Network Setup - Static IP vs DHCP Static Leases

[cashmoney]

So, I've got my beliefs but curious what others are doing and their thoughts on Static IP's vs DHCP Static Leases and which you deploy.

[Cyknight]

Well from a C4 equipment perspective, on a day to day set-up it makes little difference. I'd say both work equally well there with the possible exception that some routers don't play nice with some of the "dual transport" devices C4 still have in their line-up (Amps, Matrix switch, Tuner - things that could be zigbee or network controlled prior to 1.8). In those (rare) occasions reserved DHCP won't work well either but static would.

Beyond that most the obvious advantage of reserved is that everything will just revert to dhcp on a router change or reset. Then again if that's happening it's not that hard to just set the router back to the proper range anyway.

The biggest plus on static is that if the router fries, provided you have everything properly wired to a central switch, anything that is on static will continue to talk almost indefinitely to each other - whereas things on reserved will start to fail on dhcp lease expiry.

DHCP reserved can't be messed up other than the unit not getting a reserved address - static can be, but then gain, just do it right

Reserved addresses have a limited number dependent on the router, static doesn't really have any other than the network's range.

Not everything CAN be set to static though. Some devices don't provide the option, others SHOULDN'T be such as laptops. tablets and phones that get used outside of the house.

How well reserved DHCP works depends on the router - and the devices remain dependent on a router to communicate as opposed to limiting that dependance in static IP.

Realistically, within the perspective of a normal home/home automation network the pros and cons on either option are relatively unimportant as they mainly deal with things breaking down or not being done right or devices (routers) being of a poor quality. If you set things up properly, chances are these pros and cons are of little importance.

Personally I put anything that stays put (and can be) on static because I don't like depending on a router for anything other than talking to the internet (ie acting as a gateway) - leaving the reserved IP for those devices that don't have any interface to set IP address or that get used outside of the house.

So I guess the short answer is both/ a hybrid solution.

[pstuart]

I am a firm believer in never, ever set a static ip and you will save a ton of headaches down the road

[qVAMPIREp]

I only use reserved IP's based on mac addresses. I want my devices to always be assigned the same IP. Then I use Mac filtering to prevent unauthorized devices from jumping on my network.

[msgreenf]

DHCP reservations. That to me, is the best.

[SMHarman]

DHCP reservations. That to me, is the best.

I agree but you need a router with enough of them. My current one only supports 10. Going to see if DDWRT increases that number (and the reliability of the router).

[chicagoskiguy]

I static everything that is permanent (desktops, printers, etc), DHCP Static Lease everything permanent that can't handle static (Roku for instance) or is semi-permanent (laptop for instance), and DCHP everything else (smartphone, etc)

I start my static at .254, and work backwards. The DCHP is working up, and as long as I don't get more than 254 devices, the two shall never meet

Also, keep a spreadsheet with some high level details on what is at each IP (device, OS, Mac, user/password etc).

DHCP Static Lease is great, but every once in a while a firmware update will wipe it out, or if you need to reset to factory.

[pstuart]

Seriously, this shouldn't even be a debate. Hard coding an IP for almost any (non-router) device is bad for so many reasons. DHCP Reservations was created to solve all of those reasons and create no additional problems. Only the DHCP server's limitations or failure to properly backup the DHCP config can cause problems.

IP addresses are like parking spots, if someone is in your spot, you should never try to park in the same space, just grab the nearest one. Unfortunately, cars are much better at this then devices with static IPs.

[Cyknight]

Not if properly set-up. Be smart enough to have separate sections for the visitors and employees.

If you can't stop assigning static IPs in the DHCP range - yeah stay away from static IPs

[ILoveC4]

All my devices with static IP's are in the .200 - .254 range.

DHCP range is ends at .150.

It's worked great for me for a long time....never had an issue.

[cashmoney]

This is basically what I'm doing, everything I can Static get a static address, other permanent/semi-permanent stuff get reservations and the rest are on DHCP...

Thanks for all the input, just doing some network clean-up after finding my rouge DHCP server that was creating massive issues on my network.

