ORBI not properly associating static IP

[FURRYe38]

What Orbi model do you have? 

---

@silenthammer wrote:

You are correct about this not working correctly for me either. In my case like one mentioned previously when I reserved the address of the device in my case a Roku Ultra it caused the device to ask for another ip address and assigned it a different ip then the one it was using and I had reserved. This is clearly a very simple concept that should work on a $600 nearly top of the line Orbi Mesh network devices. For people to say here is the work around or use the ISP solution that is garbage. Why would Netgear Orbi put in the GUI that you can do this if they didn't intend on it working. Netgear needs to make this work as more people will need this depending on their home automation systems and I would think that Netgear Orbi's would want to be doing what they say they can do and more to entice new customers and keep their old ones.

---

[CrimpOn]

I have 38 devices on my network at the moment, and all but one have the IP address that is assigned to them in the LAN Setup table. (That other device is 'temporary' and thus got an IP address from the pool of unassigned IP's). This is despite numerous occasions of power outages and devices being powered off and back on. The thermostat has been 1.10 for four years.

When I attempt to read up on DHCP, I do not get a clear sense of where Netgear has violated the standards:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol 

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2131 

It is abundantly clear that the router does not do what I want it to do, which is to look in the LAN setup table before responding to a DHCP request. 

The matter of 'work arounds' is a frequent topic on the forum.  As community members, we cannot force Netgear to do anything.  Most of us have spent a lot of money on networking hardware and just want to solve a specific problem so we can get back to doing other things.  If garbage advice solves my problem, then I am done with the problem.

[silenthammer]

RBR750

[silenthammer]

Never said it violated any dhcp standards so not sure why that is being brought up nor did I say the router doesn't do what I wanted to do. I merely stated that in the NetGear gui it appears to give you the ability to reserve a specific ip address to it associated mac address that you specify out of its router table. And since you like to quote things if your read the NetGear kb article on ip reservation (you can look it up on google) it states that it will assign that mac address that ip the next time the device reboots. Well that doesn't work and all I am trying to point out to Netgear and the community is that a basic function that any dhcp system says it can do it should be able to do including Netgear. This is also a Roku issue in my book as well because they don't allow you to put a static ip address into their systems only dhcp addresses which again is a basic networking function that should be available. BTW I like my Orbi system and think it is one of the best out there and I have over 50 devices on my system (like that matters) but lets say the 2.4ghz wifi didn't work as advertised would you like a work around of buying another wifi system that supports it as a solution? Hmmmm I doubt it so thanks for helping someone out in the community that is having an issue.

[CrimpOn]

Very true. Sorry if I offended.

[FURRYe38]

I recommend using standard networking terminology words for Static IP and Reserved IPs and to not to confuse the operation of the DHCP services.

Static in standard neworking terminology refers to IP addresses that are SET ON devices, not a router, which reside OUTSIDE of the routers DHCP IP address pool. 

R

eserved IP address terminology refers to IP address reservations that are SET ON the host router, which reside INSIDE the routers DHCIP IP address pool. 

[FURRYe38]

Netgear has set up a community forum specifically for the Orbi AX (WiFi 6) products. Most of the people who watch that forum are more likely to have experience with Orbi AX and know how to work it better than those of us who follow this "general Orbi" forum. Might be more likely to find someone who has a solution if the question is posted there:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax

Thank you.

---

@silenthammer wrote:

RBR750

---

[raven_au]

---

@6old3nra1n wrote:

It's almost as if changing the DHCP-assigned IP range caused the system to start from scratch (perhaps the DHCP table itself got rebuilt) and therefore assigned my PC the correct reserved IP address of 192.168.1.100.

That's becuase you clicked apply at the top of the page which saves the changes you made and the table of DHCP reservations.

---

@6old3nra1n wrote:

The question now is -- if I change the address reservation to another IP or if I reserve another IP for another device, will it work? Or will I have to "reset" the DHCP by changing the IP range again... I'm scared to try.. haha..

---

No, not unless you apply the changes once done.

[jemenake]

Using 6old3nra1n's solution worked for me. I reduced the size of the dynamic DHCP pool to not include the IP's that I was statically assigning to individual devices. Like they experienced, I also observed the router seeming to reboot. So, my guess is that one of two things is happening:

1. The DHCP daemon in the router ignores any static IP assignment which falls within the dynamic pool, or
2. Changes to the DHCP configuration require that the DHCP daemon be restarted, and the web UI fails to do this when you just add static assignments, but it does do it when you change the dynamic IP range.

I guess the way to test this would be to either:

1. Change the dynamic IP range back to include the static assignments and reboot some of those statically-assigned devices. (if the devices lose their static IP's, then we have case #1 from above. If they don't, we have case #2)
2. Add a new static assignment outside of the dynamic range (if it works, then we have case #1 from above. If it doesn't, then we have case #2).

[FURRYe38]

Lets remember that for "Static" IP addresses, these are configured and placed ON devcies themselves. So if static IP addressed devcies are being used and connected, then these static IP addressses need to be outside of the default DCHP IP address pool. For NG routers, NG defaults to max pool size, so users need to reduce the pool size to allow for static IP addresses to be used OUTSIDE of the IP address pool.

