[gperks]

The Airport admin utility lets me turn on DHCP so that multiple machines can connect and share a single uplink. It'll also let me forward particular ports to particular IP addresses.

However, I don't see where I can set "that MAC is 192.168.0.4", and so on. Is that possible? Will the same machine get a different IP depending on when it connects? If so... how does the port opening work, since there I have to enter an IP address. I'm just setting up a Profile, and so I don't know what IP address any of the machines will actually get.

Also, the port forwarding didn't seem quite firewall-like. Does Airport act as a firewall or not - I'm just trying to set up iChat AV.

Finally, is there a way to use the Airport as a DNS server so 192.168.0.4 with MAC xxx is known as "powerbook"?

I don't know if an Airport and an Airport express differ in this matter. I'm using an Airport Express.

Thanks for any advice or pointers!

[aaanorton]

AXPs and AXTs do not provide for MAC address mapping to IPs (unfortunately). But if all you want to do is iChat, there is no need to map anything iChat will work to the proper machine automatically. If it is not working, the firewall on the individual machine is probably on and blocking it.

I don't follow you DNS question. What exactly are you trying to do?

[gperks]

Thanks for the reply! Your answer makes my DNS question more relevant:

I have two machines. I don't know what IP address Airport has assigned them, since there's no MAC -> IP mapping.

How will I ping from one to the other? I have no fixed IP address to ping, and without DNS, no name either.

Secondly, if there's no fixed IPs, how is the port mapping supposed to work? Airport Admin on its Port Mapping page asks for the internal IP address. Without MAC -> IP mapping, how do I know which IP to specify?

Thanks again!

[gperks]

I'm now even more confused. I thought Airports included a firewall? If so, how does iChat AV work out of the box without opening ports like 5060, 5190 etc that iChat uses?

Is there a way to turn on a firewall?

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by gperks:
I have two machines. I don't know what IP address Airport has assigned them, since there's no MAC -> IP mapping.

How will I ping from one to the other? I have no fixed IP address to ping, and without DNS, no name either.

Secondly, if there's no fixed IPs, how is the port mapping supposed to work? Airport Admin on its Port Mapping page asks for the internal IP address. Without MAC -> IP mapping, how do I know which IP to specify?

So your primary concern is being able to ping your computers? What are you trying to accomplish with the ping? You can always used static IPs, but I still haven't read any reason you would need to do so. iChat does not need this.

I'm now even more confused. I thought Airports included a firewall? If so, how does iChat AV work out of the box without opening ports like 5060, 5190 etc that iChat uses?

Is there a way to turn on a firewall?

AXP/Ts provide NAT, which is a security feature, but they do not have firewalls built it. Most consumer routers do not have firewalls.

[gperks]

> So your primary concern is being able to ping your computers? What are you trying to accomplish with the ping?

I don't need to ping per se, but one of the boxes runs a CVS server. I'll need external traffic on port 22 (I think that's the port CVS uses) to be routed to that box. I can see the port mapping page but to map the port it asks for the IP address. How will I know what IP address that box will be given?

I also need to cvs & ssh to it from within my house. If I don't know the IP address it'll be given, and I can't assign a DNS name to it, how will I ssh to it?

A static IP for that box would work fine. How can I set that up with an Airport?

I also have a Netgear wireless router which does have a firewall, plus MAC to IP mapping, so that's my prior experience that I'm coming from.

It just seems like an Airport doesn't offer what I need, or am I wrong?

[aaanorton]

Just go to System Prefs > Network and change Using DHCP to manual. You'll need to fill in the IP address (give it an IP outside the DHCP range like 10.0.1.201), subnet (255.255.255.0) and router (the AXT's IP, probably 10.0.1.1). You can leave the rest blank. If you have troubles connecting to web sites like that, try putting the router's address in the DNS Servers field.

[gperks]

Oh right. I should have thought of that!

Thanks for all the clarifications.

No firewall and no DNS :-( I can live with editing the hosts file.