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captgadget's avatar
Oct 04, 2019
Solved

Stop devices from changing IP Addresses

I had gone to advanced>setup>LAN Setup and added some devices that I don't want the IPs to change. But today I did a reboot and one of IPs changed a then what a mess I had. I thought that was the purpose of address reservation. If not any suggestions on how I stop this from happening?

 


  • captgadget wrote:

    I had gone to advanced>setup>LAN Setup and added some devices that I don't want the IPs to change.

     


    What devices?

     

    Some people say it is a myth, but you might find it useful to go into the settings of these devices and telling them to use a particular IP address and then reserve that address on the router.

     

    For example, I find that this helps to manage an array of NAS boxes that I can then get at simply by pointing a browser at the appropriate IP address.

     

     

4 Replies

  • > Model: R7000|AC1900 Smart WIFI Router

     

       Is that accurate?  Firmware version?

     

    > I had gone to advanced>setup>LAN Setup and added some devices that I
    > don't want the IPs to change. [...]

     

       There are many things on that page.  You're talking about Address
    Reservation?

     

    > [...] I did a reboot [...]

     

       Of what?  The router?  Some device?

     

    > [...] one of IPs changed [...]

     

       Which?  Which address did you reserve for it?  Which address did it
    get?  Did some other device already have the address which you reserved
    for it?


       The non-psychics in your audience can't see your Address Reservation
    table, or the addresses of any of your devices, which makes it hard to
    guess what actually happened.

     

       If you made changes to the address reservations, and, especially if
    your reserved addresses are in the DHCP address pool, and you did not
    restart the router and all the devices, then I would not be amazed if
    you had some trouble.

     

       I would shut down the router and the LAN devices, and then restart
    everything (router first), and see if problems recur/persist.

  • michaelkenward's avatar
    michaelkenward
    Guru - Experienced User

    captgadget wrote:

    I had gone to advanced>setup>LAN Setup and added some devices that I don't want the IPs to change.

     


    What devices?

     

    Some people say it is a myth, but you might find it useful to go into the settings of these devices and telling them to use a particular IP address and then reserve that address on the router.

     

    For example, I find that this helps to manage an array of NAS boxes that I can then get at simply by pointing a browser at the appropriate IP address.

     

     

    • myersw's avatar
      myersw
      Master

      michaelkenward wrote:

      captgadget wrote:

      Some people say it is a myth, but you might find it useful to go into the settings of these devices and telling them to use a particular IP address and then reserve that address on the router.

       

      For example, I find that this helps to manage an array of NAS boxes that I can then get at simply by pointing a browser at the appropriate IP address.

       

       


      Have found it very helpful with devices like NAS to go to the device and set an IP address. Make sure the IP address is outside of the DHCP address range to prevent conflicts. Unlike some commercial DHCP solutions the DHCP support in Netgear routers does not do a ping ahead before assigning an IP address. Ping ahead tells the DHCP service if the IP address is already in use or not. 

    • antinode's avatar
      antinode
      Guru

      > Some people say it is a myth, but you might find it useful [...]

       

         It's not a myth, it's a mistake.  There's a proper way to manage
      static addresses, and that's not it.  More likely, you would find it
      confusing and troublesome.

       

         The advantage of using only dynamic addresses (DHCP) is that they're
      all managed in one place, on the DHCP server (on the router).

       

         If you configure a device with a static address ("go into the
      settings of these devices"), then that address should not be in the DHCP
      address pool; otherwise the DHCP server might unwittingly grant it to
      some other device.

       

         This address-reuse problem can best be avoided by shrinking the DHCP
      address pool from its default of every available address (".2" - ".254")
      to something smaller, like, say, ".2" - ".99"), and using the non-pool
      addresses (".100" - ".254") for devices with static addresses.  (Pick
      the boundary wherever you want to provide the desired balance between
      pool and static addresses.)


         Alternatively, you _could_ prevent that address-reuse problem by
      creating a reservation for that address, but that would be unwise,
      because it forces you to store the same datum in two places, which
      _must_ be kept consistent.

       

         Let's say that you use the address-reservation method to avoid the
      address-reuse problem, and then you decide to change the address of a
      device.  If you change only the address reservation, then you do _not_
      change the actual (static) address of the device.  But you do remove the
      address-reuse protection from its actual (static) address.

       

         Or, if you change only the actual (static) address of the device (by
      reconfiguring the device), then you _do_ change its address, but you
      also destroy the address-reuse protection which the old address
      reservation now provides to only the old address, not the new one.


         Sure, you can reserve a dynamic address for a device which is
      configured with a static address, and that does solve one potential
      problem, but that way is confusing, and requires great care whenever a
      change is made (to keep the two data consistent).  Managing static
      addresses properly (using only non-pool addresses) is simpler and more
      reliable.  And that's no myth.

       


      > For example, I find that this helps to manage an array of NAS boxes that
      > I can then get at simply by pointing a browser at the appropriate IP
      > address.

       

         How does that depend on whether those devices use reserved dynamic or
      static addresses?  Either way, the device address is fixed.  Or is that
      a myth, too?