Static IP outside of router DHCP range

[Smarty]

I am using an older and very stable Linksys WRT54G router and have DHCP
enabled for the clients. One of my router's current DHCP clients is a
video
server which gets a fresh IP address occasionally when the router or
video
server is re-booted.

This creates a problem, since the 8 video clients which connect to this
video server have very limited ability to recover from changes to the
video
server IP address change. They are small embedded Hauppauge media boxes
which cannot easily find the revised video server address, and have no
way
to easily reboot themselves from the video server.

I would like to fix the video server IP address to a static IP outside
the
range of the Linksys router DHCP server, but still in the same subnet as
the
router. Specifically, I would like to put the video server at
192.168.1.150
as a static IP address, and only allow the DHCP server in the Linksys to
serve addresses from 192.168.1.100 through 192.168.1.149.

This should allow my 8 video clients to ALWAYS see their video server at
192.168.1.150 regardless of whether the router had to be re-booted or
the
video server had to be rebooted.

Is there any reason why I can't do this? I am specifically concerned
that
the Linksys will only route to those addresses it has dynamically
assigned
via DHCP, and will not route to those above that range.

Is this a legitimate concern?

In a word, No.

Many thanks in advance for guidance.

There may be another option that I haven't seen suggested in this
thread. You may find your router can be configured to give out the
same IP address always to your server. I use this with an XBOX (which
doesn't allow static IP addresses).

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

I am somewhat familiar with a concept of "reservations" to reserve IP
addresses for specific devices, and see no way to do so with my present
Linksys. I was actually hoping to use this to fix my 8 client addresses
based on using their MAC addresses, but such is not an option in my
current
router. Thanks for replying.

Then a static IP address seems like the best way to go then.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

Yup, for the video server, which CAN be configured with a static IP, but
unfortunately no for the 8 clients which CANNOT.

 

[Smarty]

I am using an older and very stable Linksys WRT54G router and have DHCP
enabled for the clients. One of my router's current DHCP clients is a
video
server which gets a fresh IP address occasionally when the router or
video
server is re-booted.

This creates a problem, since the 8 video clients which connect to this
video server have very limited ability to recover from changes to the
video
server IP address change. They are small embedded Hauppauge media boxes
which cannot easily find the revised video server address, and have no
way
to easily reboot themselves from the video server.

I would like to fix the video server IP address to a static IP outside
the
range of the Linksys router DHCP server, but still in the same subnet as
the
router. Specifically, I would like to put the video server at
192.168.1.150
as a static IP address, and only allow the DHCP server in the Linksys to
serve addresses from 192.168.1.100 through 192.168.1.149.

This should allow my 8 video clients to ALWAYS see their video server at
192.168.1.150 regardless of whether the router had to be re-booted or
the
video server had to be rebooted.

Is there any reason why I can't do this? I am specifically concerned
that
the Linksys will only route to those addresses it has dynamically
assigned
via DHCP, and will not route to those above that range.

Is this a legitimate concern?

In a word, No.

Many thanks in advance for guidance.

There may be another option that I haven't seen suggested in this
thread. You may find your router can be configured to give out the
same IP address always to your server. I use this with an XBOX (which
doesn't allow static IP addresses).

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

I am somewhat familiar with a concept of "reservations" to reserve IP
addresses for specific devices, and see no way to do so with my present
Linksys. I was actually hoping to use this to fix my 8 client addresses
based on using their MAC addresses, but such is not an option in my
current
router. Thanks for replying.

Then a static IP address seems like the best way to go then.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

Yup, for the video server, which CAN be configured with a static IP, but
unfortunately no for the 8 clients which CANNOT.

 

[VanguardLH]

Unfortunately my 8 clients are little $50 boxes with an Ethernet port and
yellow, red, and white outputs for composite NTSC video and stereo audio,
but no provisions whatsoever to flash their NVRAM. I think they are actually
PROM'ed with soldered-in firmware, and they have no ability to have static
IP assignments in their boot code. My 8 boxes have the so-called "Rev 1.0"
boot ROM which makes them the least capable of all the ones which Hauppage
offers. They are vintage-1995 hardware.

So I have no way to either reserve IP addresses based on Mac addresses,

To have your router use a table of fixed IP addresses that its DHCP
server will assign to specific MAC addresses, it looks like you'll need
a new router (or some other host running a more capable DHCP server).

Assignment of IP address by MAC address was a handy feature in my old
D-Link router. I didn't have to do anything regarding TCP/IP changes on
my hosts but I could fix an IP address to specific hosts by my router's
DHCP server. When the D-Link died (which seems typical of them at the
3-year interval), I got a Linksys which was missing this IP-to-MAC
feature. This forced me to configure my hosts to static IP addresses
rather than always getting the same one from the router's DHCP server.
It was more convenient doing the IP mapping from the router.

I only got the Linksys because I needed an immediate replacement when
the D-Link died (it first went flaky regarding connectivity and then
eventually wouldn't permit any connections; it was a known heat bug with
that model). The Linksys was available in a retail store so I could
replace it in an hour. However, even if they had the better models of
Linksys, they still were missing the IP-to-MAC feature. Even the
low-end Netgear RP614 has their "Address Reservation" feature to assign
a specific IP address to a MAC address.

 

[david]

Is this a legitimate concern?

No, it's not. Set your server as a static IP address and don't worry
about it.

 

[ohaya]

Unfortunately my 8 clients are little $50 boxes with an Ethernet port
and yellow, red, and white outputs for composite NTSC video and stereo
audio, but no provisions whatsoever to flash their NVRAM. I think they
are actually PROM'ed with soldered-in firmware, and they have no ability
to have static IP assignments in their boot code. My 8 boxes have the
so-called "Rev 1.0" boot ROM which makes them the least capable of all
the ones which Hauppage offers. They are vintage-1995 hardware.

So I have no way to either reserve IP addresses based on Mac addresses,
nor do I have a way to set them up as static.