[abeasst]

I block out up to .150 for dhcp and the rest is static. All devices like domain server, controllers, NAS, PDU, etc. all get set statically so there are no IP conflict issues.

[AK1]

Two key advantages to static for C4 components:

* System will still work if router goes down

* If you replace router, you have to do your DHCP reservations all over again in the new router (assuming it is not replaced with the same model)

These two advantages win for me as a far as C4 equipment goes. Everything else Dynamic or Reserved.

[pstuart]

What system do you run with 1 minute DHCP lease timeout. ANY properly set up DHCP system will maintain its address for 1-7 or more days before renewing. If the router goes down, every device with a DHCP IP will still function, just can't connect to the net, since the router is down. All static IP's also won't work, since the ROUTER IS DOWN!

What happens to those that use DHCP from the ISP provided router and you switch ISP's or hardware and now they are pushing out 10.x.x.x range instead of 192.x.x.x? Have to hit every static and change it, or change the router, if you can...

What are you going to do with IPv6?

And is backing up a router config or typing reservations that big of a deal these days? Heck, I just expanded my ip config, and with a quick find and replace was able to reassign every device a new ip address range via DHCP reservations and just had to reboot them, or wait for their lease to expire... Never had to enter a specific ip into any of the devices.

In the long run, I never want to see another statically assigned IPv4 address ever again, reservations all the way. Vlans or supernetting if you get beyond 254 devices.

Heck, for those doing statics, what are you going to do when you need another subnet? Go back to each of those devices and expand the subnet?

[LSDave]

static IP's work when the router is down.

[Cyknight]

What system do you run with 1 minute DHCP lease timeout. ANY properly set up DHCP system will maintain its address for 1-7 or more days before renewing. If the router goes down, every device with a DHCP IP will still function, just can't connect to the net, since the router is down. All static IP's also won't work, since the ROUTER IS DOWN!

Yeah, so if I'm on vacation for 2-3 weeks my system remains operational even after that 4-day lease time-out and runs all the schedules/vacation mode stuff - internet or no internet.

What happens to those that use DHCP from the ISP provided router and you switch ISP's or hardware and now they are pushing out 10.x.x.x range instead of 192.x.x.x? Have to hit every static and change it, or change the router, if you can...

I sure hope you're not using your ISP router as your system router my good man. If there's one thing that needs to be avoided if at all possible...

What are you going to do with IPv6?

What happens in the future, near or far, has little concern in this argument right now - changes would need to be made in either set-up.

And is backing up a router config or typing reservations that big of a deal these days? Heck, I just expanded my ip config, and with a quick find and replace was able to reassign every device a new ip address range via DHCP reservations and just had to reboot them, or wait for their lease to expire... Never had to enter a specific ip into any of the devices.

Nope. Is it a big deal to just set the IP range of the DHCP server and router to what it was before these days?

Heck I just replaced a router yesterday and it took me about 10 seconds more to set it to a ip adress and dhcp range then it would if I left it at default. Loading a config takes as much or more time than that.

In the long run, I never want to see another statically assigned IPv4 address ever again, reservations all the way. Vlans or supernetting if you get beyond 254 devices.

Heck, for those doing statics, what are you going to do when you need another subnet? Go back to each of those devices and expand the subnet?

Oh yes I surpass 250 devices daily and change the sub-net settings of a 150 devices at least twice a week.

Even when I was doing large company network set-up and service for a living this was hardly a problem.

I'll state again, as I have elsewhere on this subject matter, that I'm not really specifically for or against either method. I have my own preference from too many years doing networking to count - but see validity in both.

There's arguments for both, and more importantly all arguments are marginal at best.

As is everyone of the arguments you just made against static, as they all deal with situations that are or should be very rare occurrences - especially for the daily user (as opposed to someone installing systems or networks all the time).

[RyanE]

Static DHCP Leases and Static IP addresses are pretty much functionally equivalent (with long leases, they continue to work even without the DHCP server), the thing that swings me to the DHCP leases side of the equation is solely that it's easier to administer than static IP addresses.

