Wiley AirPort and Mac Wireless Networks For Dummies
Contents
1. Although your Mac can find and join nearby AirPort networks automatically by default it does so only with networks to which you have previously connected your Mac You can change these settings with your Mac s Network Preferences as described later in Choosing how to connect to AirPort networks Making a first connection When you turn AirPort on it immediately scans the airwaves looking for available wireless networks You can use Internet Connect to instruct your Mac to join one of those networks Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable 13 PCS Figure 1 3 The Network pop up menu offers nearby AirPort networks you can join PCs When you join an AirPort network your Mac can use that network s Internet connection if it has one As you see in Chapter 4 most AirPort networks pro vide shared Internet access to the computers using the network Here s how you join an AirPort network using Internet Connect 1 Open Internet Connect and click Turn AirPort On if your AirPort is off If you have just finished the procedure in the previous section Internet Connect should already be open and AirPort should already be turned on 2 Click the Network pop up menu You should see a list of the available AirPort networks within receiving range of your Mac as shown in Figure 1 3 Of course if you are not within range of any AirPort networks no networks appear on this menu If that s the case just read through2. that generate radio interference Although Chapter 4 can help you diag nose and solve many wireless network problems you may need to develop some deductive skills beyond those required for fixing wired network problems Hard earned knowledge If you ve built your own wired network I imag ine that you spent more than a little time and energy understanding the technology figuring out how all the pieces work together and acquiring a nice collection of troubleshooting tips When you go wireless you have to acquire some new knowledge and skills On the other hand that s why you have this book right Gains Here s a list of some of the things you gain by going wireless Y Mobility This obviously is the main attraction for portable Mac users and I don t think I really need to explain why But an AirPort network makes sense for desktop Mac users too You can set up your Mac wher ever you desire without worrying about a network cable and you can move the Mac more easily Expandability and flexibility An AirPort Express base station can serve as many as 10 simultaneous network users and the AirPort Extreme can serve as many as 50 When you can add network users either at home or at the office without routing additional cables you save both time and money Security I l bet you re thinking Wait a minute didn t he just say that wired networks are more secure than wireless Well yes they are but on
3. 10 14 Part I Wireless Basics DO Figure 1 4 Protected networks require you to provide some authen tication Dn avr ar oee AirPort The selected AirPort network requires a password to join Sur Wireless Security WEP Password iad Password __ Show password _ Remember password in my keychain Cancel Ok Status Not associated with any network Status not available 4 Type the network password in the Password field and click OK You can skip this step if the network you have selected does not require a password You can also skip this step the next time you join the same protected network if you click the check box labeled Remember Password in My Keychain before you click OK When you set that option your Mac records the network s password securely in your keychain a standard system feature that the Mac provides to store passwords and other sen sitive information securely freeing you from having to remember all the passwords you may need to use for various services and activities The next time you attempt to join the protected network your Mac retrieves the password from the keychain and uses it automatically That s it If you ve successfully joined the network Internet Connect indicates that fact in the window s Status field Internet Connect also shows you the strength of the network s broadcast signal in the window s Signal Level indi cator and gives the hardware add
4. 1x AirPort Power On Turn AirPort Off Network Cohen Spangenberg Z Signal Leve G OOOO OOOOOOONONON Base Station ID 00 11 24 98 2E 70 v Show AirPort status In menu bar G Status Connected to Cohen Spangenberg Disconnect Connected via PPPoE for 00 01 13 You may be wondering about the Disconnect button in the lower right corner of the Internet Connect window shown in Figure 1 5 This button appears when your Mac has joined an AirPort network You click the Disconnect button to instruct the AirPort base station to close its Internet connection When the AirPort base station doesn t have an Internet connection the button label changes to Connect and as you might expect you click it to instruct the base station to create an Internet connection You can find out more about configuring a base station to establish an Internet connection in Chapter 4 Choosing how to connect to AirPort networks In order to hide the uninteresting complexities of wireless networking from its users Mac OS X employs several strategies For example when you join an AirPort network for the first time Mac OS X remembers that network The next time your Mac comes within range of that network Mac OS X joins that net work again automatically You can use the Network preferences window in your Mac s System Preferences to change how your Mac joins wireless networks 15 16 Part I Wireless Basics De Figure 1 6 You change how