I still am wondering if my Netgear switches truly have any "memory" of
the ports associated with specific IP addresses of the connected
clients, as they have no reset or reboot function as far as I know. It
seems that removing power from the switches and then bringing them back
up again does force a "reboot" of some type, since they seem to connect
and work quickly after the power is re-cycled. I know that switches
create a routing table so as to not multicast / flood all of the ports
when a device is only present at one port. It just is not clear to me
under what circumstances this table is updated, or for that matter built
from scratch.

Thanks once again for your assistance.

Hi,

A bit weird idea, but maybe instead of using those Netgear switches, use
a hub? That should eliminate any concerns that the hub is persisting
information about which client/IP/MAC is on which port?

Jim

P.S. BTW, what's the model # of the Netgear switch(es)?

 

[Smarty]

Hi,

A bit weird idea, but maybe instead of using those Netgear switches, use a
hub? That should eliminate any concerns that the hub is persisting
information about which client/IP/MAC is on which port?

Jim

P.S. BTW, what's the model # of the Netgear switch(es)?

Thanks Jim. I will try the hub idea. Weird or not, it may solve my
problem........
The Netgear switches here are model G5605 10/100/1000 Mbit/sec Gigabit 5
port switches.

 

[Smarty]

To have your router use a table of fixed IP addresses that its DHCP
server will assign to specific MAC addresses, it looks like you'll need
a new router (or some other host running a more capable DHCP server).

Assignment of IP address by MAC address was a handy feature in my old
D-Link router. I didn't have to do anything regarding TCP/IP changes on
my hosts but I could fix an IP address to specific hosts by my router's
DHCP server. When the D-Link died (which seems typical of them at the
3-year interval), I got a Linksys which was missing this IP-to-MAC
feature. This forced me to configure my hosts to static IP addresses
rather than always getting the same one from the router's DHCP server.
It was more convenient doing the IP mapping from the router.

I only got the Linksys because I needed an immediate replacement when
the D-Link died (it first went flaky regarding connectivity and then
eventually wouldn't permit any connections; it was a known heat bug with
that model). The Linksys was available in a retail store so I could
replace it in an hour. However, even if they had the better models of
Linksys, they still were missing the IP-to-MAC feature. Even the
low-end Netgear RP614 has their "Address Reservation" feature to assign
a specific IP address to a MAC address.

I am still committed to using this Linksys router, since it is the only
router I have found which is rock solid despite a lot of network and
wireless devices I use here. I presently have 25 nodes on this network, and
it does a great job except for this specific reboot issue I have been
posting here, not really a router flaw. I have been through a lot of other
stuff here including so-called MoCa routers for use with coax and FIOS,
specifically the Actiontec, along with Apple and D-Link models, so this
Linksys will stay a keeper... (until it dies)...

 

[ohaya]

Thanks Jim. I will try the hub idea. Weird or not, it may solve my
problem........
The Netgear switches here are model G5605 10/100/1000 Mbit/sec Gigabit 5
port switches.

Hi,

I'm assuming that you meant "GS605", rather than "G5605" ?

Jim

 

[ohaya]

Hi,

I'm assuming that you meant "GS605", rather than "G5605" ?

Jim

Hi,

Assuming that it is a "GS605", according to Netgear, that has a 4K "MAC
Database".

According to this (not a Netgear page):

http://www.tejasnetworks.com/technology/tech_packet_ernet-swit-macadd.shtml

it says:

"Every switch has a limitation to the number of MAC addresses that can
be stored in the table. A large MAC address table size ensures that the
node's MAC address tables don't get filled up during peak-traffic. There
is also a provision for aging of learned entries. At times, Ethernet
nodes (which are identified by their MAC addresses) can shift from one
port to another. In this case, aging is required to ensure that the MAC
address table reflects the current topology. The aging time is
configurable in accordance to 802.1d."

I'm guessing that unmanaged, consumer-grade switches like the GS605
assume that you just live with the built-in "aging", and that if you
want a switch that allows you to clear that MAC database/table, you'll
need to go to a managed switch (one that you can connect into and to
which you can issue commands).

If you're curious, you might try to check with Netgear support, or maybe
post on their forums:

http://forum1.netgear.com/

and MAYBE someone there can tell you what the aging algorithm or period
is. It looks like most consumer type stuff just says it supports aging,
but doesn't say what that is.

In any event, it doesn't look like there'd be any way to
programmatically clear the database, so you may be stuck with what
you're doing, powering the switch(es) off/on...

Jim

 

[Smarty]

I am using an older and very stable Linksys WRT54G router and have
DHCP
enabled for the clients. One of my router's current DHCP clients is a
video
server which gets a fresh IP address occasionally when the router or
video
server is re-booted.

This creates a problem, since the 8 video clients which connect to
this
video server have very limited ability to recover from changes to the
video
server IP address change. They are small embedded Hauppauge media
boxes
which cannot easily find the revised video server address, and have no
way
to easily reboot themselves from the video server.

I would like to fix the video server IP address to a static IP outside
the
range of the Linksys router DHCP server, but still in the same subnet
as
the
router. Specifically, I would like to put the video server at
192.168.1.150
as a static IP address, and only allow the DHCP server in the Linksys
to
serve addresses from 192.168.1.100 through 192.168.1.149.

This should allow my 8 video clients to ALWAYS see their video server
at
192.168.1.150 regardless of whether the router had to be re-booted or
the
video server had to be rebooted.

Is there any reason why I can't do this? I am specifically concerned
that
the Linksys will only route to those addresses it has dynamically
assigned
via DHCP, and will not route to those above that range.

Is this a legitimate concern?

In a word, No.

Many thanks in advance for guidance.

There may be another option that I haven't seen suggested in this
thread. You may find your router can be configured to give out the
same IP address always to your server. I use this with an XBOX (which
doesn't allow static IP addresses).

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]



I am somewhat familiar with a concept of "reservations" to reserve IP
addresses for specific devices, and see no way to do so with my present
Linksys. I was actually hoping to use this to fix my 8 client addresses
based on using their MAC addresses, but such is not an option in my
current
router. Thanks for replying.

Then a static IP address seems like the best way to go then.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

Yup, for the video server, which CAN be configured with a static IP, but
unfortunately no for the 8 clients which CANNOT.

