[Ham-Computers] RE: How do I set up "fixed" IP and submask etc on XP, Vista a...

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Let me add a couple of thoughts...

Most SOHO routers will act as a DNS relay, so you can usually specify the router's IP address as the DNS server.  Some routers also keep an "internal" DNS table such that it can resolve internal DNS lookups if you have several computers on your network.

You can also create a "mixed" DHCP/Static network by limiting the number of DHCP addresses the router issues (such as 10 to 25) and then assigning static addresses to PC's that are "outside" this DHCP range (such as 26 to 100).  As long as they're on the same subnet, this will work.  Most routers use 192.168.1.xxx with a mask of 255.255.255.0, so you should be able to use any "unused" address between 1 and 254 as the last number.  This is how I have my network configured at home - static IP for "permanent" computers, DHCP assigned for "visiting/transient" PC's.

A more "preferred" way of assigning static IP addresses is DHCP "reservations".  In this case, you configure the computer for DHCP, but the DHCP server always assigns the same IP address to it.  Not all DHCP servers support reservations, but it makes things easier to manage as all the computers on the network are configured for DHCP, yet they always get the same IP address.  I've setup a couple of offices this way.
 
73,

  - Aaron, NN6O



-----Original Message-----
From: ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net On Behalf Of James B
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 5:48 AM
Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] How do I set up "fixed" IP and submask etc on XP,Vista a...

The short, long and longest answer is yes you can.

Go to the router information page that shows the "external" ip address of the router and note the DNS settings (there may be a couple of"assigned" dns server) also make a note of the Router "internal" IP address (which you should already know)

You could also run ipconfig /all on the local computer and "note" the DNS ip addresses that were passed to your local computer.

Turn off the DHCP Server on the router.

Log in to each of your internal computers and go to the network connections control panel Open the TCP/IP properties for your NIC Card, Click "Use the following IP address:".  Enter the IP address you want (If your router IP is 192.168.1.1 the rest need to be 192.168.1.xxx also), and also the Subnet mask (ususally 255.255.255.0) and Default gateway (which should be the internal IP address of your router).  Enter the DNS server IP addresses as noted earlier, you can also put in the Router IP address as one of the DNS servers.

You should be good to go....