Can't set Airport Extreme IP address to 192.168.1.254?

For the life of me, I can't find anywhere how to change the IP address on the Airport Extreme (latest model) to x.x.x.254. There seems to be only one option, and that's x.x.x.1. Why?

Having address ranges of 192.168.x.x, 10.0.x.x, and 172.16.x.x for clients doesn't help me. I want to manually set the last digit for the AE itself.

Unfortunately, I'm at work right now, so I can't look at my AE in Airport Utility. However, I'm sure this is possible. Maybe you have set up a limited DHCP range (say, only 50 addresses). That would mean that the router could only be located between 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.50.

That's the first thing that comes to mind. I can check tonight when I'm back home.

Steve

My DHCP range is 100-200.

I have some clients which have static IPs, and I set them (on the machines themselves) to numbers below 100.

I'll check again when I get home, but if I choose a DHCP range of 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.200 client, then the AE defaults to 192.168.1.1 for itself, and I can't find where to change it.

Choose to set it up manually, hit the Internet tab at the top, then the TCP/IP tab. You can put whatever settings you want in just like a Mac if you set it to configure IPv4 Manually.

A lot of devices reserve x.x.x.254 for their DHCP server. That could be it in a nutshell.

There is no such restriction on the Airport Extreme.

This may be Apple's way of keeping it simple -- the gateway router is often the first host in a subnet. It doesn't have to be, but I see it this way most of the time. I did not see a way to change it. The manual IPv4 assignment settings are for WAN not the airport itself on the LAN.

You could try a dhcp range of 192.168.1.1 - 253, then see if the airport takes .254 for itself.

My APX connects to my modem/router via ethernet, is set to bridge mode and has a .245 address set manually under IPv4. (I could just as easily set it to .254.) Its working just fine, has been for years now. Worked with my previous Netgear router too.
I let the modem/router do DHCP and like the OP I set manual addresses or static addresses for anything I want to access regularly via IP or from outside the network.

Thanks, but this would require revamping the rest of my clients too then, because I have several static IP addresses below 100, including several closer to 1.

Anyways, I wasn't meaning I definitely wanted the Airport Extreme at x.x.x.254 (although that would be my preference). I mainly just wanted to know how to set it to something other than x.x.x.1.


I considered doing that but I want the Airport Extreme to do the routing as it includes the capability of a second independent wireless guest network.

Yours might be a bit newer than mine actually. Mine is the original square 802.11n box.

On review (and after a visit to my desktop to verify available settings), there doesn't seem to be any mention of the IP address of the built-in DHCP server. Doesn't it have to have its own address?

And it looks like there is simply no option for changing the last octet of the base station's IP. Rather curious. Perhaps this is to simplify setup (other brands' settings are often quite confusing).

Yes, but the AP is already inside the LAN. I wasn't thinking of it that way. If you have one public IP, grabbed by the modem and the modem is also the public-private WAN/LAN gateway running dhcp, then I guess you can assign the AP a private IP from your range. But someone using the AP as their gateway wouldn't want to mess with this, because the IP at .254 they'd set isn't the IP allocated for their modem by the ISP.

What do the settings for the guest network look like? I don't have those on mine. Do they let you specify a second IP range?

I just skimmed through a setup video on youtube. Can't you have a guest network if you are running in bridge mode? I might pop into the Apple Store tomorrow and find out.

It does not, but I think it uses one anyway if you chose to keep guest clients separated from regular clients.

Also, the guest option goes away in bridge mode.

Mine is the latest Airport Extreme.

Under the DHCP settings it allows me to set a DHCP range. That gets applied to both the primary network and the guest network, which have separate SSIDs. The two networks are two different subnets, chosen from 3 options: 10.0.x, 192.168.x, 172.16.x

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/t...HCPsubnets.png

There is also a 3rd SSID for the 5 GHz band, but that shares the same subnet & DHCP server as the primary network.

P.S. In my house setup, that 5 GHz band network is fairly useless. It's actually slower than my 2.4 GHz network in most spots because the 5 GHz range is poor, despite the fact that you can channel bond on 5 GHz and not 2.4 GHz on the Airport Extreme. 5 GHz is faster close to the Airport Extreme, but the speed drops off quickly with distance.

Finally got around to looking at this. What if you set the beginning address to .1 and the ending address to .253?

Steve

I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but it's not that I definitely want 254 for the Airport, but I was just looking for a way to set it to something other than 1. Also, using 1-253 screws up the rest of my network, since I have static IPs in the under 100 range already.

BTW, it's amazing just how many IP addresses we need these days.

Let's see:

iPhone 4
iPhone 3G
iPad 2
Apple TV
Laptop hardwired x 3
Laptop wireless x 3
Desktop hardwired x 4
(Desktop wireless x 2)
Xbox 360
Blu-ray player x 2
HD DVD player x 2 (yes I still have these)
IP cameras x 2
NAS
Airport Extreme
Airport Express x 2
Trendnet wireless access point
Networked printer

Yowza. Back in 1995, I had only one device requiring an IP address.

IP Limitation

This is what I hate about Apple, you are always in the hands of Apple.

Just think that Apple Airport Extreme you can not choose your LAN IP, you have a choice between 10.0.1 , 172.16.1 or 192.168.1
I have a network with 172.18.254 and have no change to connect to my LAN

Why restrict the LNA IP's ??

Also why can you not like any other router use a normal web interface to configure, why you have to use Apple ?
It it not the same issue as Microsoft ?

The Airport Extreme is three times more expensive than a other good router, but, but no better.

I have in my company 3 X imac and 4 X MAcBook Pro all running opensuse 12.1 Linux, would never dream of using mac OS, then I would be back in the hands of Apple, I like to be free, you know human rights.

Very poor from Apple with only three choices 10,0.1, 172.16 & 192.168 and why ?

Don't think that Apple computer is better than other, it is only they look better, that is it, six out of my seven Apple computers have gone wrong more than once, you know the white screen of dead.

10.x.x.x/8, 172.16-31.x.x/16, and 192.168.x.x/24 are all private class A, B, and C IP address ranges governed by RFC5735. The only thing Apple isn't letting you do here is use anything other than .16 in the private class B. I'm not sure why this is a problem, they're probably just keeping it simple for users.

RFC 5735 - Special Use IPv4 Addresses

Keeping it simple for users is what makes the Airport boxes good. They are easy to set up and they work. Most people are too scared to go anywhere near a web based config system, if they even knew how to find one in the first place.