Then I have misunderstood your question since I thought the change of
IP adresss of the server was the only problem.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

The real "problem" I've had Mark is that reboot of my router or video server
causes 8 clients to take a long time to rediscover and then boot from the
server. Switching the video server IP to static seems to help somewhat. The
discussion of other related issues such as MAC addresses and switch aging in
the port routing are further attempts to improve this even more. My clients
could be improved further if they allowed static IP settings also, but
unfortunately they don't.

 

[Smarty]

Hi,

Assuming that it is a "GS605", according to Netgear, that has a 4K "MAC
Database".

According to this (not a Netgear page):

http://www.tejasnetworks.com/technology/tech_packet_ernet-swit-macadd.shtml

it says:

"Every switch has a limitation to the number of MAC addresses that can be
stored in the table. A large MAC address table size ensures that the
node's MAC address tables don't get filled up during peak-traffic. There
is also a provision for aging of learned entries. At times, Ethernet nodes
(which are identified by their MAC addresses) can shift from one port to
another. In this case, aging is required to ensure that the MAC address
table reflects the current topology. The aging time is configurable in
accordance to 802.1d."

I'm guessing that unmanaged, consumer-grade switches like the GS605 assume
that you just live with the built-in "aging", and that if you want a
switch that allows you to clear that MAC database/table, you'll need to go
to a managed switch (one that you can connect into and to which you can
issue commands).

If you're curious, you might try to check with Netgear support, or maybe
post on their forums:

http://forum1.netgear.com/

and MAYBE someone there can tell you what the aging algorithm or period
is. It looks like most consumer type stuff just says it supports aging,
but doesn't say what that is.

In any event, it doesn't look like there'd be any way to programmatically
clear the database, so you may be stuck with what you're doing, powering
the switch(es) off/on...

Jim

Jim,

I have really learned a lot from your replies, and thank you for your kind
assistance. These Netgear switches (sorry for the typo in the model number)
are indeed cheap consumer switches, and I did not expect to find any way to
change their aging out process. The Netgears were on sale at Newegg and I
bought a bunch of them, but never expected that the specific port management
performance made any difference. In this case it appears to matter.

I have a better system now that I have the video server pinned to a fixed
IP. I can live with it the way it is, since I am not prepared to make any
big investments in a new router, managed switches, etc.

Thanks once again. Your explanations have been excellent.

 

[Smarty]

The issue (apparently) is that loss of power / reboot, using a dynamic IP
for the video server, can and often does result in a new video server IP
address being assigned when the router / video server come up. The 8
clients use BootP to upload a copy of their run-time (Linux) application
which contains the client GUI, mpeg2 decoder, etc. for playback. They
fail to find the boot server, now at a new address, and are (apparently)
not able to easily get themselves booted. I am hoping that a fixed IP
address for the video server, where the 8 clients get their boot server
uploads, will now be much less difficult and time consuming.

I raised the entire matter of MAC addresses only because each of the 8
clients has a clearly labeled and unique hard-coded MAC address which (if
I had a way to create a map / table in my video server) could route
'instantly' without the ambiguity of issuing new IP addresses for both
the video server and 8 clients every time a power glitch occurs. It is my
impression that 3 100BaseT Netgear switches I use in my network also have
some "memory" in their port multicasting logic / look up table which
"remembers" the prior IP addresses of the clients attached to them, and
thus becomes a temporary dead-end for packets being routed to the new
client IP addresses after DHCP assignments occur following reboot.
Unplugging the switches and plugging them in a minute or two later seems
to solve this problem, but there is a temporary period where the switches
don't seem to be forwarding properly during the BootP process. Thus I
brought up Mac addresses as an alternative way to perhaps avoid the DHCP
quagmire.

My apologies if the original post was incomplete, vague, or both. I am
going to try the recommended approach to fix the video server IP address
statically, now that I understand that the Linksys can route to the
entire range of addresses in the subnet, beyond the range I have defined
for automatic DHCP assignment. Perhaps this will be enough of a solution.

Many thanks again.

Hi,

Ahhh... Ok, that's better... thanks for the explanation of what you're
actually trying to do.

So, are you saying that "your" server (the one for which you were trying
to set a fixed IP address) is also acting as a BOOTP server?

I haven't worked with this kind of stuff for awhile (use to work with
PXE/TFTP booting, etc., but years ago!), but, according to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap_Protocol

"The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a more advanced
protocol for the same purpose and has superseded the use of BOOTP. Most
DHCP servers also offer BOOTP support."

Do you know whether or not whatever is acting as the DHCP server on your
network (I'm assuming that router) is also acting as a BOOTP server?

If it is, and if "your" server is also acting as a BOOTP server, maybe
that's part of your problem?

According to this:

http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/Networking/Bootp.pdf

the client sends a BOOTP_REQUEST using UDP, with a broadcast
(255.255.255.255) destination address.

[NOTE: If the clients are indeed sending the BOOTP_REQUESTs with UDP and a
broadcast address, then setting your server to a fixed IP address is
probably not what your problem is, since your server should see the
broadcast request regardless of its own IP address.]

So, if BOTH your router AND "your" server are acting as BOOTP servers,
maybe both of them are responding to the BOOTP_REQUEST?

It might be worthwhile to run a separate machine on the network, with a
sniffer (e.g., Wireshark) running, to see what is going on?

Jim

Jim,
I am very interested in your earlier comment about sniffers / Wireshark, and
wonder if you or others here may be aware of any very low cost or freeware
method to do some network analysis of traffic. I don't expect much given my
requirement to keep it cheap / low cost, but I would be curious to see what
tool or tools might be good for looking at traffic, not necessarily using a
dedicated / separate computer as the sniffer. Any thoughts would be much
appreciated.

 

[david]

Smarty wrote:

Thanks to all for replies.

I would very much like to fix the assignments to MAC addresses,
since each of my 8 video clients has a label with the Mac address
printed on it, and all 8 clients remain located in exactly the same
network locations regardless of when I reboot. The fact that they
are, in most cases, connected to switches fed from the router causes
additional confusion when the video server IP changes, since the
switches appear to "keep" old routing information for a while and
sometimes require rebooting also.

