NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
RAX50: Reserving an IP Address for AVRs
I have always used DHCP IP assignment in my home LAN and have some very basic questions about using IP address reservation instead.
The issue I have with my two AVRs on DHCP is that when the router is rebooted for any reason the AVRs will sometimes receive a different address. This is a minor inconvenience as I then must find the new addresses and reconfigure the URL of the bookmarks for the AVR setup web pages or reconnect the apps that control the AVRs. My hope is to avoid this nuisance by using a fixed IP. My questions are as follows:
1) I know how to reserve an IP for a device on the router (as shown on pp. 59-60 in the User Manual), but does it matter which unassigned address I use within the DHCP range (192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254)? I thought I had read in the past that one must choose an address outside of a certain range.
2) As a follow-on to 1) above, is there any reason why I couldn't/shouldn't reserve the IP address that has already been assigned to the AVR through DHCP?
3) One of the AVRs is connected via ethernet (through an unmanaged gigabit switch) and the other is connected via Wi-Fi. Does this matter? I assume that it is irrelevant to the reservation process since this is done according to MAC, but are there any pros or cons for using fixed IPs on wireless versus wired devices?
4) Once I have made the reservations in the router, do I then need to go into the networking setup on each AVR and manually change it from DHCP to fixed before the device will connect? What if I have reserved the same IP as was being used under DHCP; will it matter how the AVR's networking is setup?
5) Alternatively, if I change the current network setting in the AVR from DHCP to Manual (fixed) using the currently assigned IP address, will this rectify my issue without changing the device settings in the router, or will the router continue to reassign the address from time to time unless I reserve the IP in the router itself?
Thanks for any help or suggestions the community may have to offer.
Glad you got it working. You should be good to go with this configuration. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/24231/How-do-I-back-up-the-router-configuration-settings-on-my-Nighthawk-router
Enjoy. 📡
7 Replies
Chi_Guy50 wrote:
I have always used DHCP IP assignment in my home LAN and have some very basic questions about using IP address reservation instead.
The issue I have with my two AVRs on DHCP is that when the router is rebooted for any reason the AVRs will sometimes receive a different address. This is a minor inconvenience as I then must find the new addresses and reconfigure the URL of the bookmarks for the AVR setup web pages or reconnect the apps that control the AVRs. My hope is to avoid this nuisance by using a fixed IP. My questions are as follows:
1) I know how to reserve an IP for a device on the router (as shown on pp. 59-60 in the User Manual), but does it matter which unassigned address I use within the DHCP range (192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254)? I thought I had read in the past that one must choose an address outside of a certain range. Yes. You would change the default IP address range to something smaller. I use 192.168.1.100 to .200. This gives plenty of room on either side for static IP addressed devices while giving room for reservations inside this range.
https://kb.netgear.com/25722/How-do-I-reserve-an-IP-address-on-my-NETGEAR-router
https://kb.netgear.com/24092/How-do-I-edit-a-reserved-IP-address-entry-on-my-Nighthawk-router
2) As a follow-on to 1) above, is there any reason why I couldn't/shouldn't reserve the IP address that has already been assigned to the AVR through DHCP? No.
3) One of the AVRs is connected via ethernet (through an unmanaged gigabit switch) and the other is connected via Wi-Fi. Does this matter? No. I assume that it is irrelevant to the reservation process since this is done according to MAC, but are there any pros or cons for using fixed IPs on wireless versus wired devices? Ethernet is more dependable and can out perform WiFi.
4) Once I have made the reservations in the router, do I then need to go into the networking setup on each AVR and manually change it from DHCP to fixed before the device will connect? NO. Leave it at Dynamic or Auto Obtain IP addressing. What if I have reserved the same IP as was being used under DHCP; will it matter how the AVR's networking is setup? You won't need to set anything on the AVR if you Reserve an IP address ON the router.