For IP Address "Revervations", these are set ON the Router for devices and these are always with in the DHCP IP address pool. 

[jemenake]

Let's remember that the word "static" just means "not changing". Whether an IP is not changing because it is configured at the host or because the IP is reserverd for a specific MAC at the DHCP server, it would still be a "static IP". However, that leads to confusion, so I've tried to avoid that phraseology. In my post, I tried to be carefull to use the phrase "statically assigned" to refer to IP reservations on the DHCP server. If there's an accepted standard terminology to discriminate between those two, I'd love to hear it.

[CrimpOn]

Cisco uses the term static DHCP.

I also see DHCP reservation used by vendors.

Your term of statically assigned seems equally fine.

I agree with @FURRYe38 that static IP without any qualifier generally implies "set on the device itself".

It's not clear to me if the "problem is solved" and the discussion has moved on to semantics, or.....

[SdeGat]

@CrimpOn isn’t it a good (easier) practice to have a range of addresses that the router will not use/assign? Then, whatever address the user assigns to a device (from that router excluded range) will never create a conflict?
I think Linksys routers always came with such a range and I would pick fixed addresses from it without issues (without having to do anything on the router). 
Or are the Orbit routers more intelligent and automatically recognize fixed addresses in devices and leaves them alone?

[jemenake]

That's probably a sensible methodology, but I'm not sure that the appliance should be forcing the user to do that, as there might be reasons why the user doesn't want to move a device's IP to another range. Maybe it took them a long time to get some other devices to interact with it, and they don't want to risk another slew of configuration changes they'd need if they changed it's address.

Also, I believe some DHCP daemons do the opposite of what the ORBI does, where manual IP assignments must be within the overall pool of IP's which the daemon is allowed to assign. So, for me, anyway, it's counter-intuitive.

[CrimpOn]

---

@SdeGat wrote:

@CrimpOn isn’t it a good (easier) practice to have a range of addresses that the router will not use/assign?
Or are the Orbi routers more intelligent and automatically recognize fixed addresses in devices and leaves them alone?

---

It is uncommon in a forum post to see "Orbi" and "intelligent" in the same sentence.  There are constant complaints about the way the router fails to honor assigned IP's.  I personally struggle when I get a new device and know what IP I want it to have but the manufacturer has failed to put the MAC address anywhere on the product or the packaging.  Once it gets connected, the *&*%^* Orbi allows it to keep that first IP even though I have created an entry in the IP assignment table and then powered the device off and back on.  My practice with these devices is to connect it to a junk WiFi router that I keep sitting around, just so I can learn the MAC address before connecting it to the Orbi.

(enough Rant. sorry)

In general, the accepted practice is as you described.  Set aside a set of IPs for device assignments and a separate set of IPs for the DHCP pool.  With 250 IPs to choose from, there is no fear of "running out" of either.  For example, 2-100 for assignments and 101-250 for DHCP is a common practice.

[SdeGat]

Thanks for the insight @CrimpOn. You know I don’t mind the rant. 🙂

BTW, where did the “quote” function go? 💁‍♂️

[CrimpOn]

The Quote button has been replaced by that ginormous double quote mark on the menu bar.  and the other options only show up if you click those three dots (...) and there appears to be no way to "go back" (sigh)

[SdeGat]

Thanks again @CrimpOn.  That’s not coming up on my iPad. ☹️
And I cannot show you because there’s no insert image either! 😫

EDIT: I e-mailed the ipad screen dump to my desktop:

[CrimpOn]

Gott in Himmel!!  Was ist los?

My Windows browser shows this menu bar:

And clicking on the three dots changes it into:

and that Browse button in the lower left now looks like this:

Maybe Safari is "different"? Maybe the browser cache needs to be cleared?

[SdeGat]

Thanks for the follow up @CrimpOn. My windows desktop looks like yours.

I don't know what's wrong with my iPad. But I do see the "drag and drop" box though.

[SdeGat]

---

@CrimpOn wrote:

In general, the accepted practice is as you described.  Set aside a set of IPs for device assignments and a separate set of IPs for the DHCP pool.  With 250 IPs to choose from, there is no fear of "running out" of either.  For example, 2-100 for assignments and 101-250 for DHCP is a common practice.

---

Going back to this, it looks like the RBR50 does not support the setting up of a range, does it?

[CrimpOn]

On the web interface, LAN setup menu

[CrimpOn]

Static routes are an entirely different concept than assigned IP's.

[SdeGat]

---

@CrimpOn wrote:
On the web interface, LAN setup menu

---

Yes, of course. Thanks @CrimpOn. 

I think I'm getting old. 😞

192.168.1.0 to .100 is reserved so that I can assign addresses from devices without issues.

[CrimpOn]

Well.... actually 0 doesn't exist and 192.168.1.1 is taken already by the router, leaving 2 - 100. Still plenty of IPs to use.