AirPort management

The AirPort Management pane appears if your server’s primary network interface is connected to the Internet through an AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Time Capsule. In addition, an AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Time Capsule must have its Connection Sharing option set to “Share a public IP address” (that is, an Internet connection).

Use the AirPort Management pane to authorize macOS Server to manage an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11n) or an AirPort Time Capsule.

To authorize AirPort management, enter the AirPort device password (not the Wi-Fi network password).

The Server app configures your AirPort device’s DHCP server to reserve your server’s IP address and always assign that IP address to your server.

You can use the Server app to designate public services that can be accessed by computers on the Internet. macOS Server configures your AirPort device to expose those public services on the Internet. The process of exposing individual services to the Internet is called port mapping or port forwarding.

If you want to expose public services on the Internet through an AirPort device or other router, and your server provides VPN service to users who have their own AirPort device or other router configured to share an Internet connection, your server’s IP address can’t begin with the same three numbers as VPN users’ IP addresses, such as 10.0.1 or 192.168.1.

To manage your AirPort device after installing the Server app, select your AirPort device in the Server app sidebar, near the top in the Hardware section.