5. IT policies and guide lines for how individual work groups in the enterprise can establish their own wireless networks Chapter 10 describes some of the technical and political challenges you may encounter when using wireless networks in a large enterprise and provides ways to meet them Contemplating the big picture I doubt that Apple s AirPort technology would even exist if the Internet had not become such a powerful economic and social force in the 1990s That s not to say that wireless networks would not exist Enterprises without the Internet would find wireless network technology useful and economical in particular cases But the unprecedented growth of Internet use by the gen eral public which happens to be Apple s core market made the creation of easy to use wireless networking hardware and software not just commer cially feasible but wildly successful for Apple Today AirPort capability isn t even an option on many Macs It s a standard feature Providing easy secure Internet access to wireless network users pervades the AirPort experience The AirPort Setup Assistant which is described in Chapter 3 devotes a good deal of its prepackaged intelligence to helping you establish an Internet connection As shown in Chapter 4 Apple s AirPort Admin Utility the master control program for your AirPort base station not only devotes one of its seven configuration panes to setting up an Internet connection but
6. four of the remaining six panes also include settings that control some part of Internet connectivity When you establish an Internet connection with your AirPort base station your network becomes part of the Internet itself After all that s what the Internet really is a global collection of individual networks all interconnected
7. the recently released Palm LifeDrive incorporate the wireless network tech nology that AirPort uses Chapter 11 discusses wireless enabled PDAs When you set up your AirPort network the wired devices all plug into a device called a network hub A hub usually has four or more Ethernet connec tors called ports to which network devices connect One of those devices is your AirPort base station See Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 for more about how and why you connect an AirPort base station to a network hub Because the entire network s wired devices including your base station con nect to the network through a hub you have to run cables through your home or office to connect those devices to the hub Many offices already have Ethernet cable in place but unless you want to engage in a home wiring exercise most people locate their printers and other wired network devices pretty close to one another Chapter 4 discusses the factors you should con sider when setting up a home network Touching base with the Internet To establish a Mac wireless network you need only an AirPort base station and a single Mac with wireless capability but what s the fun of that For most of us a network without an Internet connection doesn t seem like much of a network Most AirPort networks also provide an Internet connection that the network s users can share As described in Chapter 3 much of the setup process for an AirPort base sta tion involve
8. users to join a wireless network when they log in Of course if they log in when the Mac is in range of a preferred network the Mac joins that network automatically 1 Enable Interference Robustness This option applies only to Macs equipped with AirPort Extreme capability It provides better network performance in the presence of interfering radio transmitters The next section of this chapter explains what AirPort Extreme is Chapter 4 describes the interference robustness option in more detail and Chapter 5 discusses how interference can affect an AirPort network Any changes you make to your Mac s Network preferences don t take effect until you click Apply Assembling a Wireless Network Apple has put a lot of time thought and money making wireless networking simple enough for the rest of us to use These days setting up a wireless AirPort network can require less expertise than it takes to set the timer on a VCR which is a good thing too because who wants to see a bunch of Mac screens blinking 12 00 over and over and over Apple s hardware and soft ware work together to make what used to be and for many users of other computer systems still is a complex process into a simple matter Getting the hardware Depending on how new your Mac is getting the right hardware for using a wireless network may involve no work at all These days Apple builds every thing you need to use wireless networking into near
9. you come within its range NEE Your Mac works its way down the preferred network list starting at the top amp when it attempts to find and join wireless networks You may want to rearrange the list to put the network you use most use on top so that when you find yourself in an environment where your Mac can detect two or more preferred networks at once such as in school or an office building your Mac will try to join the network you regularly use first You can change the order of the items on the preferred network list by dragging them up or down The AirPort pane of your Mac s Network preferences also offers you an Options button that you can use to fine tune how your Mac handles AirPort networks Figure 1 8 shows the Options sheet that appears when you click the Options button OBE Network _ B If no preferred networks are found Ask before joining an open network B Require administrator password to __ Change wireless networks l Create Computer to Computer networks v Automatically add new networks to the preferred networks list _ Disconnect from wireless networks when I log out _ Enable interference robustness a 2 Restore Defaults Cancel OK gt Figure 1 8 TWIN RoGHT ITO WPAZ Persona prm Fine tune TLG Home None X your Mac s Edit AirPort AirPort will connect to the first available network in the list If none network DA E Gos oneness eee eee settings with this Options V Show AirP
10. Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable In This Chapter Hitting the ground running Joining wireless networks your way Collecting the wireless puzzle pieces Judging wireless pros and cons Knowing the limits Touring home and office networks Thinking globally O the last century the world has wrapped itself in wires and cables telegraph cables telephone cables power cables network cables Consider what lies behind the typical office desk If you were to take a time lapse movie camera and travel back about a hundred years you might see something like the following At first there d be a lone wire for a desk lamp pos sibly accompanied by a second wire in the form of a telephone cord After a while an office intercom cable would appear along with its associated power cord followed shortly by another power cord or two for an electric typewriter and an adding machine A multi plug electrical outlet extender would also enter the picture at around the same time from which would sprout the growing number of power cords that by this time have overwhelmed the existing wall socket Snaking into the picture with increasing speed as you got closer and closer to the present a whole bunch of other cables and cords would arrive to feed both electricity and information into an expanding desktop computer system The last frame of this movie would show a hopelessly tangled Gordian knot of dust encrusted cables and cords looking very much like the one beh
