Re: Orbi logs fills up daily with DHCP assignments

swrtwdrv · ‎2017-01-13

My Orbi log fills up almost daily with DHCP assignments. Is this normal? Can I assume that each time a DHCP IP is sent to a device, that the device had been disconnected from the network?

netwrks · ‎2017-01-13

Not necessarily. Typically, half way before a client's lease is set to expire, the client will send out a lease renewal request, and the DHCP Server will extend the lease. If you remove the device for a lease period (unknown what Netgears default lease time is - maybe 24hours), Then the client lease will expire. The next time the client re-connects to the network, it may, or may not, get the same IP address, it previously had, as it may have been leased to another client. Then, there's what ever algorithm, the DHCP Server uses, to serve up the next available address..

peteytesting · ‎2017-01-13

also portable and or mobile device may be sleeping and reconnecting and this will show up in the logs

swrtwdrv · ‎2017-01-13

I have noticed that my iOS devices may get a few dozen DHCP IP addresses assigned during the night, always the same IP address. Today started out unusual in that my satellite in the bedroom was assigned an IP address 13 times over a 10 minute period, and of course the two devices that connect to it. I have the log e-mailed to me when it is full, and that happens about every 24-36 hours.

TheEther · ‎2017-01-13

iOS devices put their Wi-Fi into low power when they go to sleep. They probably send out a DHCP request each time they wake up just to make certain that they are still entitled to the lease they were granted.

In addition, it's important to understand that DHCP does more than just assign IP addresses. There are a whole slew of functions available through DHCP, such as requests for NetBIOS information and WINS servers. The router's DHCP server does not implement most of them, but it is still compelled to respond to DHCP requests for those functions.

Therefore, I would not be too concerned with those logs. You may be able to disable them on the Orbi, or simply learn to filter/ignore them.