Slow to get IP Address assigned... any thoughts?

[tony_park]

Hi,

just curious to see if anyone has any ideas on how to speed up the allocation of ip addresses.

On my setup, the router is the dhcp provider, this is connected by 100 mbit connection to a gigabit switch, which is then connected to our main house gigabit switch, and most of the pcs etc connect directly to the main switch. The router and the smaller switch are in my study, hence the need for the switch, as we have to many items requiring network access.

Wondering what settings everyone has for power, manually assigned ip addresses etc to see what other experiments to try!


Thanks
Tony

[holidayboy]

Hi Tony,

I set IP addresses manually for everything except for the wireless devices that connect to other networks when I'm out and about.

It just makes everything easier I think - especially if you run DVBLink / Remote Potato / WP7 remote apps etc..

I turn off any power saving and 10/100 speeds on gigabit connections too.

[mark1234]

Only my 7MC machine has a fixed IP (so I can get to Remote Potato remotely). Everything else uses DHCP over a mix of wired, wireless and powerline all direct to my creaky old router. I don't notice any delays in getting an IP address.

[Venom51]

Without some wireshark captures from a few points in the network it'll be like poking your weewee in dark holes. You'll just be guessing. If you don't have managed switches you'll need a 100 mb/s hub to place between the router and switch along with the PC you'll capture with to see the conversation during the dhcp session. You'll be able to see the time stamps from the time of the broadcast request to the offer and the acceptance/ack. At that point you'll be able to tell if it's a processing problem in the router or congestion on the network/timing issue.



I'll be glad to help you diagnose if you need it.

My first suggestion is to static IP anything that doesn't leave your network. Any machine in the house that isn't mobile would be best to have a static address. DHCP is nice for devices that come and go from the network but unneccessary traffic for boxes that never leave. You can also add a bit of a simple security mechanism if you are using wireless by limiting the number of available dhcp addresses to just the amount required to cover your mobile devices. Combine that with mac filtering at the access point and you have gotten a good start on limting access to your internal network to intruders via wireless.

[Danno100]

I also set up static IP addresses for all hard wired devices, using dhcp only for wireless devices. The router and switches are all gigbit.

[Scallica]

My first suggestion is to static IP anything that doesn't leave your network. Any machine in the house that isn't mobile would be best to have a static address. DHCP is nice for devices that come and go from the network but unnecessary traffic for boxes that never leave.

Yes, but then you have to keep track of what IP addresses you have used or you'll have a conflict. I prefer DHCP reservations.

[Venom51]

My first suggestion is to static IP anything that doesn't leave your network. Any machine in the house that isn't mobile would be best to have a static address. DHCP is nice for devices that come and go from the network but unnecessary traffic for boxes that never leave.

Yes, but then you have to keep track of what IP addresses you have used or you'll have a conflict. I prefer DHCP reservations.

If you had 2000+ boxes deplyed in your house...ok that's a management issue. In most cases however how hard is it to keep up with less than 10 IP addresses.

[tony_park]

Thanks guys,

once we get our bb connection sorted, I'll go back to manually assigned ip addresses, and see if that helps, if not, I'll go for the network analysis to see if any bottlenecks are on my network.

Thanks
Tony