11. T staff keeps the complex enterprise network together and running smoothly in part by controlling what kinds of devices use the network and where those devices make their network connections In short for reasons of physical network integrity you won t use wire less network technology in an enterprise network unless the IT staff allows you to use it and can control how you use it Security To keep the enterprise s valuable information safe from out siders the IT staff sets security policies and procedures that permit only authorized users to gain network access Also because some informa tion stored on the network may need to be restricted to small groups the IT staff often grants different users different access privileges Security policies may also control which users have Internet access and which users can access the network away from the office In short for security reasons you won t use wireless technology in an enterprise network unless the IT staff allows you to use it and can con trol the ways in which you use it 30 Part I Wireless Basics MBER KV amp This doesn t mean you won t be able to set up or use a wireless network at the office Many enterprises have noted that wireless networks sometimes referred to as air gapped LANs in IT circles can offer economic advantages You may run across enterprises that have either established wireless net works within the larger enterprise network or created
12. ac to share a directly con nected USB printer with other network users Furthermore both the AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme base stations provide a USB port and USB printer sharing capability That allows a USB printer to serve any computer on the AirPort network Nonetheless such printers con nect to the Mac or the base station via cables and have no wireless capa bility of their own Read more in Chapter 4 about connecting a USB printer to an AirPort base staton Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable 23 To complement this list these network devices often use wireless connections 1 Portable Macs The first Macs to have wireless capability were the first iBook models and every portable Mac model released since has had wireless capability Because portables are designed for mobility it makes sense that they are on this list See Chapter 2 for more informa tion about the wireless options available on various Mac portables 1 Desktop Macs with AirPort AirPort has also been an option on nearly all Macs since 1999 and is a standard feature on the latest iMacs Although desktop computers tend to move around less than portables connecting them via wireless networks often makes good sense because it reduces wiring costs and allows more location flexibility Chapter 2 also describes the wireless options available on desktop Mac models made in the last few years 1 PDAs Some recent PDAs Portable Digital Assistants such as
13. ake a look at some of the things you may have to give up when you adopt wireless network technology 1 Speed These days the Ethernet port on the newest Macs can transfer information across a network at up to 1 billion bits per second at least theoretically By comparison current wireless networks provide a theoretical top speed of only 56 million bits per second Of course most networks wired or wireless don t operate at anywhere near their theo retical top speeds and many other factors such as the number of active network users and the speed of the various devices attached to the net work can affect a network s speed far more than whether the connec tion is wireless Nonetheless if you absolutely require extremely fast network throughput you may find that wireless networking just won t work for you But put the speed issue in perspective At a billion bits per second you can transfer the entire text of a book like War and Peace in well under a twentieth of a second By comparison Tolstoy s classic would take slightly more than half a second to transfer at the theoretical top speed of a wireless network If you don t need to transfer gargantuan 19th century Russian novels over a network faster than 20 or so copies a minute the speed limits of wireless technology probably won t cause you any problems Security On a wired network you have physical control over who gets to use the network If you don t want some
14. ation during tax season File sharing over a network beats swapping floppy disks especially because floppy disks and floppy disk drives are relatively rare items among Mac users these days 1 Entertainment AirPort networks allow family members to share music and photos with one another as discussed in both Chapter 7 and in Chapter 9 For most home networks a single AirPort base station suffices That base sta tion as you might expect usually sits near the source of the home s Internet connection to which it needs to be physically connected The computers on the network on the other hand can be located anywhere the AirPort base station signal can reach which for all but the most palatial homes usually includes the entire residence If you want to share a printer over the network place the printer near the base station as well along with any other network devices that don t use a wireless connection Those devices connect to the network with cables If possible avoid running cables between rooms Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable 29 Looking at a typical office network Businesses like networks can come in all shapes and sizes A network for a small business such as a retail store or doctor s office might not differ much in its networking needs from the home network described previously Even the Internet connection for a small office network might be provided the same way as for a home network Larger busine
