Lynksys Wireless Router/Modem
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From: Christopher A. Lee on 26 Jan 2010 15:58 On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:10:07 -0600, Char Jackson <none(a)none.invalid> wrote: >On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:34:22 -0500, Christopher A. Lee ><calee(a)optonline.net> wrote: > >>On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:16:18 -0600, Char Jackson <none(a)none.invalid> >>wrote: >> >>>That might be the norm for you, but it's not even close to my >>>experience out here in the Midwest. The people I deal with will >>>typically add or replace a PC every 2-3 years. Desktop systems are >>>still far more common than laptops, so mobility isn't a big deal. Most >>>people I know with a laptop wouldn't dream of taking it out of the >>>house. If I were dealing with a "near constant state of change" I >>>might look more favorably to DHCP myself, but that's so not the case >>>here. >> >>It's a disadvantage for home networks > >I don't know, I see advantages for some situations, like very small >networks or Jeff's constant change scenario, or perhaps situations >where the network owner would rather put up with the hassles you >identified in this post instead of the hassles of static assignments. >Sometimes it's almost an even trade-off. In the end, I suppose it's a >personal choice as much as anything else. For me in my situation and I >think you in yours as well, static assignments make the most sense. > >>I've got a Brother Laser and an HP Photosmart both of which include >>their own print server and wired ethernet connection to the Router. >> >>If you don't give the printers fixed IP address it won't find them if >>devices are powered up in a different order. Which they always are. > >I don't power down anything except a laptop, so I don't have a reason >to power things up in any specific order. Actually, I'm surprised that >you power cycle things like print servers and NAS devices. I don't do >that here. Perhaps you don't live in a place where the utility cables run through trees? We lose power in thunderstorms, ice storms and high winds. But in any case it is bad software design to use fixed IP addresses where URLs are available. Whether it is in Windows, the router or the built in print and disk servers. Without fixed IP addresses I would have to deinstall the networked devices on each comupter and reinstall them. Also change the IP address at ther router for the forwarded port. When I've got more important things to do when the power comes back up, like catching up on lost time. I suspect the problem with the printers is that if I had two identical Brother Lasers instead of a Brother and an HP Photosmart they would default to the same ID based on the model number and the wizard could not tell one from the other. Possibly also with the disk box. Even though I should be able to install one, log on to it and change its name. But there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be able to specify port forwarding on the name of an attached device rather than its IP address.
From: Char Jackson on 26 Jan 2010 16:16 On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:58:24 -0500, Christopher A. Lee <calee(a)optonline.net> wrote: >Perhaps you don't live in a place where the utility cables run through >trees? > >We lose power in thunderstorms, ice storms and high winds. We had a huge ice storm in 2005 that knocked power out for 5 days, but I don't remember when we lost power before that, (I've only been living here since 2001, so not that long), and we haven't lost power since then. Our utility cables are all buried.
From: Jeff Liebermann on 26 Jan 2010 23:43 On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:16:18 -0600, Char Jackson <none(a)none.invalid> wrote: >That might be the norm for you, but it's not even close to my >experience out here in the Midwest. The people I deal with will >typically add or replace a PC every 2-3 years. Desktop systems are >still far more common than laptops, so mobility isn't a big deal. Most >people I know with a laptop wouldn't dream of taking it out of the >house. If I were dealing with a "near constant state of change" I >might look more favorably to DHCP myself, but that's so not the case >here. Well, things are about the same on the left coast. The average lifetime of a desktop is about 3 years. Laptops last about 1-2 years before they are either destroyed or stolen. So, how many wireless devices do you own? Cell phone, PDA, laptop, desktop, game box, print server, Netflix, internet radio receiver, etc. My guess is the average home system has about 6 wireless devices and growing at the rate of adding 2 additional devices per year. With 6 devices, and a 2 year lifetime, that's one device either added or replaced every 2 months. Of course, it's not evenly distributed and tends to cluster around birthdays, holidays, and Apple product releases. Reconfiguring the static IP's every 2 months isn't too horrible, but at the rate of adding 2 new devices per year, in 3 years, the rate will increase to once per month. That's a PITA. Personally, I've settled on a compromise. Many routers allow for "pre-assigned DHCP leases" or the oxymoron "static DHCP". The device is configured for DHCP, which makes setup trivial. The router has a table of pre-assigned MAC and IP address pairs. If I need to physically move the device or laptop to my office for repair, I don't have to reconfigure the device or laptop. If a visitor shows up with a cell phone, PDA, laptop, or game machine, the owner does not need to do anything to the wireless router for it to connect and work. -- Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
