Static IP questions

Okay I have a few questions about portforwarding. I am trying to use utorrent. However it says I need to forward the port. Well I now how to do that but here is the question.
1)Do I need to make a static IP?
2)If I make a static IP do I need to set up all my PCs to have a static IP?
3)Would a static IP cause trouble if I used my laptop with a different wireless connection(like school)?

Thanks,
Tim

 

the best bet for you since you are using it two places it to just reserve the IP address in you router for your laptops mac adress. Your router wont give the ip to any other computer, it will save it for that MAC. set for forwarded ports to that MAC. easiest to just do it with whichever IP it has currently.

Normall I would just give it a staic outside of the DHCP range but since it will be used different places, reservingit should take care of it for ya.

 

your IP addressing scheme is relatively independent from any port forwarding you may have to do.

 

Not all routers do it. In fact, I haven't seen one that does. Have you?

 

Its very dependent if he is forwarding specific ports to specific IPs and not opening them up for the entire network.

 

I've done it on quite a few routers, admittedly I do it most in a domain situation when a server is handling DHCP but yes, routers do it as well.

edit: here just to show you, my desktop was setup static but I switched it over to IP reserving on the router. you can see I'm still set to obtain IP Automatically on the box but my box grabbed an IP outside of the DHCP range because the router had that IP reserved for my MAC adress. you can use IPs within the DHCP range as well and the router just wont assign them to other computer on the network. I have a bunch of port forwarding configured so I wanted to keep my .99

 

Which router is that (with the screenshot)?

 

That may be a function on full-blown routers used in corporate environments, but I've never seen such a function in a home broadband router (which is what most people around here mean when they say 'router') either.

I would say 'yes', you would assign a static IP outside the range of your DHCP configuration to your PC and port-foward your ports to to that IP.

 

that is my home router, a linksys RV042, far from a full blown corporate router(Cisco). I needed that router to keep VPN tunnels open to my office and clients.

hmm..I have a WRT54G on my network at home as well setup as my wireless access point. lemme have a look and see if you can reserve IPs with it.

edit: ok my WRT54G does not have that feature. hmm...my bad. Used to working with more robust routers.

I have done it on a dlink a couple weeks ago as well. It is a great feature for that situation because you can leave the laptop set to DHCP but it will always take the same IP when coming back on your network.

 

Okay let me see if I get this right. I should set a range of IP numbers and choose one that is not in that range? And then I would forward my laptops ports to the number set outside the range?

I just don't want mess up my other computers. That's why I am just making sure.
Tim

 

Exactly. My router (Edimax) does not have this feature, and it's a bit unfortunate. So I ended up turning DHCP off at the router and set static IPs to the desktops and the home-downstairs laptop. There is an advantage to it, actually, it's faster. However, my main laptop often gets connected to foreign networks with DHCP and so DHCP must be enabled on it. Hence, I added a static IP for my LAN in "Alternate Configuration".

 

Right. The DHCP server will assign IPs automatically based on the range you specify. You don't want the PC with the static IP to be in that range. So, if your IP range on the DHCP server is x.x.x.100-150, you want your static IP to be something like x.x.x.99. Then you can port forward to the x.x.x.99 address, and other PCs on your network will automatically get an IP in the .100-150 range, which the DHCP server will keep track of.

Edit - @ZDChaser - Actually, I'm seeing that router listed under 'business solutions' on Linksys' site. Maybe that reservation thing is a feature required by some VPNs, which is why it has it? VPNs aren't something that most people will need to run at home, though I can see it becoming more common. Actually, now that I think about it, I could probably use one myself...I'll need to look into it! ;D

 

yes that router is kind of like the linksys version of a Cisco PIX. Great little router for the price especially considering the dual WAN it also has.

IP reservations are a great feature that should be included on all routers.

dr_st: Setting the static as the alternate is a good way as well. I often forget about that option becuase I havn't used it in so long.