, at least not yet.

-- Nik

nikinik.net | http://inik.net | http://notions.inik.net

Apple has a pdf file called 'setting up your wireless network' or
something like that on their site that gives some details. In
addition; there's the Take Control e-book series that the tidbits
folks publish . . . there are a couple at
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/catalog.html.

What you want to do in this case is . . .determine whether you want to
use the Extreme as your border firewall or whether you want to a real
firewall.

The DSL folks will install a DSL modem with an ethernet cable coming
out of it . . . this needs to get plugged into the WAN side of
whatever router you use. The Extreme can serve as this router; or you
can buy something else. All broadband connections should have a
firewll to protect your network. While the Extreme is a very nice
device (I have one myself) . . . it's not a firewall. Go get yourself
a Netgear or something (I've got a Netgear FWAG114 with the wireless
turned off since it doesn't support WPA2) . . . the important thing is
that the firewall support Stateful Packet Inspection (I can explain
this if you want; but trust me . . .this is what you really should
have). The Extreme does NAT which provides some protection for your
internal network but it's not a firewall.

Do you absolutely need a firewall. No . . . if you make sure that no
sharing is turned on any machine inside and only have Macs with no
plans to use Fusion or Parallels desktop. However, they're cheap and
anybody that does security for a living will probably agree that it's
almost a requirement. That said . . . if you have the firewall on on
each Mac, no Windows, and no sharing enabled it's not strictly
required. I wouldn't do it though.

So . . .once you get the firewall installed the DSL modem will connect
to the WAN side of it and your network will connect to the downstream
side of it. You can plug the Extreme into the built in switch on the
WAN side of the firewall/router and set the Extreme to bridge mode . .
.this will essentially take wireless connections and bridge them to
the router/firewall for access to the internet outside.

You can plug any computers that are in the same room as the
firewall/router/Extreme directly into either of them and they'll work
fine.

You may find that the Express is not needed . . . my Extreme works all
over my house both upstairs and downstairs. If you need to use it for
coverage then you'll have to check the manual for it . . . I believe
it can be used in either of two ways though; the first is to bridge a
connection to where you don't have a wire running. In this mode the
wireless side of the Extreme connects to the wireless side of the
Express and then the wired side of the Express is connected to
whatever you want to get the connectivity. This mode sort of gives you
a 'wireless wire' to get connectivity to say the far end of your house
without running a wire. If you can get wireless signals to the other
end of your house though . . . then why not jut skip that part and
connect directly to the Extreme.

The second mode for the Express (I think) is used to provide an
additional wireless connection. In this mode (again, I think as I've
never used an Express) you need to get an ethernet cable from the
switch on either the Extreme or the firewall to the location for the
Express. The Express then bridges this wired connection to wireless;
and I believe it can be set for either an independent wireless network
or meshed into a single wireless network with the Extreme.

Your ocmputers will do this just fine . . . you'll need Airport cards
for the two laptops unless you've already got them. If they're not
available then you can get them on eBay. Since the PB has a PCMCIA
slot you can get a third party . . .there's at least one (Avia maybe)
that is a transparent replacement driver wise for the Apple internal
card.

John:
I use A/Extreme/N wired to a DSL modem downstairs and use A/Express/G
upstairs via WDS. My wife has an AL PB 17" with Airport/G...works fine. My
son and I both have MBP's with Airport/N...works faster. No major issues
other than broadcast distance. I've tried numerous routers over the years
and this setup seems to work best.
--
James Connolly
form&funktion

>We have a G4 iBook, a G4 Powerbook, a G5 iMac, a b/g Express, and an n
>Extreme...Can we
>use the Express as a bridge an should we get an n Express to match the
>Extreme. Am I fooling myself that our computers can do n?

None of your Macs can do n, so there's not need to even run your
Extreme in n mode, let alone buy another Express.

>What is the best literature on this subject?

You can look at Apple's tech spec database to see what your machines came with.

<http://support.apple.com/specs/>

--
=Alex Hoffman
Leadership, Policy & Politics
Teachers College, Columbia University

If you use the Airport Setup Assistant, select the express then it'll give you the option to extend your existing network or just to access it. The assistant then makes all the right changes to the extreme basestation to enable the WDS network.