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+--- Thread: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? (/showthread.php?tid=177851)
New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - mrlynn - 03-29-2015
New (refurb) Airport Express AC in the house. Arrived Friday afternoon. Waiting till tomorrow to install, as I can't take down the network when Dr Janie is here, and I figured I'd have to have it down for some setup.
Question: Is it considered best practice to create a new LAN (i.e. new gateway IP, name, password)? Or is it OK just to pull out the old router, and assign the same IP, ID, P/W to the new one?
I'd prefer the latter, as all my printers have fixed IP addresses, and I'd rather not have to fiddle with their always-funky menus trying to change them. Also, if I change ID and password, guests will have to reconfigure when they arrive. And, if problems, I could just throw my old Linksys back in the chain.
/Mr Lynn
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - mattkime - 03-29-2015
just transfer all the settings as best you can. i've taken screen shots and printed them to makes sure everything was as similar as possible.
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - space-time - 03-29-2015
I seem to recall that some routers have the option to download all settings as a file to a computer. I am not 100% sure if Apple routers have this option (I think they do). If that is the case, and if you currently have an older version of Apple Airport Router, see if this works. After you upload the settings to the new router, you may need to make some changes, but most other stuff (SSID, passwords, any other rules you may have set up) should work.
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - GGD - 03-29-2015
Make it identical, and then keep the old router around as an already configured spare in case the new one ever fails at a time when Dr. Janie is there and needs the network back up ASAP.
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - silvarios - 03-29-2015
I agree. Keep it as close as possible.
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - silvarios - 03-29-2015
space-time wrote:
I seem to recall that some routers have the option to download all settings as a file to a computer. I am not 100% sure if Apple routers have this option (I think they do). If that is the case, and if you currently have an older version of Apple Airport Router, see if this works. After you upload the settings to the new router, you may need to make some changes, but most other stuff (SSID, passwords, any other rules you may have set up) should work.
It's an old Linksys. Even still, depending on the age gap, I wouldn't migrate settings from an older Airport to a newer model. Still likely necessary to tweak the settings anyway (features gained and/or features lost between models) and a fresh setup is likely easier.
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - mrlynn - 03-29-2015
silvarios wrote:
[quote=space-time]
I seem to recall that some routers have the option to download all settings as a file to a computer. I am not 100% sure if Apple routers have this option (I think they do). If that is the case, and if you currently have an older version of Apple Airport Router, see if this works. After you upload the settings to the new router, you may need to make some changes, but most other stuff (SSID, passwords, any other rules you may have set up) should work.
It's an old Linksys. Even still, depending on the age gap, I wouldn't migrate settings from an older Airport to a newer model. Still likely necessary to tweak the settings anyway (features gained and/or features lost between models) and a fresh setup is likely easier.
I don't know much about router settings. With the Linksys, aside from assigning a gateway address and LAN name, the only thing I ever did was set the security level (WPA2) and password. I'll have to learn about features that come with the Airport, I guess. Doesn't sound like I need to create a new LAN, though.
/Mr Lynn
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - space-time - 03-29-2015
silvarios wrote:
[quote=space-time]
I seem to recall that some routers have the option to download all settings as a file to a computer. I am not 100% sure if Apple routers have this option (I think they do). If that is the case, and if you currently have an older version of Apple Airport Router, see if this works. After you upload the settings to the new router, you may need to make some changes, but most other stuff (SSID, passwords, any other rules you may have set up) should work.
It's an old Linksys. Even still, depending on the age gap, I wouldn't migrate settings from an older Airport to a newer model. Still likely necessary to tweak the settings anyway (features gained and/or features lost between models) and a fresh setup is likely easier.
Yes, missed the last part of his post where he said he had a Linksys, and you are probably right, now that I think about it; I prefer to avoid Migration Assistant when moving to a new Mac, and based on the same logic, I should not recommend migrating settings from old router to new router. What I was thinking off this morning when I posted???
Re: New Router: Insert into Old LAN, or Create New One? - silvarios - 03-29-2015
space,
Hey, people use the restore feature on Airports all the time. I just don't understand how the Utility knows what WiFi bands and channels I want to use if I go from an 802.11n model with two bands independently configured (b/g/n at 2.4 GHz and n only at 5 GHz, with two different names to boot) to an AC model?? Do my settings move over and AC not get configured, does AC configure itself anyway? I truly don't know.