Apple Airport Extreme Base Station - Wireless Configuration
Aim of this article:
This article provides instructions for configuring the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station for a Wireless network, using WPA encryption. The guide assumes the Airport or Airport Extreme client card has already been succesfully installed.
NOTE: Users of Mac OS X versions prior to Panther would be required to use WEP encryption to secure their network.
Configuration guide:
First, ensure your Airport card is switched on, and the Base Station is powered up.
Next, select the Airport icon on your desktop and click on the default Apple Network, which appears in the menu.
Click Yes.
You must now open the Airport utility.
In Panther:
Click Go from the Finder menu and select Utilities.
In version 10.2 or previous:
Click Go from the Finder menu, select Applications and then open the Utilities folder.
Double click on the AirPort Admin Utility, illustrated above.
Select the Base Station and then click Configure.
If there are no devices with a physical connection to the Base Station you will see the warning above. Click OK.
NOTE: See Related Articles for information on configuring the Base Station to use the D-Link 300T to connect to the Internet.
Once connected, select Name and Password.
On this screen you can customise the name used by the Base Station and the name of your Wireless network.
You are also advised to change the password, by clicking on the Change Password... button.
Enter your new password in each of the boxes, and then click OK.
Select the type of encryption you wish to use. In this case we are using OS X Panther (10.3), so can select WPA Personal.
Enter a password to be used for this method of encryption, and then click OK.
Now select Show All Settings.
Click Create a closed network. You will see the warning shown below:
Click OK.
NOTE: This is the equivelant of hiding a SSID, as used on other vendors Wireless hardware.
Now click Access Control from the options across the top.
Click the button to enter the MAC addresses of computers which will connect to this Base Station.
To add the MAC address of the computer you are using click This computer. Otherwise, enter the AirPort ID and the Description of the other computer(s). Once happy with your entry, click OK and repeat for any other computers which will be connecting to the Base Station.
Click Update once all of the machines on your Wireless network have been entered in to the Access Control list.
NOTE: AirPort ID is actually the equivelant of the MAC address. This means a Windows or Linux PC MAC address could be entered in this field.
If you have not changed your password you will see the warning above when you click Update. Click Continue.
The new settings will be sent to the Base Station and saved. Click OK to close the Base Station configuration window (you may not cancel at this point).
Your Wireless connection will be terminated at this point, so you will need to configure your Airport client with the new WPA settings.
