Apple’s Airport Management Tools
The Apple Airport Management Tools package’s existence at Apple’s download pages were short-lived. Shortly after it was launched some users reported issues which promptly sent it packing and it got taken off Apple’s download page. In fact, even some of the most ardent Mac fans have no inkling of its existence.
Nevertheless, its an ideal tool for individuals or network administrators running Airport Extreme/Express WiFi networks. The package itself contains 2 utilities, (i) Airport Client Monitor and; the (ii) Airport Management Utility. Although, the Airport Admin Utility is the de facto interface between the Airport base stations and its owner, the Airport Management Tools gives the owner an insight into the workings of the Airport network.
Airport Client Monitor
The Airport Client Monitor does little than provide a visual feedback (see: Diagram 1.0) on the performance of your Airport base station. Not really anything impressive since there are a plethora of applications out there that already perform a similar role.
Diagram 1.0
Airport Management Utility
The really interesting individual of this duo act is the Airport Management Utility (see: Diagram 1.1). This little gem provides feedback on who’s using your network, their transmission strength and their total sent/received packets. It also functions as an easy to use interface to refer to your Airport Base Station’s log files (if you have activated them — they are switched off by default).
Diagram 1.1
The only real complaint is its inability to allocate descriptions to the devices that are logged onto your network. Unless, you have a photographic memory, referring to MAC addresses can be quite a trying experience.
Unfortunately this little gem has since been removed from the Apple site.
