Dynamic or static IP address

[oilboy123]

Pros and cons to each. I am trying to set up my Asus WL 520GU router. I want good security and won't be using my wireless very much, at least for now.

Mainly just the desktop wired to the router. Thanks for feedback Pat

 

[Colt45ws]

With static you will have to go in and manually assign each computer an IP. But if you nly have one PC it may not matter much to you. What I have is dynamic but I have a reserved range 192.168.0.3-192.168.0.20 that it wont assign from. I setup some computers such as mine with a static within this range.

 

[StevieC]

Don't need static unless you are doing specific port forwarding for applications like PC Anywhere etc.

If just for file/print sharing and internet surfing dynamic if fine.

 

[tomcat27]

ditto. go dynamic. its pretty much "hands off". unless you are using your PC as a server or as a VPN

 

[Familyguy]

For a small network, either one is fine. The benefit of dynamic (dhcp) is that anyone visiting or any new devices can just "ask" for an address and the router will give it to 'em. Also, don't forget to use encryption on the wireless link or you'll be open to having neighbors "borrowing" your Internet link.

 

[javacontour]

Why not both?

Have a set of dynamic addresses for new devices and assign addresses to devices that will stay such as a desktop.

My router remembers devices so unless I exhaust the internal addresses, I get the same one anyway.

If you are not using a dozen different devices each day, then you will most likely get the same address for each device when it returns to the network.

 

[greenaccord02]

On the router, I have the DHCP server assign IPs to MACs rather than assigning the IP on the machine. This makes port forwarding and other administrative stuff easier while still allowing a new machine to enter the network without having an IP assigned. My wireless is MAC filtered in addition to not broadcasting SSID and WPA2-AES encryption so not just anybody can jump in.

My WAN address is dynamically assigned, but I update DynDNS through my router, so I don't have to keep track of the IP. I prefer this because if I need to change IPs for some reason I can do it without calling Tech Support.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Don't need static unless you are doing specific port forwarding for applications like PC Anywhere etc.

If just for file/print sharing and internet surfing dynamic if fine.


+1. Having said that, there are alot of reasons to forward ports to specific systems on your network.

I like for the computers on my home network to be able to talk amongst themselves, too; and that is made easier when each system has it's own static IP.

Also, if you ever need to look over any log files from the router (for example, if you suspect that someone has gained unauthorized access to teh network) knowing that each system has it's own IP makes discerning who is who easier.

 

[oilboy123]

I will go with dynamic. I need to get the new Asus Router up and running so I can repair my Sisters computer with a bad power supply.

You always come through. I might have some questions with getting her computer online when the new power supply gets here.

Thanks for the info guys....

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
On the router, I have the DHCP server assign IPs to MACs rather than assigning the IP on the machine. This makes port forwarding and other administrative stuff easier while still allowing a new machine to enter the network without having an IP assigned. My wireless is MAC filtered in addition to not broadcasting SSID and WPA2-AES encryption so not just anybody can jump in.

My WAN address is dynamically assigned, but I update DynDNS through my router, so I don't have to keep track of the IP. I prefer this because if I need to change IPs for some reason I can do it without calling Tech Support.


Yup, that's the setup I use as well.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: javacontour

My router remembers devices so unless I exhaust the internal addresses, I get the same one anyway.

If you are not using a dozen different devices each day, then you will most likely get the same address for each device when it returns to the network.


My router (a Linux box) has dhcp entries in the table that it handed out over a year ago, for devices that have not been plugged into the network since then. If I take one of those devices and plug it in right now, it will get the same IP it had over a year ago.

So, for all practical purposes and intents, I don't need to assign static DHCP entries.

If it DOES start to run out of IPs (with over 100 IPs, not likely to happen), it assigns the stalest IP lease first.

I don't know how well it works when the router has no nonvolatile memory with which to store the DHCP table. Cisco routers (the ones that run IOS, not the Linksys stuff) have a way to store the DHCP table on a tftp server.