From: Jeff Liebermann on 27 Jan 2010 00:25 On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:34:22 -0500, Christopher A. Lee <calee(a)optonline.net> wrote: >End result: everything apart from one elderly PC needs fixed >IP addresses. Baloney. The "problem" is that your unspecified model router does not save the DHCP leases between reboots. Many routers do save these leases and work as described in RFC2131: Retain DHCP client configuration across server reboots, and, whenever possible, a DHCP client should be assigned the same configuration parameters despite restarts of the DHCP mechanism,... Most cheap wireless routers don't bother to do this, causing the problems you've described. DD-WRT does, but I have it disabled in high traffic routers because I'm using pre-assigned DHCP leases, and if the leases are not expired quickly, the DHCP lease table will rapidly fill. >I suspect business networks have PCs for dedicated printer and disk >servers with rather more sophisticated software than comes built into >the sort of kit we have at home. Small businesses resemble most home systems in both selection of cheap hardware and lack of sophistication (and sloppy wiring). There are plenty of print servers around in my business customers (mostly HP JetDirect variations). Some are setup with static IP's because some (not all) of the HP JetDirect client software works by IP address, not NetBIOS name. If it recognizes the NetBIOS name, the JetDirect card gets configured for DHCP. When lazy, I use pre-assigned DHCP as a compromise. I have a few wireless print servers at some customers, but I avoid wireless printing if possible. >And they probably don't run torrent >software so the result is different. Sigh. I have several customers that distribute their catalogs and software via a BitTorrent NAS server. It's a Buffalo Linkstation something with built in Torrent server. -- Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
From: Char Jackson on 27 Jan 2010 00:28
On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:43:09 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl(a)cruzio.com> wrote: >On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:16:18 -0600, Char Jackson <none(a)none.invalid> >wrote: > >>That might be the norm for you, but it's not even close to my >>experience out here in the Midwest. The people I deal with will >>typically add or replace a PC every 2-3 years. Desktop systems are >>still far more common than laptops, so mobility isn't a big deal. Most >>people I know with a laptop wouldn't dream of taking it out of the >>house. If I were dealing with a "near constant state of change" I >>might look more favorably to DHCP myself, but that's so not the case >>here. > >Well, things are about the same on the left coast. The average >lifetime of a desktop is about 3 years. Laptops last about 1-2 years >before they are either destroyed or stolen. > >So, how many wireless devices do you own? Cell phone, PDA, laptop, >desktop, game box, print server, Netflix, internet radio receiver, >etc. My only wireless device is an Ethernet bridge. I have a laptop, but I can't remember the last time I booted it up. It's older and doesn't have wireless capability built in. >My guess is the average home system has about 6 wireless devices >and growing at the rate of adding 2 additional devices per year. With >6 devices, and a 2 year lifetime, that's one device either added or >replaced every 2 months. Of course, it's not evenly distributed and >tends to cluster around birthdays, holidays, and Apple product >releases. Reconfiguring the static IP's every 2 months isn't too >horrible, but at the rate of adding 2 new devices per year, in 3 >years, the rate will increase to once per month. That's a PITA. Come on, configuring a new device takes what, a minute or two? On the PITA scale, that doesn't even register, especially when it's happening only once a month or so. >Personally, I've settled on a compromise. Many routers allow for >"pre-assigned DHCP leases" or the oxymoron "static DHCP". The device >is configured for DHCP, which makes setup trivial. The router has a >table of pre-assigned MAC and IP address pairs. If I need to >physically move the device or laptop to my office for repair, I don't >have to reconfigure the device or laptop. If a visitor shows up with >a cell phone, PDA, laptop, or game machine, the owner does not need to >do anything to the wireless router for it to connect and work. I do a subset of the same thing. My networked devices don't leave the house so static assignments work best for them. Pre-assigned DHCP leases would just be more work. However, when I bring someone else's equipment here for repair, if it's configured to use DHCP it just works, and if not then I need to configure it twice, once on arrival and once more to put it back before it leaves. So yes, there's a DHCP server running on my network, but I don't use it for any of my own equipment. |