Networking with Apple

sonny

Anyone built a network with Apple stuff that works well with MVP's (1 - 5200, 1 - 8400). The only one I've done in the past was with a single time machine and we had to disable 802.11n for the panels to find the network. In this particular case, the client has a time machine with 3 airport expresses plugged in around the house. There appear to be a couple of options... have the expresses create their own network and link all back to the central switch via cat5, or have them extend the wireless network created by the time machine.

I've had little luck either way, it appears that you can't disable 'n' on the expresses, but can on the time machine. If I set the expresses up as their own network, site survey finds nothing, if I set them up to extend, the panels find the time machine, but the signal is extremely weak.

At this point I may just install a couple of AMX waps and create a second network. But I'm not sure if the presence of 'n' is going to mess with the tp's.

Any thoughts / prior experience...

Thanks

vining

Trying to install a second network on top of an existing "G" network is bad enough but trying to do that on top of an "N" will be difficult.

Can't they be set to "G" mode? If not you'd be better off just replacing the wireless network and not adding a second.

ericmedley

Please bear in mind this is coming from a dyed-in-the-wool, drank-the-koolade Apple guy...

I do not let any clients I do use any Apple Networking product in the systems I do. The wireless is totally janky and makes it almost impossible to set up any other kind of gear.

If you want specifics I can PM you the details. Suffice it to say I've tried all kinds of things to get around the apple products and even to get it to some kind of 'normal' wasn't worth the time and lot revenue.

Other than that, it's pretty average at doing what it does.
E

ryanww

I have had good luck with my apple extreme and also express with my 7500, all my computers and such without issues. Didn't have to turn anything off or dumb it down. I have both in WDS mode with the extreme as the main and the express as a repeater. I have no encryption though and using a hidden ssid. Only thing I changed was switching channels to a less congested channel in my area. Other then that, never had a dropout while testing.

The units aren't all that amazing. They aren't the most intuitive to program, but I guess for a very simple home network, they do the job. Recently I just started using my extreme as a dumb AP and use a PFSense router platform on a custom cpu board. Much better at traffic management and speed.

Ryan

elsap213

Hello,

I have a job with 5 airports and a extreme router from apple. What is happening is that the panels disconnect from the network from time to time and I don't understand why.

To make them work again I have to reboot the controlers. When I look to the panels it seems that they are connected to the wi-fi but they are not. Only after rebooting the contrlers I can communicate with them. But what I can see is that even after they are always loosing connection to the network until they realy loose connection to the network and controllers.


Can anyone help me with that?

Jorde_V

elsap213 wrote: »

Hello,

I have a job with 5 airports and a extreme router from apple. What is happening is that the panels disconnect from the network from time to time and I don't understand why.

To make them work again I have to reboot the controlers. When I look to the panels it seems that they are connected to the wi-fi but they are not. Only after rebooting the contrlers I can communicate with them. But what I can see is that even after they are always loosing connection to the network until they realy loose connection to the network and controllers.


Can anyone help me with that?

Can you provide some more intel?

How is the network configured? a/b/g/n? a+b/g+n?

Which panels? How many panels?

Pingable? or just losing the connection with the controller(s)?

Wirelessly extending the network or wired?

and anything else you have that might be of interest.

DHawthorne

Last I looked, you could turn off the 802.11n on an Extreme, but not an Express (updates happen frequently enough I won't bet the farm on this still being true). AMX panels definitely won't work well with the N on. That said, I've had no real problems with the Extreme, and I've found their radios to be generally more powerful and robust than other wireless systems. If I must use a consumer grade router or access point, this is what I use ... and that's from a dyed-in-the-wool PC guy. Go figure.

elsap213

Jorde_V wrote: »

Can you provide some more intel?

How is the network configured? a/b/g/n? a+b/g+n?

Which panels? How many panels?

Pingable? or just losing the connection with the controller(s)?

Wirelessly extending the network or wired?

and anything else you have that might be of interest.

Hello,

The network is configured n + compatible with b+g and the panels are 4 MVP5200i and one 3100 and one 4100 controllers.

When I enter in the wireless settings of the panels it says it is connected but most of the times i can´t see them on the online tree.

Today I when to the job site to see the network and configured all again with a small SSID and there was something even more strange. I've updated the controllers for the last version of firmware and made a download of the software the last time I was there and today I couldn't connect to the 4100 controller by IP. The 3100 was ok, the connections between the 2 controllers are fine, as i can control everything in the house, but I only can connect my computer by RS232 to the controller.

I'm sending a small file with some things I saw and don't know if it helps.

Thank you

ryanww

This to me sounds like you may either have a distance gap that is too large between the individual airports (if they are used in WDS mode like a mesh network) or possibly some congestion on the current channel. I would recommend turning the whole system off, doing a channel scan and see what is around. Or you can just try changing it to a different channel to see if it works better.

Sometimes the airports loose the connection between each other yet the panel would be connected to a remote airport. Essentially like a path to nowhere.

Ryan

DHawthorne

Turn off the wireless N. AMX panels just plain don't like it. It's no good to you anyway ... put one G device (like an AMX panel) on the network, and the whole thing drops to G anyway. It's the handshaking part that confuses the AMX devices though, so they have difficulty connecting and/or staying connected.