5) Alternatively, if I change the current network setting in the AVR from DHCP to Manual (fixed) using the currently assigned IP address, will this rectify my issue without changing the device settings in the router, or will the router continue to reassign the address from time to time unless I reserve the IP in the router itself? If you manually set a STATIC Ip address on the AVR, then you don't need to set a IP address RESERVATION ON the router. You can't do both. Also a Static IP address needs to be out side of a routers default IP address pool range.
Many thanks for that quick and responsive reply.
You would change the default IP address range to something smaller. I use 192.168.1.100 to .200. This gives plenty of room on either side for static IP addressed devices while giving room for reservations inside this range.
I see; that explains my confusion about the DHCP range versus reservations. I did not realize that the user could change the router's DHCP range to free up addresses for reservation. Somehow I envisioned this to be a set range as I do not recall ever finding instructions to this effect in the user manuals for any of my routers to date. Is this procedure documented anywhere?
OTOH, I already have two dozen or more devices in my LAN with an assortment of DHCP IP addresses so that to avoid complications with the existing assignments I suppose it would be simpler just to make the change to fixed IP in the AVRs. Do you agree? BUT:
If you manually set a STATIC Ip address on the AVR, then you don't need to set a IP address RESERVATION ON the router. You can't do both. Also a Static IP address needs to be out side of a routers default IP address pool range.
So this implies that I can not simply change the network setting on the AVR from DHCP to fixed using the current IP address. First I MUST restrict the router's DHCP pool to a range that excludes whatever is assigned to both AVRs? But that would then potentially affect other devices with addresses adjacent to these such that I could not restrict the HDCP pool to a single range without excluding the addresses currently assigned to those other devices. Or if I did so, then the router would presumably simply reassign those devices to a new IP address within the newly restricted DHCP range?
If you manually set a STATIC Ip address on the AVR, then you don't need to set a IP address RESERVATION ON the router. You can't do both.
What would be the results if I tried to do this? What would be the repercussions or how would I recognize that I had done something wrong? Please forgive my ignorance; I am not new to networking but, as previously stated, have no experience with static IP assignments and have always been puzzled about the proper way to go about it.
Chi_Guy50 wrote:
Many thanks for that quick and responsive reply.
You would change the default IP address range to something smaller. I use 192.168.1.100 to .200. This gives plenty of room on either side for static IP addressed devices while giving room for reservations inside this range.
I see; that explains my confusion about the DHCP range versus reservations. I did not realize that the user could change the router's DHCP range to free up addresses for reservation. Somehow I envisioned this to be a set range as I do not recall ever finding instructions to this effect in the user manuals for any of my routers to date. Is this procedure documented anywhere?
Not that I know of.
OTOH, I already have two dozen or more devices in my LAN with an assortment of DHCP IP addresses so that to avoid complications with the existing assignments I suppose it would be simpler just to make the change to fixed IP in the AVRs. Do you agree? BUT:
If you manually set a STATIC Ip address on the AVR, then you don't need to set a IP address RESERVATION ON the router. You can't do both. Also a Static IP address needs to be out side of a routers default IP address pool range.
So this implies that I can not simply change the network setting on the AVR from DHCP to fixed using the current IP address. First I MUST restrict the router's DHCP pool to a range that excludes whatever is assigned to both AVRs? But that would then potentially affect other devices with addresses adjacent to these such that I could not restrict the HDCP pool to a single range without excluding the addresses currently assigned to those other devices. Or if I did so, then the router would presumably simply reassign those devices to a new IP address within the newly restricted DHCP range? Yes, the router will adjust the IPs that current devices already have. You may just need to reboot or power cycle some devices so the new addressing takes effect.
If you manually set a STATIC Ip address on the AVR, then you don't need to set a IP address RESERVATION ON the router. You can't do both.
What would be the results if I tried to do this? What would be the repercussions or how would I recognize that I had done something wrong? Please forgive my ignorance; I am not new to networking but, as previously stated, have no experience with static IP assignments and have always been puzzled about the proper way to go about it. You can change it back if something goes wrong. After you make the change on the router, its recommended to reboot or power cycle all of your devices to that everything starts fresh with the new configuration.