15. ed networks B Network Name Security Cohen Spangenberg WEP a Apple Network 5fcb59 None Room 910 WPA2 Personal TLG Home None X PCS edit Figure 1 7 AirPort will connect to the first available network in the list If none Your Mac as available AirPort will ask Ali Joining an open network Drag the network name to reorder the list keeps track of wireless Options F Show AirPort status in menu bar networks it can join af Click the lock to prevent further changes Assist me Apply Now _ E The preferred networks list gives you control over which wireless networks your Mac joins 1 button Click this button to add networks to the preferred list manually 17 18 Part I Wireless Basics 1 button Click this button to remove selected networks from the list You may want to use this button to remove networks that your Mac has added to the list which it does whenever it joins a new wireless net work If you travel a lot and use a lot of different wireless networks this list can become lengthy 1 Edit Click this button to change the name of selected network in the list and to change the authentication method your Mac uses when it con nects to that wireless network This button can come in handy if for example a wireless network administrator changes the name of a net work you regularly use You can edit the network name in this list and your Mac will connect to the renamed network the next time
16. erred networks and keeps looking for a preferred network When your Mac finds one of those it will join it Here s what the other Options sheet items do Require Administrator Password to Change Wireless Network When you check this box a dialog asks for an administrator s password each time you attempt to join a wireless network A business might want to check this box on an employee s computer for example to keep the computer linked to a specific wireless network in a setting that might have several wireless networks present 1 Require Administrator Password to Create Computer to Computer Networks Two or more AirPort equipped Macs can establish small net works without a base station A teacher might want to check this box on classroom computers for example to keep students from creating in class networks and passing notes wirelessly during class You can find out more about computer to computer networks in Chapter 6 v Automatically Add New Networks to the Preferred Networks List Uncheck this box to keep your Mac from adding networks to your pre ferred network list By default this box is checked 19 20 Part I Wireless Basics MBER we amp YY Disconnect from Wireless Networks When I Log Out By default after your Mac joins a wireless network the Mac remains connected even when you log out of your user account so that the next person who logs in can use the same wireless network Check this box to require
17. f which this book describes Every device on a network has its own address a number that uniquely identifies the device No two devices on a network can have the same address or Bad Things happen after all the net work uses addresses to route information to the right device All of the information zipping around the net work comes in the form of packets bite sized chunks of digital information wrapped in a shell that among other things carries the address of the device that sent it and the address of the device to which it is going You may encounter two physical kinds of net works wired networks where every device on the network sends information to every other device over cables of some sort and wireless networks where the computers and other devices on the network use radio transmissions instead of wires to carry information An AirPort network is a wireless network Networks can comprise both wired portions and wireless portions at the same time For example you can create a network in which say a printer connects to the network with cables but the Macs on the network connect wirelessly One of an AirPort base station s many functions is to join the wired and wireless portions of a network so that it appears to be a seamless whole to the network s users Now that you have turned on AirPort you can try connecting to a nearby AirPort network as described in the next section Making a first connection
18. from a dial up account you need one of these to connect your base station to the telephone jack Make sure you get an AirPort Extreme base station though Apple s compact AirPort Express base station doesn t have modem capabilities See Chapter 3 to read more about the capabilities of the different AirPort base stations 1 Network hub You use a network hub to connect multiple wired devices to a network You require one of these only if you have several network devices that need connecting Chapter 4 covers how to arrange a net work that includes both wired and wireless devices 22 Part I Wireless Basics MBER KV amp MBER K amp You won t need all of the items in the preceding list to set up a simple wire less network If you don t need to share Internet access you only need the first two items on the list In fact as described in Chapter 6 you don t even need a base station if you can leave your AirPort equipped Mac turned on because the Mac itself can act as a base station and share its Internet connec tion with other AirPort equipped Macs Plugging in AirPort networks can and often do consist of both wired and wireless devices all of which connect to each other through the AirPort base station When you lay out your network you should consider which devices need to connect with wires and which don t This helps you decide where to put your various network devices including your AirPort base stat
