Apple AirPort extreme: Wi-Fi for Macintosh--and Windows.Apple's wireless AirPort pro ducts have long been a great solution for home and small office wireless networks--both Macintosh- and Windows-based. Yes, that's correct: Few people know it, but the Apple AirPort Base Station works with any PC with a Wi-Fi certified See Wi-Fi Alliance. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 802.11b or g card. The AirPort Extreme Base Station is based on the cutting-edge 1EEE EEE eastern equine encephalomyelitis. EEE eastern equine encephalomyelitis. 802.11g wireless standard, delivering data nearly five times (54Mbps) faster than 802.11 b. Base Station basics and beyond What is an AirPort Base Station? The Base Station, generically known as an access point, is a wireless router A network device that combines a wireless access point (base station), a wired LAN switch and a router with connections to a cable or DSL service. Wireless routers provide a convenient way to connect a small number of wired and any number of wireless computers to the Internet. that lets wireless computers share a network with any wired network. It is, in a sense, a wireless "server" that lets wireless clients share Internet access See how to access the Internet. , print, even file share ... anything you can do on a wired network. The Base Station features an Ethernet port A socket on a computer or network device for plugging in an Ethernet cable. See WAN port. that also lets you share a single Internet connection with wired computers. By connecting a single computer directly to this port--or several Macs and PCs using a hub--you can place all your computers behind the protection of the firewall. You can share its connection with roughly 50 wired or wireless users simultaneously. AirPort Extreme can connect using an Ethernet-based broadband connection See broadband and wireless broadband. via DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Software that automatically assigns temporary IP addresses to client stations logging into an IP network. It eliminates having to manually assign permanent "static" IP addresses. DHCP software runs in servers and routers. or PPPoE, or by a direct dial-in with its internal modem A modem that plugs into an expansion slot within the computer. Unlike an external modem, an internal modem does not provide a series of display lights that inform the user of the changing modem states. The user must rely entirely on the communications program. Contrast with external modem. . Cross-compatibility Don't get hung up on the fact that your wireless router or bridge is made by a different company than your wireless PC card. The nice thing about the wireless 802.11 standards is that they're exactly that--standards. If you have an 802.11b wireless card for your computer, you should be able to use it on any 802.11b network, regardless of the vendor you're using. (Note, however, that because 802.11 standards are evolving, it isn't unusual to have to implement firmware upgrades to get older equipment to work with newer equipment.) The same applies to 802.11g and 802.11a. So, an AirPort Extreme 802.11g network works with any machine with g or b wireless cards. However, you should know that if you mix the two in the same environment, you won't get the "advertised" 802.11g speeds. See http://Advisor.com/ doc/12615 for more details.) Also note that you can't use an 802.11a card with 802.11b/g networks. Wirelessly expand your range In larger networks, AirPort's products excel by letting you configure multiple Base Stations to act as one network (a feature not available in similarly priced products). I've set up many networks using more than five Base Stations configured to work as one; this gives the user true freedom to roam The freedom to roam, or everyman's right is a term describing the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land for recreation and exercise. The term is sometimes called right of public access to the wilderness or the right to roam. anywhere in a large office or home without additional configuration on the computer. In the past, you could achieve this result by wiring the Base Stations together and making certain that the wireless signals overlapped each other to give the users total connectivity. Now, you can do this without running expensive cables to extend the network. You can also add an external antenna to extend connectivity beyond the internal antenna's 150-foot range (the antennas increase the range up to about 500 feet). You can also wirelessly print directly from the Base Station to a USB printer A printer that plugs into the USB port of a computer. See USB. . You can add an external wireless print server to any wireless network, but this (Mac-only) option is built into the unit at no additional charge. Need a document that's on your desktop at home? Not to worry. If your computer is on, ready to share files, and connected to the Internet using the AirPort Extreme Base Station, you can access it, as well as the other computers on your home network set up for file sharing Copying files from one computer to another. See peer-to-peer network, file sharing protocol and file and printer sharing. . And, with the PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) The most popular method for transporting IP packets over a serial link between the user and the ISP. Developed in 1994 by the IETF and superseding the SLIP protocol, PPP establishes the session between the user's computer and the ISP using dial-in feature, you can even directly dial and connect to the Base Station through its modem from a remote location. Security As with most other access points, the AirPort Extreme Base Station ships with all security features disabled, except for a simple password. Regardless of what brand access point you choose, it's important to spend some time understanding all the security options before you set up your network and make it vulnerable to prying eyes. AirPort Extreme comes equipped with a built-in network address translation (NAT (Network Address Translation) An IETF standard that allows an organization to present itself to the Internet with far fewer IP addresses than there are nodes on its internal network. ) firewall to help prevent access to sensitive data on your network and the ability to secure over-the-air transmissions with 40-bit or 128-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) An IEEE standard security protocol for wireless 802.11 networks. Introduced in 1997, WEP was found to be very inadequate and was superseded by WPA, WPA2 and 802.11i. encryption. When your AirPort Extreme Base Station is configured to share your Internet connection with other machines, the NAT capabilities let the Base Station serve private network addresses to all the computers on the net work. Because these addresses are non routable and seen only by the Base Station, your computers are hidden from most IP-based Web-launched attacks. You can also use the NAT feature to map ports if you're running a Web, FTP FTP in full file transfer protocol Internet protocol that allows a computer to send files to or receive files from another computer. Like many Internet resources, FTP works by means of a client-server architecture; the user runs client software to connect to , or e-mail server See mail server. . A closed wireless network provides additional security by hiding the name of the network created by the Base Station, forcing users to enter the exact network name to join the network. