IP address question...

StevieP · 12 Dec 2015 at 10:07

Is reserving an IP address on a network the same as assigning a static IP address on a device?

Basically I need both my wired NUC and wireless laptop to keep their IP addresses so that my Synology NAS recognises them and grants them access to the folder with my media on.

Within the NUC's settings it's fairly simple to assign a static IP (although I assume there is a small possibility of the router "giving" that IP address to another device if it's connected before the NUC??) but on my Windows 10 laptop I'm not sure what settings to input in terms of "DNS"

I played about with it a little but couldn't get it to work so looked at simply reserving an IP address based on the laptop's MAC address - will this do the same job??

Thanks for any pointers....

nutcase · 12 Dec 2015 at 10:26

To have it static you'd need to exclude that IP from the DHCP range and then assign it on the device itself. If you want a device to always receive the same IP from the DHCP server you would reserve it. Same end result really just different way of doing it.

StevieP · 12 Dec 2015 at 12:24

I know it's probably specific to my router (a TP Link TD-W9980) but how would I go about excluding the IP address applied to my wired NUC from being allocated to another device automatically?

The "Address Reservation" tab only gives the option to include a device with a specific MAC address - I can't see anything to exclude a specific IP anywhere!?!?

tribz · 12 Dec 2015 at 12:29

If you reserve it for a host, it will also exclude it from other hosts.

Steveocee · 12 Dec 2015 at 12:30

If your IP's are 192.168.0.XXX

Change your router to do it's DHCP range from 192.168.0.51-192.168.0.200
Your router is probably 192.168.0.1
If for example your NAS is 192.168.0.2
You still have 48 IP's before your router starts handing them out. You could set your NUC and laptop to 0.3 and 0.4

HTH

m4rkw7 · 14 Dec 2015 at 01:51

Just put your NUC on a reservation to?

Avalon · 14 Dec 2015 at 09:35

You wouldn't normally have your reserved range overlap your DHCP range. Eg 192.168.0.2-99 may be your reserved range, 192.168.0.100-200 your DHCP range. You can either specify an IP for each device manually or if using the DHCP server the MAC based reservation system will give the same end result - until you have to replace a NIC or box but you'd still have to manually enter the IP then or reserve it against the new mac anyway.

Orcvader · 14 Dec 2015 at 11:44

As above, in the router settings, on the DHCP side change the IP range to exclude the addresses where the static IPs will lie.

As for the DNS part on the laptop, just do 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4. This part is really only needed for internet access.

bremen1874 · 15 Dec 2015 at 00:50

Unless there's something really odd going on there's no reason not to reserve IPs within the DHCP range. The machine still gets its IP via DHCP, you're just reserving it against a MAC address.

If you're setting the a static IP that the DHCP server isn't going to know about it needs to be outside the DHCP range.

I'd always use DHCP reservations in preference to static IPs where there's a choice. Just having the centralised management is enough to justify it, but there are other benefits.