AEBS setup behaves differently on Lion Server than Snow Leopard

Question

I have a small office setup with a Mac Mini Server running Lion server, a Canon Wifi printer scanner and a Canon USB A3 printer connected to an AEBS which is in turn connected to the buildings network gateway for internet access. We have 3 MacBook Pros (snow leopard) which connect wirelessly and the Mac Mini has an ethernet cable to the AEBS. Fairly simple and we just have 1 manual IP address for the server with the AEBS doing DHCP and NAT.
The issue I have is that if I change the AEBS settings using Airport Utility on a Mac Book Pro (the first time I just changed the DNS numbers to Googles free set and nothing else), I lose internet connectivity. I can get a partial connection if I also set the subnet to 255.0.0.0 (most websites load, but maybe 10% fail). Consistent and repeatable behaviour - every time I change the AEBS settings I lose the internet and the same websites fail to load.
I can get everything working again by using the Mac Mini server to change something on the AEBS, or just restart the AEBS. In which case I can use the recommended subnet mask of 255.255.255.192 and everything works as it should.
So my question is Why?? Does the Server change some background ports, or retain some link to the AEBS which stops it functioning if I use a non-server machine to make a change??
One bit of background: When I first got the Mac Mini Server I let it take control of the AEBS setup - It asked, and I let it, but this activated the 802.1x security and required a login to the server before access to the wifi was granted. A nice feature but the Canon wireless scanner/printer does not support this, so I had to stop this and set the aebs manually, so I could use my scanner again. Is it possible that some link has been retained from this?
I do have a full working setup now that I realise I have to use the server to operate the AEBS, but can anyone help with an explanation? It caused me a few months of partial internet access and lots of wasted time, so would like to know if there is a solution that would allow me to set the AEBS from any Mac on our LAN.
Thanks for taking the time to help!

Answer 1

Which services have been removed or depreicated?
You have to bear in mind that 'removed' or 'deprecated' only really means 'no longer bundled and supported by Apple'. Just because Mac OS X Lion Server doesn't ship with a foobar server that doesn't mean you can't download and install your own foobar server. It just won't be integrated into the Server Admin apps.
For example, Lion Server no longer ships MySQL Server. So download and install your own copy. It's not like the GUI apps gave you any control over the MySQL anyway, other than starting it up and controlling the network ports.
Likewise for print server. Some of the advanced print features such as quotas have been removed from the GUI, but you can implement them yourself.
Likewise with QuickTime Streaming Server, where the functionality is little more than a web service.
What features that have been enhanced?
Lion Server has simplified the setup of a server for small workgroups with simple requirements. If that's you then the whole experience may be enhanced since you're not swamped with a slew of options that you don't understand, or need.
I think a lot of people were also stymied by Snow Leopard Server because they expected the GUI apps to cover all the options, which was never the case.
So my original point stands. There is pretty much nothing you cannot do in Lion Server than you could do in Snow Leopard Server, it's just that it might not be supported by the GUI. Most serious server admins eschew Server Admin.app anyway since even Snow Leopard Server's admin app doesn't cover all the capabilities of some of the services, so you end up driving it via the command line anyway.