19. imilar venues After you have an Internet connection source setting up your base station or your Mac to use it does not have to be a brain straining challenge For setting up a new AirPort network Mac OS X offers the AirPort Setup Assistant a pro gram that walks you through the process of setting up a base station to use your Internet connection Chapter 3 describes this program and how you can use it Deciding to Go Wireless Haven t decided whether to go wireless Actually I m really not all that sur prised For example if your current network configuration works for you the time honored principle of If it ain t broke don t fix it can exert a powerful force I assume however that you have picked up this book because the prospect of using wireless network technology has some appeal for you In this section I lay out some of the issues you need to consider when going wireless Weighing what you gain and lose I had a high school physical education teacher who regularly mouthed the platitude No pain no gain Like all platitudes this one was overreaching but also like all platitudes it contained some truth When you switch from Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable wired to wireless networking you may experience a gain in many cases a considerable gain but chances are that gain comes with at least a little accompanying pain You have to decide if the gain is worth the pain to you Losses T
20. ind my desk and perhaps behind yours too If you would like to become a twenty first century Alexander the Great and take a big whack at that tangled wire and dust knot this chapter introduces you to your sword Apple s AirPort wireless network technology Get ready to start swinging 0 Part l Wireless Basics Arriving at the AirPort MBER K amp You just took delivery of your shiny new iBook with its highly touted built in wireless capability and now you feel ready and maybe even more than ready to join the wireless generation Only one problem remains You don t know where to begin For that I can offer you the words of wisdom spoken to me by a grizzled old programmer back in the days of punch cards and tape drives words that remain as true today as they were then It works better when you turn it on Turning the AirPort on When you start up your Mac a lot of stuff happens behind the gray Apple logo and spinning gear that you first see on the screen One of the many things that the Mac does as it starts is look for a network connection any network connection and try to set that connection up If your Mac has AirPort installed this startup process may include looking for nearby wire less networks that your Mac can join That is it can look for wireless net works if your Mac s AirPort is turned on You need a device known as an AirPort base station or a similar wireless device to create a wireless net
21. ion It also helps you decide which sort of AirPort base station you need As discussed in Chapter 3 Apple currently sells two kinds of AirPort base sta tion the AirPort Extreme and the AirPort Express If you need to have a wired segment of your network you need an AirPort Extreme an AirPort Express lacks the necessary physical connectors to accommodate a wired network segment Here is a short list of the kinds of network devices that tend to require wired connections v Older Macs All Macs manufactured before 1999 and many manufactured as much as a year later can t have AirPort installed 1 Macs without AirPort cards In most Macs that can have AirPort installed you need to purchase and install an AirPort card An AirPort capable Mac that lacks such a card must use a wired connection Chapter 2 describes the Macs that can use AirPort and the types of AirPort cards they require YY Network printers Network printers have been regular participants on computer networks ever since Apple released the first LaserWriters back in the mid 1980s In fact the very first Macintosh networks were designed to facilitate printer sharing However few network printers include wireless capability even today possibly because these devices tend to stay in one place v USB printers Universal serial bus USB printers unlike network print ers are usually intended to connect directly to a single computer However Mac OS X allows a networked M
22. iously joined successfully whenever it detects that net work If two or more such networks are in range your Mac joins the network that it joined most recently If your Mac can find no previously Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable joined wireless network in range but does detect a nearby open net work your Mac presents a dialog asking you if you wish to join that net work Unless you or someone else has already tinkered with your Mac s AirPort settings in Network preferences the Automatic item on this menu is selected Wireless networks including AirPort networks can be open or closed NEER amp An open network broadcasts its name allowing your Mac to display that network name in Internet Connect and in your AirPort status menu A closed network does not broadcast its name so your Mac can only join it if you both know that it exists and you know its name You can find out more about creating closed networks in Chapter 4 1 Preferred Networks Use this setting to specify the list of preferred net works your Mac will join Figure 1 7 provides an example of how the AirPort pane of my Network preferences window looks when I choose the Preferred Networks setting as you can see I have quite a few pre ferred networks on my list 000 Network lt Showall Q Location Automatic B Show AirPort i AirPort TCP IP PPPoE AppleTalk Proxies AirPort ID 00 11 24 ba 8f d9 By default join Preferr
23. ly every Mac model they make either as a build to order option or as a standard feature However if you want to do more than use a network that someone else has set up you may also need one or two other components The following list comprises the various items you might need to establish your wireless network y AirPort card This small device plugs into a socket inside your Mac desktop or portable computer and converts the Mac s networking signal into a radio transmission It attaches to a small antenna which in most cases Apple builds into the Mac Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable MBER we amp Apple has made two different sorts of AirPort cards since it introduced AirPort networking in 1999 the original AirPort card and the newer AirPort Extreme card You don t need to decide which card to get though older Macs use the original AirPort card and newer Macs use the AirPort Extreme card Many of the newest Macs don t use any card because Apple has incorporated the necessary equipment into the circuitry You can find out more about which card to get and how to install it in various Macs in Chapter 2 v AirPort Base Station Also known as a wireless access point this item transmits and receives network information among the computers on the wireless network Apple has made four AirPort base station models over the years and all of them work with any Mac that has an AirPort or AirPort Express card They also w
