Orbi RBR850 IP Address reservations and DHCP address range

[Jmichaels001]

Im looking for direction related to using address reservations, and how to set the DHCP address range.  I have an Orbi RBR850 and 2 satellites RBS850, a Synology NAS, and about 20 other devices attached.(Laptops, iphones, Directv, etc.).

Assuming all devices are setup for DHCP and not fixed IP:

1) Should I set the IP address range for DHCP to start at 192.168.1.20, and reserve IP addresses for NAS and other critical devices between 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.19, or does the DHCP range need to include the all of the IP addresss including the reserved IP addresses?

2) Should the Orbi satellites receive reserved IP addresses?

3) Does it matter if devices on reserved IP addresses are plugged into an Orbi  satellite in some circumstances?

[Chuck_M]

I use a "banded" approach for IP reservations for my Orbi, NAS and about 100 other devices....

Different types of devices reside on different IP address Bands.... as an example:

Router:  192.168.1.1

Satellites:   Assigned IPs at .2, .3, .4

Statically assign TV's at .20, .21, etc

Statically assign Computers at .30, 31, 32, etc

Statically assign SONOS at .50, 51, etc

Statically assign printers and other special devices (NAS, surveillance cameras, etc) at .80, .81 etc

Begin DHCP reservations at say .100

This way you know anything assigned DHCP has not been categorized yet and is a "new" join to network.

Note that just because you start DHCP at .100 you can reserve IPs outside of that range.

Seems like a pain to go through all of this, but I assure you a well thought out IP distribution will pay huge dividends later.

Of course after doing this, you will want to backup your Orbi config.

[FURRYe38]

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@Jmichaels001 wrote:

Im looking for direction related to using address reservations, and how to set the DHCP address range.  I have an Orbi RBR850 and 2 satellites RBS850, a Synology NAS, and about 20 other devices attached.(Laptops, iphones, Directv, etc.).

Assuming all devices are setup for DHCP and not fixed IP:

1) Should I set the IP address range for DHCP to start at 192.168.1.20, and reserve IP addresses for NAS and other critical devices between 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.19, or does the DHCP range need to include the all of the IP addresss including the reserved IP addresses?

Yes you can do that. I use a default IP address pool range of .100 to .200. Anything on ether side of this pool range can be used for static assigned devices. I would set static IP devices like, NAS, Controllers, Cameras, printers and anything that doesn't need much router management, set these devices to static outside the IP address pool 

2) Should the Orbi satellites receive reserved IP addresses?

You can set up reservations for the RBS ON the RBR. 

3) Does it matter if devices on reserved IP addresses are plugged into an Orbi  satellite in some circumstances?

No. The RBS are just pass thru.

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[Jmichaels001]

An IP reservation as I understand it while having similarities to a static IP address, still has the individual device set as DHCP. So when using IP reservations for some devices, should they be included in the range of IP addresses (starting IP address range) or should they be excluded from the range of addresses in the DHCP pool?

[Chuck_M]

You can reserve IP addresses outside of the range of DHCP assignments.

[FURRYe38]

IP address reservation should be always with in the range of the default IP address pool. Static IPs are set on devices out side the default IP address pool so no need to assign any reservations for those. 

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@Jmichaels001 wrote:
An IP reservation as I understand it while having similarities to a static IP address, still has the individual device set as DHCP. So when using IP reservations for some devices, should they be included in the range of IP addresses (starting IP address range) or should they be excluded from the range of addresses in the DHCP pool?

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[arlomike]

I think Orbi's DHCP server is a mess.  It doesn't seem to check if an IP is being used and dishes out a conflicting IP address.  Ask me how I know this.  Something this simple seems to create havoc.   I've never experienced this w/ my Asus router... Upgrade to Orbi 2 days ago and issues with IP conflicts.  Awesome.

[FURRYe38]

What FW version are you using? 

Someting I have not seen with my Orbi AX router. 

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@arlomike wrote:

I think Orbi's DHCP server is a mess.  It doesn't seem to check if an IP is being used and dishes out a conflicting IP address.  Ask me how I know this.  Something this simple seems to create havoc.   I've never experienced this w/ my Asus router... Upgrade to Orbi 2 days ago and issues with IP conflicts.  Awesome.

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[arlomike]

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

What FW version are you using? 

Someting I have not seen with my Orbi AX router. 

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@arlomike wrote:

I think Orbi's DHCP server is a mess.  It doesn't seem to check if an IP is being used and dishes out a conflicting IP address.  Ask me how I know this.  Something this simple seems to create havoc.   I've never experienced this w/ my Asus router... Upgrade to Orbi 2 days ago and issues with IP conflicts.  Awesome.

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I'm using .25..  I did not maually upgrade to the .32 hotfix version.

[Mikey94025]

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@arlomike wrote:

I think Orbi's DHCP server is a mess.  It doesn't seem to check if an IP is being used and dishes out a conflicting IP address.  Ask me how I know this.

