Three newbie questions on assigning static IP addresses

[Lawrence]

I'm glad to have found this site and hope my questions aren't answered elsewhere on this site - I searched but didn't find it. If there's an article, or alternate website that does answer this, feel free to send me there.

Currently, with quarantine and working remotely, stable wi-fi connectivity is extremely important. At the moment, the wi-fi requirements in the house don't seem that elaborate to me . . . one wired desktop, one Lenovo laptop, one Dell laptop, two iPads, three cellphones, one Tivo, one Firestick, one printer and a bunch of Sonos speakers. I've been running them through an old Surfboard cable modem/wi-fi router for years, which is starting to act up. I will continue to use the Surfboard just as a cable modem, but I have a new Asus router on the way, and am looking for advice on configuring it. The big connectivity problem has been that the Dell laptop and the two iPads VERY frequently drop their wi-fi connection. I've tried setting them to static IP addresses through the Surfboard, but those settings don't seem to 'stick'.

My three main questions are:

1. To set up static IP addressees, do I need to limit the DHCP assignable pool to something lower than the default 0 to 255 IP range, and then assign device specific static IP addresses outside the DHCP pool range?

2. Is there any downside to assigning everything (except the Sonos speakers, which are peculiar) a permanent static IP address? And if there is a downside, what is it?

3. In specifying a static IP address, how do you make it permanent, in other words with no expiration of the lease time? Or is lease time expiration only applicable to DHCP assigned IP addresses?

And, I suppose, what other stupid newbie questions am I not yet smart enough to think to ask?

I very much appreciate any knowledge and teaching I can get . . . thanks in advance.

 

[L&LD]

Hello @Lawrence, welcome to snbforums.com I think the following thread will answer all your questions.

Assigning IP Addresses

Just a quick question. When assigning ip addresses within the Asus GUI (LAN>DHCP) Should this be done outside the DHCP range? For example. DHCP is set by default to run .2 to .255 so should i be moving this to .2 to 100 and manually assign my devices from .101 to 255?

www.snbforums.com

 

[ColinTaylor]

The big connectivity problem has been that the Dell laptop and the two iPads VERY frequently drop their wi-fi connection. I've tried setting them to static IP addresses through the Surfboard, but those settings don't seem to 'stick'.

Dropped WiFi connections are not related to DHCP.

 

[coxhaus]

And static IPs are not related to DHCP. Static reservations are related to DHCP.

 

[OzarkEdge]

My three main questions are:

1. To set up static IP addressees, do I need to limit the DHCP assignable pool to something lower than the default 0 to 255 IP range, and then assign device specific static IP addresses outside the DHCP pool range?

2. Is there any downside to assigning everything (except the Sonos speakers, which are peculiar) a permanent static IP address? And if there is a downside, what is it?

3. In specifying a static IP address, how do you make it permanent, in other words with no expiration of the lease time? Or is lease time expiration only applicable to DHCP assigned IP addresses?

1. Yes, static IPs are assigned by you on each client, outside of the network DHCP server IP pool.

2. The downside is that it is manual, error-prone, and unnecessary work. I would only bother when necessary to solve a client issue, such as for a finicky printer/printer driver.

3. Don't know. If they expire, they renew, so don't care.

4. Manually-assigned IPs (IP reservations) are scheduled in the router and should be from within the router DHCP server IP pool.

OE

 

[Lawrence]

Thanks, all for the knowledge. I'm setting up the new ASUS router this weekend, so I may be back with more questions later!