Assigning fixed IP addresses

[rw120555]

My router has ip address 192.168.0.1, and as other machines turn on and connect it dynamically assigns them IP addresses up to 192.168.0.32. I'm wondering, for the desktops always on the network (plus the attached WAP), are there advantages or disadvantages to assigning them fixed ip addresses of 192.168.0.33 and above? I'm thinking that it might be helpful to always know the IP of a machine, and that by using addresses outside the range used by the router I won't have to worry about conflicts. But, maybe there is no advantage to this or there are problems I don't know about. Thanks for any tips. Anandtech has been super-helpful to me the last few weeks as I've been modifying my network. RW

 

[JungleJoe]

If you have servers on your network, just assign them static IP. As for clients, dynamic IP is fine, it also saves you lots of administration work.

 

[Damascus]

For small networks with a few machines, like a home network, I prefer static IP's.
On my home network, DHCP used to screw up a lot and machines would get the
wrong addresses, duplicate addresses, or would refuse to connect at all... all
solved by killing DHCP and using static settings.

 

[JungleJoe]

I use my Linksys broadband router as my DHCP server, and I never encounter any problem for 1.5 year. I agree with Damascus, for small home network, DHCP has no obvious advantage over static IP. However, when your network gets bigger, you want to go for DHCP to save your time doing administration. You can easily find out the IP address in DHCP record anyway when you want to find out the PC's IP address.

 

[rw120555]

You can combine fixed and dynamic, right? Like I suggested initially, for your permanentt equipment, have fixed ip addresses that are outside your router's assignment range (e.g. 192.168.0.33 and above) and let anything new get dynamically assigned. Not that I routinely have new stuff coming in, but there might, say, be a visitor's laptop that you would temporarily connect.

 

[Relayer]

Most likely your router will either to DHCP or static IP's but not both.

 

[blstriker]

Yes, you can create a mixed static/dynamic network. Not a problem at all. Just make sure the static IP's are below the number that your DHCP starts giving out dynamic IP's. I think the Linksys starts at .100 so anything under 100 can be static. Everything over 100 will by dynamic.

 

[JungleJoe]

Yap, you got it rw120555, assign your permanent equipment a static IP address that's outside your DHCP range, and have the clients getting dynamic IP address. blstriker, for linksys router, you can set your IP start at anything you want, it doesn't necessary to start from .100