I have looked over my Linksys settings pretty carefully but have yet
to find a method to put hard-wired Mac addresses into this Linksys
router. I may switch to another router if I can be certain that it
supports this feature and also has the ability to route to a couple
dozen devices reliably.

Thanks again for the help!


I cannot understand why you want to do anything with the MAC
addresses. As I understand it your 8 video clients are just that
"clients". Your router does not need to know about the clients and
neither does the server. The server PC is the only one that needs a
fixed IP address so the clients can find it.

As long as the 8 clients are all DHCPing their IP settings (address,
mask, etc) it doesn't matter WHICH address they get from the DHCP
server. Every address in the DHCP range will work fine for every
client machine.

The rule of thumb is... server = fixed IP, client = DHCP.

Rarius



The issue (apparently) is that loss of power / reboot, using a dynamic
IP for the video server, can and often does result in a new video
server IP address being assigned when the router / video server come
up. The 8 clients use BootP to upload a copy of their run-time (Linux)
application which contains the client GUI, mpeg2 decoder, etc. for
playback. They fail to find the boot server, now at a new address, and
are (apparently) not able to easily get themselves booted. I am hoping
that a fixed IP address for the video server, where the 8 clients get
their boot server uploads, will now be much less difficult and time
consuming.

I raised the entire matter of MAC addresses only because each of the 8
clients has a clearly labeled and unique hard-coded MAC address which
(if I had a way to create a map / table in my video server) could
route 'instantly' without the ambiguity of issuing new IP addresses
for both the video server and 8 clients every time a power glitch
occurs. It is my impression that 3 100BaseT Netgear switches I use in
my network also have some "memory" in their port multicasting logic /
look up table which "remembers" the prior IP addresses of the clients
attached to them, and thus becomes a temporary dead-end for packets
being routed to the new client IP addresses after DHCP assignments
occur following reboot. Unplugging the switches and plugging them in a
minute or two later seems to solve this problem, but there is a
temporary period where the switches don't seem to be forwarding
properly during the BootP process. Thus I brought up Mac addresses as
an alternative way to perhaps avoid the DHCP quagmire.

My apologies if the original post was incomplete, vague, or both. I am
going to try the recommended approach to fix the video server IP
address statically, now that I understand that the Linksys can route
to the entire range of addresses in the subnet, beyond the range I
have defined for automatic DHCP assignment. Perhaps this will be
enough of a solution.

Many thanks again.

Hi,

Ahhh... Ok, that's better... thanks for the explanation of what you're
actually trying to do.

So, are you saying that "your" server (the one for which you were
trying to set a fixed IP address) is also acting as a BOOTP server?

I haven't worked with this kind of stuff for awhile (use to work with
PXE/TFTP booting, etc., but years ago!), but, according to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap_Protocol

"The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a more advanced
protocol for the same purpose and has superseded the use of BOOTP. Most
DHCP servers also offer BOOTP support."

Do you know whether or not whatever is acting as the DHCP server on
your network (I'm assuming that router) is also acting as a BOOTP
server?

If it is, and if "your" server is also acting as a BOOTP server, maybe
that's part of your problem?

According to this:

http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/Networking/Bootp.pdf

the client sends a BOOTP_REQUEST using UDP, with a broadcast
(255.255.255.255) destination address.

[NOTE: If the clients are indeed sending the BOOTP_REQUESTs with UDP
and a broadcast address, then setting your server to a fixed IP address
is probably not what your problem is, since your server should see the
broadcast request regardless of its own IP address.]

So, if BOTH your router AND "your" server are acting as BOOTP servers,
maybe both of them are responding to the BOOTP_REQUEST?

It might be worthwhile to run a separate machine on the network, with a
sniffer (e.g., Wireshark) running, to see what is going on?

Jim

Jim,
I am very interested in your earlier comment about sniffers / Wireshark,
and wonder if you or others here may be aware of any very low cost or
freeware method to do some network analysis of traffic. I don't expect
much given my requirement to keep it cheap / low cost, but I would be
curious to see what tool or tools might be good for looking at traffic,
not necessarily using a dedicated / separate computer as the sniffer.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

google --> wireshark

 

[ohaya]

Smarty wrote:



Smarty wrote:


Thanks to all for replies.

I would very much like to fix the assignments to MAC addresses,
since each of my 8 video clients has a label with the Mac address
printed on it, and all 8 clients remain located in exactly the same
network locations regardless of when I reboot. The fact that they
are, in most cases, connected to switches fed from the router causes
additional confusion when the video server IP changes, since the
switches appear to "keep" old routing information for a while and
sometimes require rebooting also.

I have looked over my Linksys settings pretty carefully but have yet
to find a method to put hard-wired Mac addresses into this Linksys
router. I may switch to another router if I can be certain that it
supports this feature and also has the ability to route to a couple
dozen devices reliably.

Thanks again for the help!


I cannot understand why you want to do anything with the MAC
addresses. As I understand it your 8 video clients are just that
"clients". Your router does not need to know about the clients and
neither does the server. The server PC is the only one that needs a
fixed IP address so the clients can find it.

As long as the 8 clients are all DHCPing their IP settings (address,
mask, etc) it doesn't matter WHICH address they get from the DHCP
server. Every address in the DHCP range will work fine for every
client machine.

The rule of thumb is... server = fixed IP, client = DHCP.

Rarius



The issue (apparently) is that loss of power / reboot, using a dynamic
IP for the video server, can and often does result in a new video
server IP address being assigned when the router / video server come
up. The 8 clients use BootP to upload a copy of their run-time (Linux)
application which contains the client GUI, mpeg2 decoder, etc. for
playback. They fail to find the boot server, now at a new address, and
are (apparently) not able to easily get themselves booted. I am hoping
that a fixed IP address for the video server, where the 8 clients get
their boot server uploads, will now be much less difficult and time
consuming.

