Why ASUS 'Devise Discovery Utility' needed when making it an AP?

[Peppz]

Have ASUS AC1700 wireless router that will be turned into an Access Point (AP), and the instruction say I will need to use (download) the Devise Discovery tool to find the AP address?

1)Why is this necessary?

2)Is this a common practice with other brands (NG) with making the unit an AP?

Thank you.

 

[Val D.]

Why is this necessary?

Because, if you don't set a static IP for your AP, the IP will be assigned automatically by the DHCP server running on your network. You can't predict what exactly this IP is going to be, so Device Discovery will show it to you. Then you can log back in in APs WebUI to make WiFi adjustments, etc.

 

[Peppz]

1)is this common for other brands (Netgear...) where they need to use a tool to find the new address the the IP created so the log onto the devise?
2)with the IP created address, does it change so everytime you want to log onto the devices you first have to find another new address?
2)when people create an AP, do most of them set so IP creates new address, or do most people make it a static address?

 

[ColinTaylor]

1) Yes
2) Not usually but it will do if you make other changes to the router's DHCP configuration.
3) Most people make it static.

 

[Peppz]

Is there a drawback for making a static address like security?

 

[Val D.]

Is there a drawback for making a static address like security?

No, it's an internal IP address inside your network. Static IP means it doesn't change. Makes it easier for you to log into APs WebUI, because you know it. If your main router has an AP address 192.168.1.1, your AP can be 192.168.1.2, for example. The first 3 parts of the address must be the same, 192.168.1.x. Once you assign a static IP address on the AP, reboot the main router to make sure no other device has assigned this same IP by the router's DHCP server.

It looks like this on the AP, LAN section:

Get LAN IP Automatically? No
Device Name: AC1700
IP Address: 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1

 

[Peppz]

I'm a little rusty: what is the 'router's DHCP Server'?

Is it internal or outside of my network?

 

[Val D.]

In short, it’s a service running on your router and it assigns dynamic IP addresses to your network devices, tells them what the Default Gateway is, what DNS servers are available, etc. The DHCP Server we are talking about is inside your network, your own. Without it devices won’t be able to connect to your router. Static IP address means “I want this device to have the address I want” on my network.

 

[oliveryuan]

When you set a router into access point mode, it no longer appears at the same address that it used to unless a fixed IP is used. Without a fixed IP, it will (attempt to) use DHCP to obtain an IP address like any other device or computer on the network.

If you need access to the device, e.g. to disable AP mode, as it's not a PC with a screen and keyboard, you'll need to connect to the device over the network, and to do so, you will need to know the address that it now sits at.

The easiest way to do this in a home network is to login to the device running the DHCP server (probably your router) and look at the address allocation table for the devices on the network. However, the variations in hardware, firmware, possible lack of access to the device... these all conspire to make that difficult to add to a guide.

Instead, the instructions are directing you to use a specific tool that can scan the network to discover the devices and addresses in use on the network. This allows the writer to provide instructions that apply to all users, and bypasses any issues to do with differing software and hardware setups.