24. ly if you don t secure your wireless network If you do however you can protect your network transmissions with very secure encryp tion using the latest wireless technology as Chapter 10 explains And wires do not provide complete security Just do a Google search on the phrase packet sniffer to find out why 1 Sheer utter coolness What can I say Wireless networking is cool Avoiding show stoppers Going wireless of course makes sense only if you actually can go wireless If you want to use an Airport network you need to make sure that no stumbling blocks lie on your path Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable Here s a short list of possible stumbling blocks you may encounter 1 Crowded wireless network environment In some locations such as apartment buildings college dorms or office buildings you may find many base stations in your immediate vicinity As you see in Chapter 4 adjacent base stations can interfere with one another Fortunately you can usually overcome the crowded airwaves by coordinating with your neighbors or by adjusting your AirPort base station settings Y Other environmental interference Radio interference can adversely affect wireless networks and the causes may be quite subtle I recently tried to help someone set up a new wireless home network Everything worked perfectly until the sun went down at which point the network seemed to go dead It seems this person s home had haloge
25. n menu bar gt Status AirPort is turned off Status not available 3 Click Turn AirPort On If you compare Figure 1 2 to Figure 1 1 you might not notice the changes in the Internet Connect window but they are significant Figure 1 2 now lists AirPort power as being on the Turn AirPort On button now says Turn AirPort Off and the Status field now notes that the AirPort is not associated with any network eee AirPort RAA gt W bowl Summary AirPort VPN 802 1X AirPort Power On Turn AirPort Off Network No network selected wy Signal Level Base Station ID Not Available C Show AirPort status in menu bar Status Not associated with any network Status not available 11 12 MBER K amp Part I Wireless Basics What is this crazy thing you call a network You re going to see the word network tossed around a lot in this book If you feel at all hazy about what a network is read on Otherwise you can skip this little sidebar In this book a network refers a set of technolo gies that allow computers and other devices to transfer information back and forth between each other For example if you have a Mac con nected to a network and your spouse has a Mac connected to the same network your Mac can exchange files with your spouse s Mac or can send it text messages or voice messages or video messages and can help you engage in all sorts of collaborative activities many o
26. n track lights that automatically came on at sunset and the lights were generating radio interference that drowned out the network transmissions Turning off the track lights solved this particular problem You can find out more about how to overcome radio interference in Chapter 4 1 Physical obstructions and distances AirPort networks have relatively limited ranges and although radio transmissions can penetrate walls to some degree that penetrating power has its limits Once again Chapter 4 tells how to extend range with external antennas and wireless relay stations YY Corporate policy Many corporations have rather strict policies con cerning how you can connect to the company network You may encounter policies that discourage or even prohibit wireless network use Chapter 10 discusses how to deal with such situations Y Lack of Internet access Okay this could really be a show stopper if you plan to use your network only for Internet sharing However a wireless network offers some advantages even if you don t have Internet access besides you can get Internet access almost anywhere on the planet if you are willing to pay enough money Generally speaking with a bit of knowledge some ingenuity and occasion ally the strategic expenditure of a few extra dollars you can set up a wireless network almost anywhere you like Seeing the AirPort from 10 000 Feet Networks come in all shapes and sizes ranging from a simple con
27. nection between two devices to the globe spanning Internet itself The number of possible network configurations is staggering but you don t need to know them all Becoming familiar with just a few typical network situations can help you enormously when you come to set up your own AirPort network 28 Part I Wireless Basics Checking out a typical home AirPort network You can count on your fingers the number of computers that a typical home network connects Such networks have to serve the needs of a small group of people Home networks provide most or all of the following services Internet connection sharing Using an AirPort base station to share an Internet connection means no more arguments about who gets online next This connection usually comes in through the telephone line as either a dial up or DSL connection or through the TV s cable connec tion Chapter 4 describes those sorts of connections and how to set up an AirPort base station to work with them Shared printing In most homes printers sit idle most of the time so sharing a single printer with the household over an AirPort network makes good economic sense usually even when shared a home printer still sits idle most of the time Occasional file sharing In a home personal computers tend to be well personal Even so family members or housemates occasionally may need to exchange files such as mailing lists during the holidays or finan cial inform