I raised the entire matter of MAC addresses only because each of the 8
clients has a clearly labeled and unique hard-coded MAC address which
(if I had a way to create a map / table in my video server) could
route 'instantly' without the ambiguity of issuing new IP addresses
for both the video server and 8 clients every time a power glitch
occurs. It is my impression that 3 100BaseT Netgear switches I use in
my network also have some "memory" in their port multicasting logic /
look up table which "remembers" the prior IP addresses of the clients
attached to them, and thus becomes a temporary dead-end for packets
being routed to the new client IP addresses after DHCP assignments
occur following reboot. Unplugging the switches and plugging them in a
minute or two later seems to solve this problem, but there is a
temporary period where the switches don't seem to be forwarding
properly during the BootP process. Thus I brought up Mac addresses as
an alternative way to perhaps avoid the DHCP quagmire.

My apologies if the original post was incomplete, vague, or both. I am
going to try the recommended approach to fix the video server IP
address statically, now that I understand that the Linksys can route
to the entire range of addresses in the subnet, beyond the range I
have defined for automatic DHCP assignment. Perhaps this will be
enough of a solution.

Many thanks again.


Hi,

Ahhh... Ok, that's better... thanks for the explanation of what you're
actually trying to do.

So, are you saying that "your" server (the one for which you were
trying to set a fixed IP address) is also acting as a BOOTP server?

I haven't worked with this kind of stuff for awhile (use to work with
PXE/TFTP booting, etc., but years ago!), but, according to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap_Protocol

"The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a more advanced
protocol for the same purpose and has superseded the use of BOOTP. Most
DHCP servers also offer BOOTP support."

Do you know whether or not whatever is acting as the DHCP server on
your network (I'm assuming that router) is also acting as a BOOTP
server?

If it is, and if "your" server is also acting as a BOOTP server, maybe
that's part of your problem?

According to this:

http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/Networking/Bootp.pdf

the client sends a BOOTP_REQUEST using UDP, with a broadcast
(255.255.255.255) destination address.

[NOTE: If the clients are indeed sending the BOOTP_REQUESTs with UDP
and a broadcast address, then setting your server to a fixed IP address
is probably not what your problem is, since your server should see the
broadcast request regardless of its own IP address.]

So, if BOTH your router AND "your" server are acting as BOOTP servers,
maybe both of them are responding to the BOOTP_REQUEST?

It might be worthwhile to run a separate machine on the network, with a
sniffer (e.g., Wireshark) running, to see what is going on?

Jim

Jim,
I am very interested in your earlier comment about sniffers / Wireshark,
and wonder if you or others here may be aware of any very low cost or
freeware method to do some network analysis of traffic. I don't expect
much given my requirement to keep it cheap / low cost, but I would be
curious to see what tool or tools might be good for looking at traffic,
not necessarily using a dedicated / separate computer as the sniffer.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

google --> wireshark

Hi,

As david pointed out, Wireshark is free. I also occasionally use
Nirsoft SmartSniff:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/smsniff.html

which is also free, esp. when I don't want to, or can't install WinPcap
on a system.

Jim

 

[Smarty]

Smarty wrote:



Smarty wrote:


Thanks to all for replies.

I would very much like to fix the assignments to MAC addresses,
since each of my 8 video clients has a label with the Mac address
printed on it, and all 8 clients remain located in exactly the same
network locations regardless of when I reboot. The fact that they
are, in most cases, connected to switches fed from the router causes
additional confusion when the video server IP changes, since the
switches appear to "keep" old routing information for a while and
sometimes require rebooting also.

I have looked over my Linksys settings pretty carefully but have yet
to find a method to put hard-wired Mac addresses into this Linksys
router. I may switch to another router if I can be certain that it
supports this feature and also has the ability to route to a couple
dozen devices reliably.

Thanks again for the help!


I cannot understand why you want to do anything with the MAC
addresses. As I understand it your 8 video clients are just that
"clients". Your router does not need to know about the clients and
neither does the server. The server PC is the only one that needs a
fixed IP address so the clients can find it.

As long as the 8 clients are all DHCPing their IP settings (address,
mask, etc) it doesn't matter WHICH address they get from the DHCP
server. Every address in the DHCP range will work fine for every
client machine.

The rule of thumb is... server = fixed IP, client = DHCP.

Rarius



The issue (apparently) is that loss of power / reboot, using a dynamic
IP for the video server, can and often does result in a new video
server IP address being assigned when the router / video server come
up. The 8 clients use BootP to upload a copy of their run-time (Linux)
application which contains the client GUI, mpeg2 decoder, etc. for
playback. They fail to find the boot server, now at a new address, and
are (apparently) not able to easily get themselves booted. I am hoping
that a fixed IP address for the video server, where the 8 clients get
their boot server uploads, will now be much less difficult and time
consuming.

I raised the entire matter of MAC addresses only because each of the 8
clients has a clearly labeled and unique hard-coded MAC address which
(if I had a way to create a map / table in my video server) could
route 'instantly' without the ambiguity of issuing new IP addresses
for both the video server and 8 clients every time a power glitch
occurs. It is my impression that 3 100BaseT Netgear switches I use in
my network also have some "memory" in their port multicasting logic /
look up table which "remembers" the prior IP addresses of the clients
attached to them, and thus becomes a temporary dead-end for packets
being routed to the new client IP addresses after DHCP assignments
occur following reboot. Unplugging the switches and plugging them in a
minute or two later seems to solve this problem, but there is a
temporary period where the switches don't seem to be forwarding
properly during the BootP process. Thus I brought up Mac addresses as
an alternative way to perhaps avoid the DHCP quagmire.

My apologies if the original post was incomplete, vague, or both. I am
going to try the recommended approach to fix the video server IP
address statically, now that I understand that the Linksys can route
to the entire range of addresses in the subnet, beyond the range I
have defined for automatic DHCP assignment. Perhaps this will be
enough of a solution.

Many thanks again.


Hi,

Ahhh... Ok, that's better... thanks for the explanation of what you're
actually trying to do.

So, are you saying that "your" server (the one for which you were
trying to set a fixed IP address) is also acting as a BOOTP server?

