3tb Airport time capsule

[jasonmurphy]

Hi Folks. Absolute noob here. If I'm breaking a rule or posting in the wrong place, apologies and feel free to steer (push) me in the right direction. I set up my ATC at home, direct to the router and everything connects perfect and works seamlessly. Bit tricky, but these forums got me through it.
At work the router is buried where I cannot have access to it. I was wondering can I plug it into a wall socket that has ethernet port and create a wifi hotspot. The school has no wifi at present and only 4 computers so in 2017... I am queuing to send/receive emails/ find sources for the kids.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Jay

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

You can try, if the port is active it should work fine. If you have any IT infrastructure there, it would be worth reporting to them however.

 

[cruisin]

You would most likely need to put it into bridge mode as it would conflict with the existing DHCP server otherwise (always a fun way to break a network).

The IT people would likely need to be notified as you are modifying their network, unless they are fine with new computers not under their control joining the network.

 

[jasonmurphy]

You would most likely need to put it into bridge mode as it would conflict with the existing DHCP server otherwise (always a fun way to break a network).

The IT people would likely need to be notified as you are modifying their network, unless they are fine with new computers not under their control joining the network.

Aha that makes sense... the only thing is it's school so all IT is done by a 3rd party source so you can imagine they're fairly behind the times and unwilling to move forward. The quote was ... don't mess with the internet, someone setup a google docs for all of the school and brought down the whole network....
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gonna look down the route of bridging. are there any network implications if i make a balls of it... and actually bring down the network?

 

[techwarrior]

Gonna look down the route of bridging. are there any network implications if i make a balls of it... and actually bring down the network?

ATC is, by default, a router. It "learns" and advertises routes to other routers. If there are >1 routers on a network, they must be aware of each other, and properly configured to avoid creating infinite route loops. Routers get confused if an infinite loop is detected, and will reset themselves in order to try to re-learn. So, by not using Bridged Mode, you risk killing the network for the entire campus and will not win friends! Don't be THAT guy!

By putting an ATC (or any Wireless Router) into Bridge mode, it simply becomes a hotspot\Access Point, bridging it's Ethernet LAN connection with the Wi-Fi signal. It no longer tries to figure out routing, it effectively changes the WAN port to a LAN port, and blindly sends and receives data and expects an upstream router will know what to do with it.

I don't believe Airport Utility offers the tools to configure ATC as a second router, it requires static route configurations on ATC as well as on the other campus routers. Airport devices are intended for use on private, consumer networks, not public networks. The only way to use these on public networks is in bridged mode.
[doublepost=1487262052][/doublepost]One more thing. The setup you configured at home should not be used for school.

The Wi-Fi signal that you create should have a Network Name (SSID) and password that are useful and unique for the school users. Last thing you want to do is use your personal Wi-Fi settings on the school network, doing so will invite any faculty or student to connect to your home Wi-Fi if it is in range and using the same SSID and password.

 

[cruisin]

Gonna look down the route of bridging. are there any network implications if i make a balls of it... and actually bring down the network?

The only issue would be related to someone using their own device and it had malware, and by connecting to the network infecting others. Which is what I meant by computers not under the control of IT. The school computers are likely cleaned regularly or at least locked down to resist infections.

A router in bridged mode will not cause any issues by itself. It will simply allow more devices to connect. Not putting it in bridge mode is the source of many issues. You are however making a private network public when you let new people join. So if you feel confident this will not be an issue go ahead.