Setting Up Software Airport/Ethernet Bridge?

mucow · 11-10-2003, 05:21 PM

I'm in college, and our dorm is setting up a (admittedly unofficial) wireless network. My desktop, which has an airport extreme card, is in a good position to serve as an access point. I realize that I can do this via Panther's built in internet sharing, but doing so forces my machine to act as a DHCP server on the wireless side, which is bad, since we simply want the access points to act as bridges, so we can use the school's pre-existing DHCP servers to acquire IP addresses. Is there any way, via either the command line or by third party software, to do this? Searching macosxhints turns up nothing (there is a hint called "create a wireless network bridge", but this hint does not actually create a bridge, simply an airport-to-ethernet DHCP system)

Thanks!

cudaboy_71 · 11-10-2003, 08:56 PM

i think i understand what youre trying to do. but, i've never tried it.

in airport admin utility, in the network tab, there is an 'enable DHCP on ethernet' tick box that appears to override the airport DHCP settings. i dont have a network handy to see what it does--but it sounds like a maybe.

just mentioning it if you happened to overlook.

mucow · 11-10-2003, 09:49 PM

you're right - there is... but I'm trying to configure a desktop machine to be an access point (I don't have a base station, and I'd prefer not to have to buy one...)

gruvin · 05-22-2012, 03:40 AM

Wow. It's now 9 years hence and OS X still doesn't provide bridging functions -- not even Lion Server, so far as I can tell (just by Googling.)

Who ever would have thought that silly old Windows XP would do something useful back in 2002 that OS X still cannot today. Damn shame.

11-10-2003, 05:21 PM	#1
mucow Prospect Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 3	Setting Up Software Airport/Ethernet Bridge? I'm in college, and our dorm is setting up a (admittedly unofficial) wireless network. My desktop, which has an airport extreme card, is in a good position to serve as an access point. I realize that I can do this via Panther's built in internet sharing, but doing so forces my machine to act as a DHCP server on the wireless side, which is bad, since we simply want the access points to act as bridges, so we can use the school's pre-existing DHCP servers to acquire IP addresses. Is there any way, via either the command line or by third party software, to do this? Searching macosxhints turns up nothing (there is a hint called "create a wireless network bridge", but this hint does not actually create a bridge, simply an airport-to-ethernet DHCP system) Thanks!

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11-10-2003, 08:56 PM	#2
cudaboy_71 All Star Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: sacramento, ca Posts: 873	i think i understand what youre trying to do. but, i've never tried it. in airport admin utility, in the network tab, there is an 'enable DHCP on ethernet' tick box that appears to override the airport DHCP settings. i dont have a network handy to see what it does--but it sounds like a maybe. just mentioning it if you happened to overlook.

11-10-2003, 09:49 PM	#3
mucow Prospect Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 3	you're right - there is... but I'm trying to configure a desktop machine to be an access point (I don't have a base station, and I'd prefer not to have to buy one...)

05-22-2012, 03:40 AM	#4
gruvin Prospect Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 4	Wow. It's now 9 years hence and OS X still doesn't provide bridging functions -- not even Lion Server, so far as I can tell (just by Googling.) Who ever would have thought that silly old Windows XP would do something useful back in 2002 that OS X still cannot today. Damn shame.