I haven't worked with this kind of stuff for awhile (use to work with
PXE/TFTP booting, etc., but years ago!), but, according to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap_Protocol

"The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a more advanced
protocol for the same purpose and has superseded the use of BOOTP. Most
DHCP servers also offer BOOTP support."

Do you know whether or not whatever is acting as the DHCP server on
your network (I'm assuming that router) is also acting as a BOOTP
server?

If it is, and if "your" server is also acting as a BOOTP server, maybe
that's part of your problem?

According to this:

http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/Networking/Bootp.pdf

the client sends a BOOTP_REQUEST using UDP, with a broadcast
(255.255.255.255) destination address.

[NOTE: If the clients are indeed sending the BOOTP_REQUESTs with UDP
and a broadcast address, then setting your server to a fixed IP address
is probably not what your problem is, since your server should see the
broadcast request regardless of its own IP address.]

So, if BOTH your router AND "your" server are acting as BOOTP servers,
maybe both of them are responding to the BOOTP_REQUEST?

It might be worthwhile to run a separate machine on the network, with a
sniffer (e.g., Wireshark) running, to see what is going on?

Jim



Jim,
I am very interested in your earlier comment about sniffers / Wireshark,
and wonder if you or others here may be aware of any very low cost or
freeware method to do some network analysis of traffic. I don't expect
much given my requirement to keep it cheap / low cost, but I would be
curious to see what tool or tools might be good for looking at traffic,
not necessarily using a dedicated / separate computer as the sniffer.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

google --> wireshark

Hi,

As david pointed out, Wireshark is free. I also occasionally use Nirsoft
SmartSniff:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/smsniff.html

which is also free, esp. when I don't want to, or can't install WinPcap on
a system.

Jim

Thanks to you and David for replies. I previously went to Google and found a
misleading website offering Wireshark on a trial basis for free, and then
offering a $499 purchase price. Had I done more investigating, as I did
tonight, I would have realized that Wireshark is what Ethereal is now
renamed, and that it is open source and free. I have used Ethereal a few
years ago, and had forgotten about it as a suitable tool for this type of
use. I'm going to have to play around with it again and see how it works.

Again, thank you!

 

[Smarty]

david wrote:

Smarty wrote:



Smarty wrote:


Thanks to all for replies.

I would very much like to fix the assignments to MAC addresses,
since each of my 8 video clients has a label with the Mac address
printed on it, and all 8 clients remain located in exactly the same
network locations regardless of when I reboot. The fact that they
are, in most cases, connected to switches fed from the router
causes
additional confusion when the video server IP changes, since the
switches appear to "keep" old routing information for a while and
sometimes require rebooting also.

I have looked over my Linksys settings pretty carefully but have
yet
to find a method to put hard-wired Mac addresses into this Linksys
router. I may switch to another router if I can be certain that it
supports this feature and also has the ability to route to a couple
dozen devices reliably.

Thanks again for the help!


I cannot understand why you want to do anything with the MAC
addresses. As I understand it your 8 video clients are just that
"clients". Your router does not need to know about the clients and
neither does the server. The server PC is the only one that needs a
fixed IP address so the clients can find it.

As long as the 8 clients are all DHCPing their IP settings (address,
mask, etc) it doesn't matter WHICH address they get from the DHCP
server. Every address in the DHCP range will work fine for every
client machine.

The rule of thumb is... server = fixed IP, client = DHCP.

Rarius



The issue (apparently) is that loss of power / reboot, using a
dynamic
IP for the video server, can and often does result in a new video
server IP address being assigned when the router / video server come
up. The 8 clients use BootP to upload a copy of their run-time
(Linux)
application which contains the client GUI, mpeg2 decoder, etc. for
playback. They fail to find the boot server, now at a new address,
and
are (apparently) not able to easily get themselves booted. I am
hoping
that a fixed IP address for the video server, where the 8 clients get
their boot server uploads, will now be much less difficult and time
consuming.

I raised the entire matter of MAC addresses only because each of the
8
clients has a clearly labeled and unique hard-coded MAC address which
(if I had a way to create a map / table in my video server) could
route 'instantly' without the ambiguity of issuing new IP addresses
for both the video server and 8 clients every time a power glitch
occurs. It is my impression that 3 100BaseT Netgear switches I use in
my network also have some "memory" in their port multicasting logic /
look up table which "remembers" the prior IP addresses of the clients
attached to them, and thus becomes a temporary dead-end for packets
being routed to the new client IP addresses after DHCP assignments
occur following reboot. Unplugging the switches and plugging them in
a
minute or two later seems to solve this problem, but there is a
temporary period where the switches don't seem to be forwarding
properly during the BootP process. Thus I brought up Mac addresses as
an alternative way to perhaps avoid the DHCP quagmire.

My apologies if the original post was incomplete, vague, or both. I
am
going to try the recommended approach to fix the video server IP
address statically, now that I understand that the Linksys can route
to the entire range of addresses in the subnet, beyond the range I
have defined for automatic DHCP assignment. Perhaps this will be
enough of a solution.

Many thanks again.


Hi,

Ahhh... Ok, that's better... thanks for the explanation of what
you're
actually trying to do.

So, are you saying that "your" server (the one for which you were
trying to set a fixed IP address) is also acting as a BOOTP server?

I haven't worked with this kind of stuff for awhile (use to work with
PXE/TFTP booting, etc., but years ago!), but, according to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap_Protocol

"The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a more advanced
protocol for the same purpose and has superseded the use of BOOTP.
Most
DHCP servers also offer BOOTP support."

Do you know whether or not whatever is acting as the DHCP server on
your network (I'm assuming that router) is also acting as a BOOTP
server?

If it is, and if "your" server is also acting as a BOOTP server, maybe
that's part of your problem?

According to this:

http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/Networking/Bootp.pdf

the client sends a BOOTP_REQUEST using UDP, with a broadcast
(255.255.255.255) destination address.

[NOTE: If the clients are indeed sending the BOOTP_REQUESTs with UDP
and a broadcast address, then setting your server to a fixed IP
address
is probably not what your problem is, since your server should see the
broadcast request regardless of its own IP address.]