28. one to use the network just yank that person s network cable or even simpler don t provide one A wireless network on the other hand extends invisibly in all directions for dozens of yards and you have to take active steps to protect unau thorized individuals from intercepting your wireless network transac tions or from joining the wireless network If you don t want to take the time and trouble to secure your wireless network you may want to stick with cables Y Money If you have already invested in a wired network going wireless means spending additional dollars Adding AirPort capabilities to a non wireless Mac for example can take a big chunk out of a hundred dollar bill and purchasing an AirPort base station costs even more On the other hand wired networks aren t free either Between the costs of net work routers and Ethernet cables along with the trouble required to run the cables to where you need them you can spend a nontrivial amount of money or time 26 Part I Wireless Basics YY Control and predictability You can see a wired network just follow the cables and if one wired network client seems to have a bad con nection it s pretty easy to swap cables and see if that solves the prob lem A wireless network has no visual indication of its presence and all sorts of things can make network performance unpredictable such as nearby wireless networks that interfere with yours or electrical devices
29. ork with non Mac wireless computers and wireless enabled Personal Digital Assistants PDAs The AirPort base station provides the central hub of your network Although you can create a wireless network without a base station as Chapter 6 explains most AirPort networks have at least one AirPort base station handling the traffic In Chapter 3 you find out more about the different AirPort base station models Apple has manufactured over the years and how to use them 1 Ethernet cable I know I began this chapter waxing rhapsodic about how wireless technology helps you reduce cable clutter but you still need some cables An Ethernet cable is a standard cable that has a plug on each end called an RJ 45 plug that looks like a large version of the plug at the end of most telephone cables which by the way is called an RJ 11 plug Although some older networks may use different cables these days most networks tend to connect devices using Ethernet cables You ll need an Ethernet cable for example to connect your base station to a device like a cable modem or DSL modem which an Internet Service Provider ISP may provide to give you high speed Internet access Chapter 4 describes these devices and how to use them in your wireless network You may also need Ethernet cables to attach non wireless equipment such as printers or network fax machines to your network YY Telephone cable If you get your current Internet connection
30. ort status in menu bar Options sheet a Click the lock to prevent further changes Assist me Apply Now _ Dn Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable ar The If No Preferred Networks Are Found pop up menu at the top of the Options sheet controls how your Mac behaves when your Mac has not already joined a wireless network and none of your Mac s preferred wireless networks are in range The menu provides three choices Ask Before Joining an Open Network When you choose this item your Mac alerts you when it detects an open network You can then choose to join the network Y Automatically Join an Open Network When you choose this item your Mac joins the first open network it detects If the network does not require a password or some other authentication you may not even notice your Mac has joined the network unless you look at your AirPort status menu or open Internet Connect The AirPort pane of your Network preferences has a Show AirPort Status in Menu Bar check box just like Internet Connect does If you use AirPort regularly you owe it to yourself to devote the small amount of menu bar space required to show the AirPort status menu That way you can see when your Mac joins or loses contact with nearby wireless networks avoiding networking surprises Keep Looking for Recent Networks When you choose this item your Mac ignores open networks that you ve never joined before or that don t appear on your list of pref
31. ress also known as the MAC address of the base station providing the network in the window s Base Station ID field You can find out more about AirPort broadcast signals in Chapter 5 and read about hardware addresses in Chapter 4 After you ve connected your Mac to an AirPort network you can quit Internet Connect The application does not have to remain open in order for you to use the network connection You can avoid most future trips to Internet Connect by clicking the Show AirPort Status check box in Menu Bar window This setting puts a status menu on your menu bar the menu appears as an AirPort signal strength indi cator so you can see at a glance how strong your network connection is When you click the status menu you see a list of available AirPort networks as well as several other useful options which are described elsewhere in this book Figure 1 5 shows this menu in action and also shows the Internet Connect window for comparison Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable PCS Figure 1 5 The AirPort status menu offers many of Internet Connect s functions Internet Connect File Edit Connect Window Help i 4 Q El Turn AirPort Off Cohen Spangenberg gt Sen Disconnect shaynie hi TLG Home Show time connected Other Show status while connecting ere Create Network Use Interference Robustness Open Internet Connect _ eoe AirPort 2 G eS A A A gt bW a Summary AirPort VPN 802
32. s configuring the base station to obtain and share an Internet con nection This means of course that you must have an Internet connection to share in the first place 24 Part l Wireless Basics w You usually get an Internet connection in one of two ways From an Internet Service Provider ISP ISPs provide most home Internet connections Common ISPs include local telephone companies and cable television companies which often make a good part of their income by providing Internet service to their customers In addition many home users get Internet access from nationally available ISPs such as EarthLink and NetZero not to mention the great granddaddy of them all America Online Smaller local ISPs also provide their fair share of Internet connections Chapter 4 describes how to set up an Internet connection using the most common methods available to home Internet users If you need to find an ISP one place to look is www thelist com which for many years has compiled and made available comprehensive lists of the various ISPs available around the world From an existing Internet connection You tend to find such connec tions in schools corporations and other large institutions in public venues such as libraries and even in restaurants hotels book stores and coffee shops You can find more about using a corporate Internet connection in Chapter 10 Chapter 11 discusses using available connec tions in hotels cafes and s
