Setting Up With the AirPort Admin Utility

AirPort base stations are configured using the Apple AirPort Admin Utility. When you start up this utility, it immediately searches the network for compatible AirPort base stations by sending a Multicast DNS (mDNS) query packet to the DNS port (53/UDP) on a multicast IP address. This query packet is formatted like any other DNS lookup request, but the host name it's looking for describes the desired type of network service (a wireless base station). Any mDNS-supporting device that offers the desired service responds with a standard DNS response, listing its own IP address.

If the AirPort Admin Utility fails to find any AirPort base stations advertising themselves via mDNS, the software falls back to the ...

Get Apple Training Series: Desktop and Portable Systems, Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.