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , the Base Station doesn't broadcast a signal letting unwanted computers know your network is available for connection. You call also sol up access control to only let computers you specify join the network. You do this by entering the computers' MAC addresses in the Base Station or by configuring a connection to an existing Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server on your network to authenticate MAC addresses. All unauthorized MAC addresses will he locked out of the network. Easy setup My company has been using Apple's wireless products in our client's Windows networks for years because AirPort products offer more advanced features than similarly priced competition. You also get an easy set-up wizard and automatic network detection when your computer comes within range (something that's relatively new to other products). When configuring any wireless device, a basic understanding of networking concepts is helpful, and the AirPort Base Station is no exception. The box includes excellent written documentation that discusses everything from the basics of Wi-Fi to complex multi-unit networks. The installer CD includes more detailed PDF (Portable Document Format) The de facto standard for document publishing from Adobe. On the Web, there are countless brochures, data sheets, white papers and technical manuals in the PDF format. documentation covering advanced topics such as firewall configuration. However, there's no Help menu within the Admin utility program and Windows users must download the Windows Admin utility from Apple's Web site because it isn't included on the CD. With that said, I have yet to find a wireless router that's easier to set up. The AirPort Admin utility The AirPort Admin Utility is a utility that is built in to Mac OS X and available for download for Windows XP. The utility serves to allow the user to configure an AirPort Wi-Fi Base Stations to create a wireless network. makes configuration a snap by helping you set channel frequency, closed networks, DHCP lease time, access control, WAN privacy, power controls, remote dial-in, and port mapping See port forwarding. . Total elapsed time e·lapsed time n. The measured duration of an event. Noun 1. elapsed time - the time that elapses while some event is occurring to setup is about 15 minutes for a network administrator and about an hour for a novice. Limitations With its superior quality and performance, the AirPort Extreme easily makes it onto my company's approved product list, even though it has a few limitations. The Base Station can't memorize (or clone) a WAN MAC address. This can be frustrating when you're' connecting a new Base Station to an existing broadband connection. Some Internet service providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. record your MAC address into their modem and servers. This security feature prevents unauthorized access to their networks, which means your connection fails when you install a new router (because your provider requires your MAC address to match the one they have on record for you). Depending on the provider, the solution can be as simple as shutting down your modem for five minutes (this forces the modem to renew the MAC address), or as difficult as calling your ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. and asking someone to reset the MAC address they have on file for you. I've seen 1SPs take 24 hours to complete this process! The second issue I've seen is only related to configuring multiple Base Stations. Sometimes, in larger installations, when configuring multiple units to work together, the Base Stations stop responding and you have to reset them to the factory defaults to get them to respond again. Although, after the Base Stations are configured and working on the network, the problem doesn't reoccur; it only happens during the initial setup. This problem can add countless hours of troubleshooting to the initial setup. However, it's important to note that competing products don't even let multiple units work together as one--so a little frustration seems worth it. As stated previously, Windows users can't use the provided installation CD to configure the Base Stations; they must download the administration software from Apple's Web site. UpShot The AirPort Extreme Base Station is a great product with few limitations. It's well suited for the residential or small business networks. If you're considering a Wi-Fi network See wireless Ethernet and 802.11. , I highly recommend it. Don't worry that this product is made by Apple--it provides total cross platform connectivity for all your Macintosh or Windows computers, configuration is a snap from either type of machine, and its security is more than adequate for most environments. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BUSINESS BENEFITS This access point goes way beyond The basics. (+) NAT/firewall protects wireless as well as wired computers on network (+) Setup is easy, even for a networking novice (+) Extending your network further is easy by wirelessly bridging multiple Base Stations or adding an antenna (-) The Admin Utility for Windows users is not included on the CD; you must download the installer from Apple's Web site (-) You can't clone WAN MAC addresses (-) Base Stations can stop responding during setup of complex networks, adding to the setup time Apple http://www.apple.com Airport Extreme Base Station US$199 for Airport Extremes Base Station (without modem and antenna port) US$249 for Airport Extreme Base Station (with modem and antenna port) DIMENSIONS: 6.9" (175 mm) diameter; 3.2" (80 mm) height; 1.25 pounds (565 grams). CONNECTION: 802.11g; supports 802.11b SPEED: Up to 54Mbps for AirPort Extreme-enabled computers; up to 11Mbps for AirPort-enabled and Wi-Fi 802.11b-enabled computers (data rates depend on environment) SECURITY: Wireless security (WEP) configurable for 40-bit and 128-bit encryption; MAC address filtering; NAT firewall; support for RADIUS Randall Mauro is president of Happy Mac & PC, a premiere technology-consulting firm in Los Angeles. Happy Mac & PC exists to help businesses embrace technology by providing premium, high-quality IT consulting focused on building relationships that cater to the service of its customers. Happy Mac & PC's approach has helped it carve a niche in the entertainment industry, servicing many of Hollywood's top talent and companies, including Edward Norton, Kevin Spacey spac·ey adj. Slang Variant of spacy. Adj. 1. spacey - stupefied by (or as if by) some narcotic drug spaced-out, spacy unconventional - not conventional or conformist; "unconventional life styles" , and Imagine Entertainment. http://www.happypc.com, gethappy@happypc.com. |
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