Xserve and Airport Network

Question

Currently I have an Xserve G5 running through a switch hardwired computers. All of the ethernet ports connected to the switch provide my MBP with a DHCP and I can access both the server and the internet. The ABSs however will not recognize the server. They are all set up in Bridge mode and originally had them all set up under the same network name but changed them to separate names to trouble shoot. I have checked the ABS and purchased a new one to make sure that they are not the problem but they seem to be working otherwise.
I have assigned also manually assigned static IP addresses in sequential order and have no known conflicts with these addresses.
I currently only have one of these base stations working could it be as simple as resetting the server and the switch?
10.0.1.50
10.0.1.51
10.0.1.52
10.0.1.53
Router addresses are the same and the
DNS server is 10.0.1.1
Subnet 255.255.255.255
any help would be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Hi Matthew and Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Your description of your network configuration is a little sparse and hard to understand, but I'll give this a try.
Typical ISP connections are made through a modem/router. Usually, the modem/router will run a DHCP server to distribute IP addresses to devices on your internal network (LAN). Your MBP, Xserve and ABS's (when the ABS's are operating in Bridge mode) would receive a LAN IP address from the DHCP server in the modem/router, provided that they are configured to use DHCP in their Network settings in System Preferences.
Where things can get sticky - and get horribly confusing - is when there are two DHCP servers running on your LAN, effectively creating two different LANs within your network. Even worse is when the DHCP servers are running the same IP/Subnet groups.
You can, for example, configure the ABS to distribute IP addresses to wireless clients using it's DHCP server. In this scenario, wireless clients would not be able to see other devices upstream from the ABS since they are outside the DHCP network range the ABS is providing - even if the IP range and subnets match to what the DHCP server in the modem/router is using. (The ABS will use NAT to translate the IP address traffic in its DHCP server, treating them as separate network entities.)
Likewise, you could use the two network interfaces on the Xserve in a similar manner, connecting one to the modem/router and the other to a separate network switch, then enabling DHCP in OS X Server tied to the second network interface. Devices on the downlink side from the Xserve and switch would get their IP addresses from the Xserve DHCP server. This is perfectly fine, as long as the two network interfaces never cross paths on your network other than at the Xserve itself.
Manually assigning IP addresses on DHCP networks is also fine, as long as there are no replicated IP addresses, and that the Router IP Address and Subnet Mask match what is being distributed by the DHCP server. For example, you could have a setting such as:
IP Address: 10.0.1.50
Router IP: 10.0.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.255
Most modem/routers have a Web interface that you can access to manually reserve DHCP IP addresses to particular devices as well. Most will also let you restrict DHCP to a range of IP addresses, letting you run static IP addresses for devices on your LAN while still providing DHCP service to other devices without pre-assigned static IP addresses.
Now, compare all of that information with how your network is configured. If you follow the chain of network devices, determine which are providing DHCP services and where they are in the chain of your network flow, you can usually find the problem.
HTH,
-Doug