Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I just got a 4th gen Time Capsule for my wife to use as her own backup server, and I'm potentially interested in using it as the main router and Wifi AP on my home network. My current router and AP is running OpenWrt and I'm used to it providing several useful services. Can the Airport/Time Capsule provide enough functionality?

I see that it can take a list of MAC addresses and reserve IP addresses for each in its DHCP config. I can also set up arbitrary TCP and UDP port forwarding although not other protocols :-/. But what about local DNS?

My OpenWrt router is configured to be a caching recursive DNS resolver for the local network, and to inject a few records in the results for static assignments I've made (that go along with static DHCP assignments) for various hosts on the local network.

I don't want to hear anything about how Bonjour/mDNS should be the answer to all my problems. It isn't.

I suspect the answer is no (that's too complicated to be "Appley"), and that I'll need to leave the OpenWrt box as the router, and simply add the Time Capsule to the LAN, maybe also serving 5GHz Wifi.

share|improve this question
I would recommend letting the apple device do your wifi and leave your wrt do the routing. I have a simliar setup and it works without issue. You'd still need the wrt for the modem side of things anyway (unless you've got a standalone one of those also) – Lyken Mar 1 '12 at 2:31
@Lyken No modem - WAN connection is ethernet to a cable modem. If apple speaks directly to the WAN, then I might let it serve its alternate ESSID guest network which could be a cute feature. If it's just sitting on the LAN though, that's out. OTOH, I don't have a computer that will run the Airport Utility to configure the damn thing, and it doesn't seem to have a web interface. So leaving WRT in the picture is probably the best plan. – Eric Angell Mar 1 '12 at 3:01
It will cause less hassle just leaving it in. – Lyken Mar 1 '12 at 5:06

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.