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Some advice, please, on proper setup of static IPs
Hello friends, I have returned to my favorite forum for some good advice about static IPs on my network.
I've done some studying and some tests and I understand how to set static IP on my NASs (plural) and machines.
I'm just trying to be real careful so I want to post here and ask questions. I will try to make them intelligent as possible.
To begin: I know that I should set my static IPs to be outside the range of the DHCP in my router. I actually tried that with my old NAS as an experiment. I set it to be outside that range, like 192.168.1.60. The NAS adopted it and the status panel confirmed this. Here's what happened: my router won't let me set that static IP because the old IP is still in the DHCP list.
Do I need to turn off/on the router to clear out that list? Is that the next step? This sounds like a dumb question to me but I'm trying to be *real* careful.
As always, any and all advice is very welcome.
best
Ken
14 Replies
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You didn't mention what brand of router you have, but you generally cannot set a reserved address on one outside the DHCP range. And there is no reason to, anyway. The reason for setting one outside that range is only if you have no option of setting the address reservation in the router. Then, doing so keeps the router from assigning another device the same address.
Since you can set a reserved address in the router, you don't want to also do so in the NAS. That way, if you change routers and the default range is different from your current one, your NAS will pick up a DHCP address from the new router until you have a chance to reserve a new one in the new router. It won't be uinvisible because it's on a dofferent sub-net.
In my Netgear router, I just have to go in, select the device to get the reserved address, manually change the assigned address to the one I want, and save it (assuming I don't like what was assigned). The router resets when it saves the data, and a power cycle on the NAS causes it to pick up the new address.
wrote:
Since you can set a reserved address in the router, you don't want to also do so in the NAS. That way, if you change routers and the default range is different from your current one, your NAS will pick up a DHCP address from the new router until you have a chance to reserve a new one in the new router. It won't be uinvisible because it's on a different sub-net.
I fully agree. Reserving the IP address in the router and using DHCP in the NAS is the best approach here. It ensures connectivity when you change routers (as Sandshark says). Plus managing the addresses in one place ensures that you won't accidently assign the same IP address to two devices - which will create problems and is sometimes hard to troubleshoot.
Plus (also as Sandshark says) the reserved address comes from the DHCP address pool, not outside it. Going outside the DHCP pool is the best approach when assigning a static address in the NAS configuration - but isn't done when reserving an address in the router.
wrote:
In my Netgear router, I just have to go in, select the device to get the reserved address, manually change the assigned address to the one I want, and save it (assuming I don't like what was assigned). The router resets when it saves the data, and a power cycle on the NAS causes it to pick up the new address.
I do the same.
Reserving the different address is simple with a Netgear router.
Getting the new address actually applied can be be a bit tricker, especially if the NAS is connected through a switch. In some cases I've needed to shutdown the NAS, reboot the router, and then power up the NAS. That always works, no matter what router model you have.
Hey Sandshark and StephenB awfully good to see you here.
Full disclosure: my router is not Netgear. That being said, if I can't reserve an IP as you describe, this will be changing. I need a setup that is rock solid so I don't have to worry about it, ever.
I will study up on whether I can reserve an IP on this router.
Re: getting the new address actually applied if it's going through a switch: both my NASs are connected to one switch that is connected to another switch in the next room, and then through a nearby switch to the router. So: both NASs go through 3 switches (Netgear) and then to the router.
I mention all this because StephenB had mentioned it might get trickier. I'm off to see if I can reserve an IP. Thanks very much!!!
best
Ken
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