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How did you determine this?  Where these two devices assigned the same IP address from your Orbi?  If you restarted the devices, did the IP conflict remain?

The DHCP server should never allocate the same IP address to two different devices (with different MAC addresses).  That said, the DHCP server will not and cannot check if an IP address "is being used" for some non-Orbi reason (e.g., manual configuration of a static IP address, a stale IP configuration, conflicting DHCP servers on the network).

I have not seen any DHCP-issued IP address conflicts myself for the ~60 devices with my Orbi AX system.

[arlomike]

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@Mikey94025 wrote:

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@arlomike wrote:

I think Orbi's DHCP server is a mess.  It doesn't seem to check if an IP is being used and dishes out a conflicting IP address.  Ask me how I know this.

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How did you determine this?  Where these two devices assigned the same IP address from your Orbi?  If you restarted the devices, did the IP conflict remain?

The DHCP server should never allocate the same IP address to two different devices (with different MAC addresses).  That said, the DHCP server will not and cannot check if an IP address "is being used" for some non-Orbi reason (e.g., manual configuration of a static IP address, a stale IP configuration, conflicting DHCP servers on the network).

I have not seen any DHCP-issued IP address conflicts myself for the ~60 devices with my Orbi AX system.

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I ran into this problem yesterday with two devices, both managed by Orbi's DHCP server.  I did restart and it persisted.  The only thing I can think of that happened earlier in the day was I unplugged Orbi to reroute some cables.. I not sure if DCHP tables persisted in in a reboot but I can say if it didn't persist, a potential problem can occur w/ conflicts.

[Mikey94025]

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@arlomike wrote:

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I ran into this problem yesterday with two devices, both managed by Orbi's DHCP server.  I did restart and it persisted.  The only thing I can think of that happened earlier in the day was I unplugged Orbi to reroute some cables.. I not sure if DCHP tables persisted in in a reboot but I can say if it didn't persist, a potential problem can occur w/ conflicts.

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Interesting.  One final question - How did you know there was an IP conflict?  Was it because the devices themselves complained, e.g., "Windows has detected an IP address conflict", and/or did you notice duplicate IP addresses in the Orbi admin website or Orbi app list of attached devices?

I like IP addresses to remain the same so I make a point of periodically adding DHCP address reservations via the admin website for as many of my always-on devices as possible.  So that may be why I've not noticed IP address conflicts so far.

[arlomike]

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@Mikey94025 wrote:

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@arlomike wrote:

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I ran into this problem yesterday with two devices, both managed by Orbi's DHCP server.  I did restart and it persisted.  The only thing I can think of that happened earlier in the day was I unplugged Orbi to reroute some cables.. I not sure if DCHP tables persisted in in a reboot but I can say if it didn't persist, a potential problem can occur w/ conflicts.

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Interesting.  One final question - How did you know there was an IP conflict?  Was it because the devices themselves complained, e.g., "Windows has detected an IP address conflict", and/or did you notice duplicate IP addresses in the Orbi admin website or Orbi app list of attached devices?

I like IP addresses to remain the same so I make a point of periodically adding DHCP address reservations via the admin website for as many of my always-on devices as possible.  So that may be why I've not noticed IP address conflicts so far.

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My wife complained she had intermittent problems surfing the net on her smartphone.  Because I had to resolve an earlier issue btw an Echo Dot, Google mini and Ring, I suspected the same problem.  I got on her phone and noted down her IP address and disconnected it from wifi and had her use LTE in the meantime.  I then proceeded to login into the Orbi admin page and saw my iPad having the same IP.  I restarted her phone but continued to have the same IP... WTF.  I then assigned her a static IP outside the DHCP range and she was happy..  Happy wife, happy life.  🙂

[arlomike]

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@Mikey94025 wrote:

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@arlomike wrote:

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I ran into this problem yesterday with two devices, both managed by Orbi's DHCP server.  I did restart and it persisted.  The only thing I can think of that happened earlier in the day was I unplugged Orbi to reroute some cables.. I not sure if DCHP tables persisted in in a reboot but I can say if it didn't persist, a potential problem can occur w/ conflicts.

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Interesting.  One final question - How did you know there was an IP conflict?  Was it because the devices themselves complained, e.g., "Windows has detected an IP address conflict", and/or did you notice duplicate IP addresses in the Orbi admin website or Orbi app list of attached devices?

I like IP addresses to remain the same so I make a point of periodically adding DHCP address reservations via the admin website for as many of my always-on devices as possible.  So that may be why I've not noticed IP address conflicts so far.

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I like my IPs to same too and with my previous router's DHCP server, when the devices renewed their IPs, they got the same IP.  What I've noticed with this router's DHCP implementation is that IPs change for always on devices(IOT).  I've reserved .2-100 in the DCHP range and I have 32 devices.   I've noticed that the highest IP used was .45 this morning.  It was .33 yesterday.