So, if BOTH your router AND "your" server are acting as BOOTP servers,
maybe both of them are responding to the BOOTP_REQUEST?

It might be worthwhile to run a separate machine on the network, with
a
sniffer (e.g., Wireshark) running, to see what is going on?

Jim



Jim,
I am very interested in your earlier comment about sniffers /
Wireshark,
and wonder if you or others here may be aware of any very low cost or
freeware method to do some network analysis of traffic. I don't expect
much given my requirement to keep it cheap / low cost, but I would be
curious to see what tool or tools might be good for looking at traffic,
not necessarily using a dedicated / separate computer as the sniffer.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.


google --> wireshark


Hi,

As david pointed out, Wireshark is free. I also occasionally use
Nirsoft
SmartSniff:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/smsniff.html

which is also free, esp. when I don't want to, or can't install WinPcap
on
a system.

Jim

Thanks to you and David for replies. I previously went to Google and found
a
misleading website offering Wireshark on a trial basis for free, and then
offering a $499 purchase price. Had I done more investigating, as I did
tonight, I would have realized that Wireshark is what Ethereal is now
renamed, and that it is open source and free. I have used Ethereal a few
years ago, and had forgotten about it as a suitable tool for this type of
use. I'm going to have to play around with it again and see how it works.

If you install Wireshark on a different PC and you still use a switch
then you won't see most of the traffic because the switch will be only
sending packets to their destination.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

Excellent point and thanks for the warning!

 

[Smarty]

If you are using an IP address outside the assigned DHCP pool you might
want to try a hard reset of the router and check the pool addresses that
are set up on reset.

This is to get around a potential issue someday if you have set the
outside address to a vacant space you made available manually. If your
router hangs and you end up a hard reset you may then have a conflict.

Thanks for pointing this out, and it was a potential conflict I had not
thought of.

 

[ohaya]

david wrote:

On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:16:31 -0400, Smarty rearranged some
electrons to
say:




Smarty wrote:



Smarty wrote:


Thanks to all for replies.

I would very much like to fix the assignments to MAC addresses,
since each of my 8 video clients has a label with the Mac address
printed on it, and all 8 clients remain located in exactly the
same
network locations regardless of when I reboot. The fact that they
are, in most cases, connected to switches fed from the router
causes
additional confusion when the video server IP changes, since the
switches appear to "keep" old routing information for a while and
sometimes require rebooting also.

I have looked over my Linksys settings pretty carefully but
have yet
to find a method to put hard-wired Mac addresses into this
Linksys
router. I may switch to another router if I can be certain
that it
supports this feature and also has the ability to route to a
couple
dozen devices reliably.

Thanks again for the help!



I cannot understand why you want to do anything with the MAC
addresses. As I understand it your 8 video clients are just that
"clients". Your router does not need to know about the clients and
neither does the server. The server PC is the only one that
needs a
fixed IP address so the clients can find it.

As long as the 8 clients are all DHCPing their IP settings
(address,
mask, etc) it doesn't matter WHICH address they get from the DHCP
server. Every address in the DHCP range will work fine for every
client machine.

The rule of thumb is... server = fixed IP, client = DHCP.

Rarius




The issue (apparently) is that loss of power / reboot, using a
dynamic
IP for the video server, can and often does result in a new video
server IP address being assigned when the router / video server
come
up. The 8 clients use BootP to upload a copy of their run-time
(Linux)
application which contains the client GUI, mpeg2 decoder, etc. for
playback. They fail to find the boot server, now at a new
address, and
are (apparently) not able to easily get themselves booted. I am
hoping
that a fixed IP address for the video server, where the 8
clients get
their boot server uploads, will now be much less difficult and time
consuming.

I raised the entire matter of MAC addresses only because each of
the 8
clients has a clearly labeled and unique hard-coded MAC address
which
(if I had a way to create a map / table in my video server) could
route 'instantly' without the ambiguity of issuing new IP addresses
for both the video server and 8 clients every time a power glitch
occurs. It is my impression that 3 100BaseT Netgear switches I
use in
my network also have some "memory" in their port multicasting
logic /
look up table which "remembers" the prior IP addresses of the
clients
attached to them, and thus becomes a temporary dead-end for packets
being routed to the new client IP addresses after DHCP assignments
occur following reboot. Unplugging the switches and plugging
them in a
minute or two later seems to solve this problem, but there is a
temporary period where the switches don't seem to be forwarding
properly during the BootP process. Thus I brought up Mac
addresses as
an alternative way to perhaps avoid the DHCP quagmire.

My apologies if the original post was incomplete, vague, or
both. I am
going to try the recommended approach to fix the video server IP
address statically, now that I understand that the Linksys can
route
to the entire range of addresses in the subnet, beyond the range I
have defined for automatic DHCP assignment. Perhaps this will be
enough of a solution.

Many thanks again.



Hi,

Ahhh... Ok, that's better... thanks for the explanation of what
you're
actually trying to do.

So, are you saying that "your" server (the one for which you were
trying to set a fixed IP address) is also acting as a BOOTP server?

I haven't worked with this kind of stuff for awhile (use to work
with
PXE/TFTP booting, etc., but years ago!), but, according to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap_Protocol

"The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a more advanced
protocol for the same purpose and has superseded the use of
BOOTP. Most
DHCP servers also offer BOOTP support."

Do you know whether or not whatever is acting as the DHCP server on
your network (I'm assuming that router) is also acting as a BOOTP
server?

If it is, and if "your" server is also acting as a BOOTP server,
maybe
that's part of your problem?

According to this:

http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/Networking/Bootp.pdf

the client sends a BOOTP_REQUEST using UDP, with a broadcast
(255.255.255.255) destination address.

[NOTE: If the clients are indeed sending the BOOTP_REQUESTs with UDP
and a broadcast address, then setting your server to a fixed IP
address
is probably not what your problem is, since your server should
see the
broadcast request regardless of its own IP address.]

So, if BOTH your router AND "your" server are acting as BOOTP
servers,
maybe both of them are responding to the BOOTP_REQUEST?

It might be worthwhile to run a separate machine on the network,
with a
sniffer (e.g., Wireshark) running, to see what is going on?

