On the iPad, a pop-over menu is used instead.) Once the password is accepted, you can get into reviewing or changing the device settings in earnest. (On the iPhone, this is a subsequent screen. Tap a base station and you’re prompted for a password, which is stored in the app. Tap the Internet, and it shows the current network status, IP address, DNS servers, and the domain name if one’s assigned. Note that the iOS AirPort Utility shows any AirPort base station-Extreme or Express-but it lets you examine and configure only base stations with 802.11n capability (essentially all models released starting in 2007). The utility can also show more complicated networks with a main router and base stations connected via a wireless link and via Ethernet. I’m dying to see what a network with 50 base stations looks like-you can pinch and expand to pan around the network graphic. The illustration is hierarchical, with the Internet on the top layer, followed by the coordinating base station, and then the others.
In a screen capture provided by Apple in the App Store, a network is shown in which a main base station connected to broadband in turn provides network access (and DHCP-assigned addresses) via a wireless link, shown as a dotted line, and a wired Ethernet connection. On more complicated networks, the illustration becomes much more useful. That dot turns yellow with errors and red with show-stopping problems, such as a dead Internet feed.ĪirPort Utility shows the topology of the network: the base stations that comprise it, and the connections among them. Note that a green dot appears next to the Internet if it’s available, and next to each properly configured base station. This is neatly depicted as a giant globe for the Internet, with solid lines linking it to the three base stations. My home network is currently set up with three base stations, all of which obtain private addresses via DHCP from a cable modem to which they are connected via Ethernet. The app shows the correct hierarchy and differentiates between wired and wireless links. Topology defines the connections among devices, and as the author of books about Wi-Fi and AirPort since 2002, having a program present a visualization of your network before you even dive into troubleshooting or extending it is a godsend. The first thing you see when you launch AirPort Utility for iOS on an existing network with multiple base stations is what I’ve been wanting in the desktop version for years: a graphical schematic (with accurate icons for each variety of hardware) that shows network topology.
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