33. sses and organizations that include many offices and work areas possibly spanning several sites are another matter Information provides the life blood of many modern business and organiza tions and the network is the circulatory system through which that blood flows The network carries e mail from cubicle to cubicle and instant mes sages among work groups it provides employees with access to the various file servers that contain the spreadsheets and memos and reports and data bases that they create and use it transmits data generated by in house busi ness applications to back end data mining applications and business process suites have your eyes begun to glaze over yet The point is simply this In most modern enterprises the network constitutes an absolutely essential asset and an asset over which the enterprise quite rightly exercises tight control in the form of an information technology IT staff that sets and enforces network policies Most enterprise network policies deal with two concerns Physical integrity Enterprise networks often consist of multiple net works joined in various ways into a larger network Each of the subnet works may have different physical characteristics depending on when they were first set up and why they were created The way various sub networks interconnect in an enterprise network which network pro fessionals like to call the network topology can be dizzyingly complex The I
34. the remaining steps and try them again when you find yourself in range of an AirPort network eee AirPort oOo a sl O O a S S bel Summary AirPort VPN 802 1X AirPort Power On _ Turn AirPort Off Network D Slonal Leval Cohen Spangenberg igna Level TLG Home p Base Station IO Other Create Network EEE Status Not associated with any network Status not available If you have a Mac laptop with AirPort and aren t connected to a wireless network yet you might want to find a nearby wireless hotspot to use when trying out the procedures in this chapter Chapter 11 describes what a hotspot is and provides more information about how to find and use wireless hotspots 3 On the Network pop up menu click the name of a network In many cases after you perform this step your Mac has joined the net work and you can begin working or playing Often however AirPort networks will require you to enter a password or other form of identity verification before your Mac can join the network This process is called authentication and it allows the network to restrict access to trusted indi viduals Figure 1 4 shows a typical authentication sheet you may see when attempting to join a protected AirPort network You can find out more about how to protect an AirPort network in Chapter 4 and how to use the kinds of authentication that business networks often require in Chapter
35. work often called an AirPort network when you use an AirPort base station to create it An AirPort base station contains a radio transmitter which provides a network signal that AirPort can receive and a receiver to which AirPort can transmit You can find out more about Apple s various AirPort base stations in Chapter 3 Here s how you can turn on your Mac s AirPort capability 1 Open the Internet Connect application You can find this application in your Applications folder You can use Internet Connect to establish Internet connections various ways as you see in several other places in this book 2 In the toolbar at the top of Internet Connect s window click AirPort The window displays the current state of your Mac s AirPort as shown in Figure 1 1 In the figure you can see that the AirPort does not have a connection to any nearby AirPort base stations which is not surprising given that AirPort power is turned off PCS Figure 1 1 You can turn AirPort on using the Internet Connect application PCS Figure 1 2 When you turn on AirPort power the Internet Connect window subtly changes Internet Connect File Edit Connect Window Help Chapter 1 Cutting the Network Cable 29 000 AirPort 6 2 Summary AirPort VPN 802 1x AirPort Power Off Turn AirPort On Network No network selected Signal Level Base Station ID Not Available __ Show AirPort status i
36. you join wireless networks in this window a ir To get to the AirPort settings of your Mac s Network preferences follow these steps 1 Open System Preferences You can click the System Preferences icon in your Dock or choose System Preferences from your Apple menu 2 In the System Preferences window click the Network icon 3 Click the Network window s Show pop up menu and choose AirPort Figure 1 6 shows the AirPort pane of the Network window in System Preferences Use the By Default Join pop up menu in this pane to change how your Mac joins wireless networks 000 Network lt Showall Q Location Automatic B Show AirPort mw AirPort TCP IP PPPoE AppleTalk Proxies AirPort ID 00 11 24 ba 8f d9 By default join Automatic B AirPort remembers the networks this computer has joined If none of the remembered networks are available AirPort will ask before joining an open network Options Show AirPort status in menu bar M E Click the lock to prevent further changes Assist me Apply Now _ You need to turn on your Mac s AirPort before you can use the By Default Join pop up menu When AirPort is turned off this pop up menu shows the current setting but does not allow you to click it Here are the two options that appear on the By Default Join pop up menu 1 Automatic With this setting your Mac automatically joins any wireless network you ve prev
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