Q- Can I have more than one DHCP server on a network?Ī- Yes and No. Q- My IP address doesn’t appear to change does this mean that I have a static IP address?Ī- No not necessarily as when a DHCP client renews its IP address it asks for the same address and will normally be allowed to keep it. Q- Can I assign DNS servers manually even though I’m using DHCP?Ī- Yes there is a separate setting for that on the client configuration.
Q- Can I assign static IP addresses on the client and still use DHCP?Ī- Yes most DHCP servers (even on home networks) allow you to exclude IP addresses and address ranges. If you do adjust the address range then make sure that you haven’t already assigned static addresses in this range. If you have many clients on the network then you may also need to adjust the address range. Router Checks – You will also need to logon to your home router and check that DHCP has been enabled. In the screen shot above you can see that the client is configured for DHCP and that the IP address has been leased. If your client has an IP address beginning with 169 or an address of 0.0.0.0 then something is wrong, and it can’t locate a DHCP server. What you are looking for when using this tool is that your computer has a valid IP address,Gateway address, and DNS server address. This tool will show you the IP addresses assigned to your device.
The main client trouble shooting tool is the command line tool ipconfig (windows) and ifconfig (Linux). You will need to look at the clients and the home router. Using DHCP to assign static IP addresses greatly reduces the possibility of duplicate IP addresses.
#Dhcp router configuration mac
It works by using the MAC address of the client,which is fixed, to fix the IP address to that client. This is usually known as address reservation and the screen shot below shows my tplink router settings. Assigning Static Addresses Using DHCPĪlthough you can manually assign a static address to a client it is not really the best way as it is very inflexible.Ī better way is to use the DHCP server to assign the address on a permanent basis and almost all home routers have this ability. You can see from my settings that the lease period is 1 day. IP addresses are leased to the client a must be renewed before the lase expires. Note: Some networks use 192.168.1.1 for the default gateway address. You should also start at address 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.2 and work up in case you need to increase the address range at a later date.
Only assigning static addresses in this range will help avoid IP address conflicts. The home router itself uses address 192.168.1.254 and so it leaves me 192.168.1.1-.192.168.1.63 for allocating to static clients if needed. You should note that the allocation range on my home router is 192.168.1.64-192.168.1.253. You usually leave these as the default settings are usually adequate. This is normally selected to make the DHCP server authoritative for this address pool as it is usually the only server on the network. This is normally selected to make the DHCP server active (on). If you go the admin page on your home router you will see configuration options similar to the screen shot below. On home networks there is generally nothing to be configured. If you are thinking of using another device to be a DHCP server it is important to understand that you can only have one DHCP server on a network. However you can use another computer e.g raspberry pi as a DHCP server, but it is generally not done. Most home routers will have the DHCP server enabled by default (turned on). On home networks the DHCP server is on the home router or home hub. This renewal process happens in the background, and doesn’t require any user intervention. IP addresses from a DHCP server are normally leased, and must be renewed periodically. The DHCP server is configured with a range of IP addresses that it can assign and also with other settings like DNS servers, default gateway addresses etc. DHCP ServerĪ DHCP server is responsible for allocating IP address and other information to requesting clients. You can see that the DHCP client is configured to obtain an IP address, and also a DNS server address.
#Dhcp router configuration windows
If you go to you adaptor settings page (see this tutorial for windows 10) or Wi-Fi settings page you will see a page similar to the one below: computers.Īll modern operating systems come equipped with a DHCP client, and by default, they are all configured to use DHCP.Ī DHCP client is responsible for requesting an IP address and assigning it to the computer. DHCP (Dynamic Host configuration protocol) provides a mechanism for automatically allocating IP (IPv4) addresses to network devices e.g.