Time Capsule WDS trial and error--working now

Question

*{ I }*
I consider myself an expert in using Mac computers and Mac wireless systems although I am no hacker and no programmer by any stretch of the imagination (although I did teach myself how to use HyperStacks way back in 1990!). Although Apple overall provides a relative ease of use for computer technology, setting up a WDS network under b or g mode is still not always perfect. In this post, I relay my experiences of using a new Time Capsule to join an existing WDS network in 802.11g mode. It took several trials and errors and there might still be some glitches but for now it seems to be working.
note: you might want to skip to the last section roman numeral five if you want to skip the "travels with Conal and his Time Capsule" and see what my most helpful hint is.
*{ II }*
WDS stands for Wireless Distribution System which is when you use wireless routers to extend the range of your networks using a wireless method rather than linking each router by long cables. In the ideal situation, you would link the routers by cables but in a home situation one may not be able to have unsightly cables hanging everywhere.
My previous WDS system looked something like this:
DSL Modem == Extreme ~~ Express1 ~~ Express2 ## laptop
Key
== represents wired connection between routers
~~ represents wireless connection between routers
## represents wireless connection to a wireless device that is not a router (eg., laptop)
Extreme = Airport Extreme, the previous generation that looked like a saucer (or humourously I have heard called a "boob-style" station.
Express1 and Express2 = Airport Express, the previous generation that only could broadcast in b or g
My laptop usually connects to the network from Express2 because that has the strongest signal in my room.
*{ III }*
When I received my Time Capsule, I wanted to replace the existing Express2 and make Express2 simply become a wifi client (not a router) so that I can still use it for AirTunes and not to have it broadcast router signals. The reason for this is because Express2 and Time Capsule reside in the same room and aside from the redundancy of network signals, I don't know if having two wireless routers in such close proximity to each other would cause havoc on my network performance. I wanted the network to look like this schematic:
Extreme ~~ Express1 ~~ Time Capsule
I unplugged Express 2 and took it to the same location as Express 1 and Extreme 1. Then I plugged in Time Capsule. The idea of putting them in close proximity for set up was so that they could properly configure each other.
I opened up Airport Utility and it saw all four of my routers. I went through the wizard for Time Capsule selecting the option for it to replace an existing router. When all configurations were automatically set Time Capsule rebooted and in about two minutes or less, Airport Utility tells me there was an error configuring the Time Capsule. I knew immediately then that I had a few long hours ahead of me.
After that first failure I tried these various ways:
1. retried the wizard automatic way (never worked for my setup which albeit is not the simplest of network setups is neither the most complicated)
2. performed a manual configuration whereby I added the Time Capsule Airport ID to Express1 making Time Capsule a remote router of Express1; then I manually added Express1 to TimeCapsule as a router that it should connect to (that didn't work for some reason)
3. finally I got out the ethernet cable, hard reset Time Capsule, plugged in ethernet cable from laptop to TimeCapsule, and the manually added the Airport ID to Express1 and vice versa.
Note that I went through trial #2 several times fiddling around with other various WDS configuration etc. Finally what really worked for me was #3. I find that despite that I should be able to configure a new router wirelessly, I was not able to do so with success. I had to do it in a wired ethernet fashion.
After that was done, all was set. Well, almost because I still had to reconfigure Express2 so that it no longer would work as a router but as a wifi client.
*{ IV }*
Now my whole network looks like this
DSL Modem == Extreme ~~ Express1 ~~ TimeCapsule ## Express2 ## laptop
Note that Express2 and my laptop are actually both connected wirelessly to TimeCapsule. I am unable to draw it in another way due to the limitations of using linear text to represent parallel items.
*{ V }*
So, my advice for those who are having trouble with configuring Time Capsule or other wireless router, sometimes you might want to try plugging in an ethernet cable so that not only is the connection more solid but that pretty much continual contact with the router is available.
I realise that WDS in 802.11n is configured slightly differently and so perhaps WDS setup has improved but as it stands in 802.11g and 802.11b in the way Apple has implemented it, I would not suggest someone below the level of expert doing it. It can be very baffling, confusing, and irritating. I would never ask my father to try to set up WDS on his own even though there is a wizard for it. I know some people (like Chris Prillo) has had no problems with the wizard, but I have always had problems with the wizard. Not only did I have problems with it when trying to get the Time Capsule to replace an existing router, but when I set up my original WDS network I also couldn't use the wizard to set it up. It kept giving me errors.
Message was edited by: Conal Ho
Message was edited by: Conal Ho

Answer 1

You are over complicating things. I have a Time Capsule (TC), AirPort Extreme (AE) Base Station and AirPort Express (AX) all working flawlessly with WDS.
Make sure to write down the MAC addresses of the TC, AE, and AX. You will need them to configure WDS.
Using the AirPort Admin util configure the TC. Turn on WDS and set the TC to be the main.
Using the AirPort Admin software configure the first AX. Turn on the WDS and set it as a remote client of the TC. You will need the MAC address of the TC.
Using the AirPort Admin software configure the second AX. Turn on the WDS and set it as a remote client of the TC. You will need the MAC address of the TC.
You may have to reboot each device after each config change.
See my blog post on this at http://islandinthenet.com/2008/07/01/airport-everywhere-with-wireless-distributi on-system-wds/
Message was edited by: Khurt Williams