how to find static ip address of a router

Routers both modernistic and antiquated allow users to set static IP addresses for devices on the network, but what'southward the practical use of static IP addresses for a home user? Read on as nosotros explore when you should, and shouldn't, assign a static IP.

Dear How-To Geek,

Subsequently reading over your five things to exercise with a new router article, I was poking around in the control panel of my router. One of the things I found amongst all the settings is a table to gear up static IP addresses. I'yard pretty sure that section is self explanatory in as much as I become that it allows you lot to requite a computer a permanent IP address, but I don't really understand why? I've never used that department before and everything on my home network seems to piece of work fine. Should I exist using it? It's plain there for some reason, even if I'm not certain what that reason is!

Sincerely,

IP Curious

DHCP versus Static IP Assignment

To help you understand the application of static IP addresses, allow's start with the setup you (and most readers for that matter) have. The vasty majority of modern figurer networks, including the piffling network in your home controlled by your router, use DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). DHCP is a protocol that automatically assigns a new device an IP address from the puddle of bachelor IP addresses without whatever interaction from the user or a system administrator. Permit's utilize an example to illustrate only how wonderful DHCP is and how easy information technology makes all of our lives.

RELATED: How to Set Up Static DHCP And so Your Reckoner's IP Address Doesn't Change

Imagine that a friend visits with their iPad. They desire to get on your network and update some apps on the iPad. Without DHCP, you would need to hop on a computer, log into your router'southward admin console, and manually assign an available address to your friend's device, say x.0.0.99. That accost would be permanently assigned to your friend'south iPad unless you went in later and manually released the address.

With DHCP, even so, life is so much easier. Your friend visits, they want to bound on your network, and then you give them the Wi-Fi password to login and you're washed. As presently as the iPad connected to the router, the router's DHCP server checks the available list of IP addresses, and assigns an address with an expiration engagement built in. Your friend'southward iPad is given an accost, continued to the network, and then when your friend leaves and is no longer using the network that address volition render to the pool for available addresses ready to be assigned to another device.

All that happens backside the scenes and, assuming there isn't a disquisitional fault in the router's software, you lot'll never even need to pay attention to the DHCP process as it will be completely invisible to you. For nearly applications, like adding mobile devices to your network, general calculator use, video game consoles, etc., this is a more satisfactory arrangement and we should all be happy to accept DHCP and non be burdened with the hassle of manually managing our IP assignment tables.

When To Use Static IP Addresses

Although DHCP is really great and makes our lives easier, thereare situations where using a manually assigned static IP address is quite handy. Let's look at a few situations where yous would want to assign a static IP address in order to illustrate the benefits of doing and then.

Y'all need reliable name resolution on your network for computers that demand to be consistently and accurately found. Although networking protocols have advanced over the years, and the bulk of the time using a more than abstract protocol like SMB (Server Message Block) to visit computers and shared folders on your network using the familiar //officecomputer/shared_music/ fashion accost works only fine, for some applications information technology falls apart. For instance, when setting upwards media syncing on XBMC it'south necessary to employ the IP accost of your media source instead of the SMB proper noun.

Any time y'all rely on a computer or a piece of software to accurately and immediately locate another computer on your network (as is the case with our XBMC instance – the client devices demand to detect the media server hosting the material) with the least take a chance of error, assigning a static IP address is the way to become. Straight IP-based resolution remains the most stable and mistake free method of communicating on a network.

You want to impose a human-friendly numbering scheme onto your network devices. For network assignments like giving an address to your friend's iPad or your laptop, you probably don't intendance where in the bachelor address cake the IP comes from because you don't really need to know (or care). If you take devices on your network that you regularly access using command line tools or other IP-oriented applications, it can be really useful to assignment permanent addresses to those devices in a scheme that is friendly to the human memory.

For example, if left to its ain devices our router would assign any bachelor address to our three Raspberry Pi XBMC units. Because we often tinker with those units and admission them by their IP addresses, it made sense to permanently assign addresses to them that would be logical and easy to retrieve:

The .xc unit is in the basement, the .91 unit of measurement is on the first floor, and the .92 unit of measurement is on the second floor.

You have an awarding the expressly relies on IP addresses. Some applications volition only permit yous to supple an IP address to refer to other computers on the network. In such cases it would exist extremely annoying to have to change the IP address in the application every time the IP address of the remote estimator was changed in the DHCP table. Assigning a permanent accost to the remote computer prevents you from the hassle of frequently updating your applications. This is why it'southward quite useful to assign any computer that functions as a server of whatsoever sort to a permanent address.

Assigning Static IP Addresses the Smart Mode

Earlier you just outset assigning static IP addresses left and correct, let'southward go over some basic network hygiene tips that will save yous from a headache down the road.

First, check what the IP pool available on your router is. Your router will take a total pool and a puddle specifically reserved for DHCP assignments. The total puddle available to home routers is typically ten.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 or 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255 . Then, within those ranges a smaller puddle is reserved for the DHCP server, typically around 252 addresses in a range similar 10.0.0.ii through 10.0.0.254. Once you know the full general pool, yous should use the post-obit rules to assign static IP addresses:

Never assign an address that ends in .0 or .255 every bit these addresses are typically reserved for network protocols. This is the reason the case IP address pool above ends at .254.
Never assign an address to the very first of the IP pool, eastward.g. 10.0.0.1 every bit the start address is always reserved for the router. Even if you've inverse the IP address of your router for security purposes, nosotros'd nonetheless suggest confronting assigning a computer.
Never assign an address outside of the total available pool of private IP addresses. This means if your router's pool is x.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 every IP you assign (keeping in mind the prior ii rules) should fall inside that range. Given that there are nearly 17 million addresses in that puddle, we're sure you lot can observe ane you similar.

Some people adopt to just apply addresses outside of the DHCP range (e.thou. they leave the 10.0.0.two through 10.0.0.254 block completely untouched) only nosotros don't feel strongly plenty about that to consider information technology an outright rule. Given the improbability of a abode user needing 252 device addresses simultaneously, it's perfectly fine to assign a device to ane of those addresses if y'all'd prefer to keep everything in, say, the 10.0.0.10 cake.

RELATED: How and Why All Devices in Your Habitation Share One IP Accost

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/184310/ask-htg-should-i-be-setting-static-ip-addresses-on-my-router/

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