Using Static Ip Instead Of A Dhcp Server

[immortalpuppet]

I have been putting this off for a while because i know fook all about home networking, the basics are i have 3 PC`s 2 blackberry`s and a PS3 connecting through my router, I have intermitant problems with the wifi network that can be solved by disconnecting reconnecting or rebooting (in either case the DHCP allocates a new IP address that cures the issue.) I have swapped out the router and the wifi cards/dongles as well as tried different security settings.

 

I find that the problem seems to happen more often on the Vista PC`s and i have been in and took off the wireless zero config through regedit but the problem still happens. I had the router set to only use 192.168.0-10 ip range in the DHCP but that didnt work.

 

So I think I am going to try assigining each machine with a static IP address but i have no fecking idea how to do this. I am using a linksys router and the option is there to disable the DHCP and i cant remember from memory if it asks me to add MAC addresses and then assign IP addresses to those devices, I am pretty sure i looked at this and it was not as easy as that.

 

So is it a case of network connections and telling the machines to use assigned IP addresses rather than the dynamic ones and then telling the router the IP range and mac addess (if that option is there.) or is there something else i have to do like set up a home network ?

 

I am also toying with the idea of setting up one of those powerline LAN jobs but I dont know enough about them to be honest.

[Rock]

should just be a case of telling the PC's to use static IP's instead of having 'obtain an automatically....'

 

I've got the ones here set up like that (although i've left the DHCP on in case anyone with a phone/laptop is round and want's to use the internet)

[immortalpuppet]

So just make sure the ip range is set to accomadate x amount of users and tell the network connections to use a particular IP address?

 

Damn that sounds to easy!

[joeyconcrete]

So is it a case of network connections and telling the machines to use assigned IP addresses rather than the dynamic ones and then telling the router the IP range and mac addess (if that option is there.) or is there something else i have to do like set up a home network ?

 

If the router is at 192.168.0.1, you can disable DHCP or set the DHCP range to something like 192.168.0.50 - 192.168.0.100, then for the other devices, assign them a static IP in the 192.168.0.100+ range, with the gateway your router and DNS the ISP's.

 

I am also toying with the idea of setting up one of those powerline LAN jobs but I dont know enough about them to be honest.

 

They're basically Ethernet bridges. Some of them, you just plug in and thats it. The more recent models (e.g Solwise ones) - you plug them all in, and press the button on the front, it gives you something like 120 seconds, you press all the ones you want to talk and that's pretty much it. Most Powerline stuff comes with software that allows you to configure a manual pass-phrase etc. I would recommend the Solwise models, they're more tolerant to noise and always seem to get good reviews. 85Mbps ones are quite cheap in pairs, 200Mbps ones are more expensive but are better for HD streaming.

[immortalpuppet]

my god that was easy, so does leaving the DHCP server on sometimes cause conflict with the static assigned IP addresses or will the router just not assign the ones in use?

[GD4ELI]

my god that was easy, so does leaving the DHCP server on sometimes cause conflict with the static assigned IP addresses or will the router just not assign the ones in use?

 

Make sure the static addresses are not in the range of addresses that the DHCP server can assign and you'll be OK. Two devices with the same IP address causes chaos.

[Slim]

my god that was easy, so does leaving the DHCP server on sometimes cause conflict with the static assigned IP addresses or will the router just not assign the ones in use?

 

Your router should have an address range that it should allocate. So you can tell the router to give out, say, 50-254 on dhcp and you can reserve 2-49 for static.

 

It's not a bad plan to turn dhcp off, give yourself an exotic ip range and give your router an odd number in that rage.

[immortalpuppet]

Hmm I assigned the PC`s a static IP address from 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.3 and set the DHCP to use 192.168.1.100-120 and all is working ok. So if anything connects on the fly it will pick up 100-120 using DHCP and will not pick up any of the static addresses, Now what is frying my noodle is that i have not told the router to use static IP so why is it letting me connect with an IP address outside of the DHCP server range?

 

Or am I just overcomplicating things!

[Alias]

Technically it shouldn't matter but always best to allocate in seperate ranges (as others have said)

 

You don't need to tell the router that you're using static IPs. IPs are just an addressing system with the DHCP on top of that, the router generally doesn't care how you got your IP.

[GD4ELI]

Or am I just overcomplicating things!

You are - what you have done is correct. Enjoy!

[Gonzie]

what you need to do is go into your router settings keep dhcp but assign static addresses to various devices you own though dhcp. that way your addresses remain the same for things you have and any new ones like a visitor temporarily to your network gets an address assigned to them still

[immortalpuppet]

I had the machines running yesterday and all morning today and there has not been a single problem where as before they were dropping out pretty much every couple of hours.

 

Cheers Geeks.