One location to see all of them, to set them up, to change them. One config to save / restore on router issues. One webpage to print out the whole setup.

Yes, it has it's disadvantages (i.e. if your router fails), but that's a lot more rare than having to setup a static address or two, which on some devices is quite a pain, and is different for *every* device.

RyanE

[pstuart]

I'll just leave this here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd296674%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

"The disadvantage of manually configured static addressing is that this option is time-consuming to set up and manage. It should be used only where absolutely necessary. " Per Microsoft's own advice...

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd334714%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

and finally, the best solution, IMO but overkill for homes...

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd296695%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

Anyway, I stand by my statement, static IPs should never be used for normal devices, get a good DHCP server in the mix and there are so many things you can do with it using reservations and more.

AND, never try to park in a spot where a car already exists... I know this seems obvious, but way to easy to assign a static IP to a device that already has the same and boom goes both devices, errr cars.

[SMHarman]

Anyway, I stand by my statement, static IPs should never be used for normal devices, get a good DHCP server in the mix and there are so many things you can do with it using reservations and more.

AND, never try to park in a spot where a car already exists... I know this seems obvious, but way to easy to assign a static IP to a device that already has the same and boom goes both devices, errr cars.

So, my Synology NAS is wonderfully reliable and can run as a DHCP server.

Are there any security risks to having the NAS do DHCP?

I think that means it will also be doing the NAT for the Internet traffic or would that still reside in the Router?

My router is the weakest link in the system at the moment - (Linksys WRT400N on most recent Linksys firmware), any recommendations for a replacement? Traffic already runs through an unmanaged switch instead. Should I get one with WiFi built in or get that separately and if so, any recommendations there.

Cable Modem > Linksys WRT400N (and Wireless) > Trendnet Gigabit Switch > Bluray/Synology/HC250/Tivo/AVR/Roku etc...

[pstuart]

Actually, if you can do it, I highly recommend offloading DHCP to a separate box, since most consumer grade routers lack features of full DHCP servers.

I highly doubt your nas is doing NAT, since NAT would require a WAN and LAN port, and hopefully your nas is not on the WAN directly.

NAT would be on the router, aka your gateway device.

All devices searching for a DHCP server would find your nas broadcasting as a server and it would assign ips. The key there is just make sure your router's dhcp server is turned off.

As for replacements, stay tuned on that front, but I do recommend separating wifi access points from other servers, aka routers.

[SMHarman]

^Thanks, now I have looked a little closer at my router settings I see the WAN DHCP and LAN DHCP so I can hand off the LAN to Synology and leave the router to do WAN DHCP and NAT and for now WiFi. Perhaps that will improve reliability.

[texas3622]

I have all the hard wired stuff outside DHCP range and assigned static IPs except for the control4 amps - I have a 4 zone and 8 zone. Should they be static also?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SMHarman]

The amps are hard wired and should have static or reserved up addresses.

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk

[AK1]

DHCP and DHCP / reservations are clearly easier to setup and administer. Having said that, they are useless when you switch to a new router model and must be re-created. HOWEVER, I always put my controller(s) on static IP so my system will run when the router is down. And this does happen from time to time. The other week my Mikrotik would not reboot after a power surge - corrupted firmware took me a day to fix but C4 kept working fine in the meanwhile. Kids could watch TV - the ultimate metric of uptime.

[badjesus]

I am glad I saw this thread. I wasn't sure static would be smart as I wasn't sure all devices could be set static. DHCP is for ease of use only and to automate IT resources. Static IP's have proper advantages. If done correctly this shouldn't be a discussion. I was hoping I can do static so I can completely subnet out my C4 equipment. I have a /16 subnet so I can completely isolate all c4 equipment on 10.1.50.x while my DHCP scope is set on 10.1.25.50-250/16.

That way I can further isolate cameras from security from video stations from sonos etc. Everything would be isolated with no conflicts and easy diagnoses on my server 2012 box.

For those that think DHCP should be used hands down because it won't cause conflicts clearly has never worked in an IT department before. Conflicts still happen, ARP tables on switches become corrupt, etc.

If C4 devices can have static IP's set then I am game.