Extreme Base Station DHCP Reservations

[rtfm]

Does the Extreme series of base stations allow DHCP reservations? By this I mean a selected MAC number will always be issued {say} 172.16.33.66, and no one else will.

You need this to map a given public IP+port to appear on a given machine on the LAN. It appears from the Apple docs that the AEBase will do the port mapping, but I didn't find a mention of reserving an address.

I can't experiment since the actual base station is 4 states away and I'll be talking them through the modifications..


{Yes, we can assign the box a static address but that's more complications...}

[tlarkin]

I think it is actually called static DHCP, or at least it is in my router. Yes that is definitely possible, but I am not familar with apple networking hardware because I do not use it.

I googled for that option and returned no results that answer it immidiately. So looks like you may have to do some digging. However, in my experience apple networking hardware does not allow you to do a lot of the config you can do with other hardware which is why I never use it.

[Sherman Homan]

Nope. And it should. tlarkin is right, it is called static DHCP and Linksys, Netgear and Buffalo allow it. Mac OS Server will do it also. But that is a little more on the $$$ range!

[tlarkin]

my home network is:

Linksys WRT54GL (running DD-WRT firmware)

1x PC windows XP client - static DHPC

1x dual G4 500 - static DHCP client

1x PC laptop Suse 10.2 - DCHP wifi

1x ibook - DHCP wifi

All my wifi clients are DHCP, and all my desktops are static DHCP so they always have the same IP address. I do this because all my desktops either run clients that need QoS or bandwith or port forwarding and all wifi clients I want just strictly DHCP since I let some people in my apartment building leech off my secured wifi.

[rtfm]

Thanks for confirming what I suspected. We can either deploy a static IP or put a real router into place & set the UFO to bridging mode.

[rtfm]

I'm back...

Since I can't see the UFO myself, and the tool shows nothing useful UNLESS it's connected to the spacecraft.....

I'm trying to find out some specifics on the Extreme's NAT/DHCP abilities.

The Designing Airport Networks pdf does have a few screen shots but they leave me with as many questions as answers.

a) The "Share a single address via DHCP & NAT"
vs
"Share a range w/DHCP" choice....

So the first is obvious, share a single *WAN* address; assign a bunch of *LAN* addresses with DCHP and feed 'em via NAT.

The 2nd puzzles me. They say no NAT, and let you spec a range of *LAN* addresses which to me says 1<->1 WAN to LAN mapping. Is really that what they mean?

b) Is there a way in the first mode to set the size of the DHCP block to be smaller than the subnet? I want an address in the subnet that is NOT one DHCP will serve; that way I can assign it a static address.

C) Is there any way to do port translation? In other words, 198.6.1.1 port 6666 maps to 10.0.2.3 port 22 and 198.6.1.1 port 6789 maps to 10.0.2.5 port 22?

[Sherman Homan]

Answers (worth twice the price you have paid!)
A) Both is what you want. The UFO, as you call it, gets one public IP address and handles the internal DHCP and NAT so that all you home computers live happily on the net. This is the most common setting.
The other setting is when your ISP gives you a range of public IP addresses and the UFO assigns computers one of those addresses, sort of like DHCP, but no NAT is necessary because the home computers get public addresses. This is most probably not your situation! I have only used this setting once.

B) Yup, same window, choose "Other" from the addressing pull down. Roll your own subnet. This is very limited in terms of flexibility, but it does work.

C) Port translation lives under the "Port Mapping" tab.

[rtfm]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sherman Homan A) Both is what you want. The UFO, as you call it, gets one public IP address and handles the internal DHCP and NAT so that all you home computers live happily on the net. This is the most common setting.

And what I need. I call it a UFO because it's descriptive, and Apple muddies the waters by talking about both ends of the link being "airports" more often than not...

Quote: The other setting is when your ISP gives you a range of public IP addresses and the UFO assigns computers one of those addresses, sort of like DHCP, but no NAT is necessary because the home computers get public addresses.

Except NAT is used; each public address is translated to a RFC1918 address. NAT is more than just One-to-Many. Hence my confusion...

Quote: B) Yup, same window, choose "Other" from the addressing pull down. Roll your own subnet. This is very limited in terms of flexibility, but it does work.

Great....

Quote: C) Port translation lives under the "Port Mapping" tab.

Thanks -- It was not clear from the empty screen shot that translation was included.

[rtfm]

So I borrowed a neighbor's UFO Extreme and used it to create a config file for the distant installation.

The IP assignment is not as flexible as I'd like but did let me leave a space for a static box. I still think the Share a Range claiming no NAT is used is misleading but so be it.

He had this unit set up to be a Remote Base Station & I saved off (and later restored) the configuration. I was trying to see if I could hear his master unit but no joy. If there is any signal strength monitoring for the Remote-Master link l didn't find it...I'd think that was vital for placing the Remotes but....

I never could find the alleged list of supported USB printers at apple.com.....