Jim



Jim,
I am very interested in your earlier comment about sniffers /
Wireshark,
and wonder if you or others here may be aware of any very low cost or
freeware method to do some network analysis of traffic. I don't
expect
much given my requirement to keep it cheap / low cost, but I would be
curious to see what tool or tools might be good for looking at
traffic,
not necessarily using a dedicated / separate computer as the sniffer.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.



google --> wireshark



Hi,

As david pointed out, Wireshark is free. I also occasionally use
Nirsoft
SmartSniff:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/smsniff.html

which is also free, esp. when I don't want to, or can't install
WinPcap on
a system.

Jim


Thanks to you and David for replies. I previously went to Google and
found a
misleading website offering Wireshark on a trial basis for free, and
then
offering a $499 purchase price. Had I done more investigating, as I did
tonight, I would have realized that Wireshark is what Ethereal is now
renamed, and that it is open source and free. I have used Ethereal a few
years ago, and had forgotten about it as a suitable tool for this
type of
use. I'm going to have to play around with it again and see how it
works.

If you install Wireshark on a different PC and you still use a switch
then you won't see most of the traffic because the switch will be only
sending packets to their destination.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

Excellent point and thanks for the warning!

But you would see it if you were using a hub, instead of a switch ...

Jim

 

[tanstafl]

I am using an older and very stable Linksys WRT54G router and have DHCP
enabled for the clients. One of my router's current DHCP clients is a
video
server which gets a fresh IP address occasionally when the router or video
server is re-booted.

This creates a problem, since the 8 video clients which connect to this
video server have very limited ability to recover from changes to the
video
server IP address change. They are small embedded Hauppauge media boxes
which cannot easily find the revised video server address, and have no way
to easily reboot themselves from the video server.

I would like to fix the video server IP address to a static IP outside the
range of the Linksys router DHCP server, but still in the same subnet as
the
router. Specifically, I would like to put the video server at
192.168.1.150
as a static IP address, and only allow the DHCP server in the Linksys to
serve addresses from 192.168.1.100 through 192.168.1.149.

This should allow my 8 video clients to ALWAYS see their video server at
192.168.1.150 regardless of whether the router had to be re-booted or the
video server had to be rebooted.

Is there any reason why I can't do this? I am specifically concerned that
the Linksys will only route to those addresses it has dynamically assigned
via DHCP, and will not route to those above that range.

Is this a legitimate concern?

In a word, No.

Many thanks in advance for guidance.

There may be another option that I haven't seen suggested in this
thread. You may find your router can be configured to give out the
same IP address always to your server. I use this with an XBOX (which
doesn't allow static IP addresses).

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

I am somewhat familiar with a concept of "reservations" to reserve IP
addresses for specific devices, and see no way to do so with my present
Linksys. I was actually hoping to use this to fix my 8 client addresses
based on using their MAC addresses, but such is not an option in my current
router. Thanks for replying.

Yet another topology that hasn't been suggested is using a 2nd Gbe NIC
on the video server to establish a dedicated video LAN. The video
server platform you're using wasn't mentioned, but many non-basic mob
os come with dual NIBs - if not, a PCI/PCIe Gbe card is not expensive.

You would then configure a DHCP Server function to give you absolute
control of IP assignments without regard to conflicts or concerns
about routers and other hosts on your primary LAN. You already have
the BOOTP function on your server. You would then have a hard coded
single IP/MAC pair for video data, DHCP and BOOTP to simplify life for
your video clients. Then install your sniffer code of choice - my
favorite is CompLied by Taxonomy.

A couple side benefits is removing the video traffic from your primary
LAN, and simplifying traffic analysis if you ever need to debug video
LAN events.

 

[tanstafl]

I am using an older and very stable Linksys WRT54G router and have DHCP
enabled for the clients. One of my router's current DHCP clients is a
video
server which gets a fresh IP address occasionally when the router or video
server is re-booted.

This creates a problem, since the 8 video clients which connect to this
video server have very limited ability to recover from changes to the
video
server IP address change. They are small embedded Hauppauge media boxes
which cannot easily find the revised video server address, and have no way
to easily reboot themselves from the video server.

I would like to fix the video server IP address to a static IP outside the
range of the Linksys router DHCP server, but still in the same subnet as
the
router. Specifically, I would like to put the video server at
192.168.1.150
as a static IP address, and only allow the DHCP server in the Linksys to
serve addresses from 192.168.1.100 through 192.168.1.149.

This should allow my 8 video clients to ALWAYS see their video server at
192.168.1.150 regardless of whether the router had to be re-booted or the
video server had to be rebooted.

Is there any reason why I can't do this? I am specifically concerned that
the Linksys will only route to those addresses it has dynamically assigned
via DHCP, and will not route to those above that range.

Is this a legitimate concern?

In a word, No.

Many thanks in advance for guidance.

There may be another option that I haven't seen suggested in this
thread. You may find your router can be configured to give out the
same IP address always to your server. I use this with an XBOX (which
doesn't allow static IP addresses).

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

I am somewhat familiar with a concept of "reservations" to reserve IP
addresses for specific devices, and see no way to do so with my present
Linksys. I was actually hoping to use this to fix my 8 client addresses
based on using their MAC addresses, but such is not an option in my current
router. Thanks for replying.

Yet another topology that hasn't been suggested is using a 2nd Gbe NIC
on the video server to establish a dedicated video LAN. The video
server platform you're using wasn't mentioned, but many non-basic mobos
come with dual NIBs - if not, a PCI/PCIe Gbe card is not expensive.

You would then configure a DHCP Server function to give you absolute
control of IP assignments without regard to conflicts or concerns
about routers and other hosts on your primary LAN. You already have
the BOOTP function on your server. You would then have a hard coded
single IP/MAC pair for video data, DHCP and BOOTP to simplify life for
your video clients. Then install your sniffer code of choice - my
favorite is CompLied by Taxonomy.

WOW! I have no idea how the above got changed - I don't believe I've
ever typed "taxonomy" in my life try it again "commview by
tamosoft"