Today we cannot imagine our lives without the internet. It provides limitless space and information giving us access to infinite possibilities and absolutely no charge.
The internet enables us to do things like online shopping, downloading files, interactive games, and communicating with our friends and family who might live in a different part of the world.
It is open twenty-four hours a day and can provide us almost everything we want. It uses internet protocol (TCP/IP) to communicate with other devices.
Wireless LAN
One of the various sources that help us connect to the internet is Wi-Fi, a wireless LAN. It provides a wireless connectivity of up to 20 meters.
Wi-Fi is joining us to the internet of things like a fan or bulbs or for home security. Since Wi-Fi is wireless, we can have a seamless connection without cables’ help by using routers and adapters.
To connect to a Wi-Fi, we need to choose the network that we want to connect to and then enter the security key, called password.
After connecting to a Wi-Fi, we are given an IP address to access the internet or any other services. IP addresses are provided to locate computers on a network.
They are used to direct the internet in the form of packets to their destination.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
Nowadays, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) comes with almost all Wi-Fi routers and is used by most devices.
It helps us in the management and configuring IP addresses across a network automatically, so the IP addresses don’t need to be manually assigned by the network administrator.
Thus it makes the whole process very smooth and saves a lot of time. Hence, DHCP is beneficial.
It also helps manage the network and other TCP/IP settings like domain name server (DNS), Default Gateway address, the subnet mask, etc.
In the absence of a DHCP server, we will have to manually assign IP addresses, leading to a severe problem if an IP address that is already assigned to another device is used again on the same network.
It applies only to local devices or to a limited number of devices under a small system.
Sometimes we need to assign the same IP address to a device because devices communicate with each other with IP addresses.
If it keeps on changing, it will be tough to locate the device, and we will have to locate the IP address after some time to create a connection.
For example, if we want to connect to a wireless keyboard or a speaker to our computer, then the computer needs the device’s IP address, and if it keeps on changing, it will not be able to connect to that device.
Reserving An IP Address
Also, if the IP address keeps changing from time to time, we might require to start things from scratch or lead to connection issues. Reserving an IP address to our Wi-Fi network helps us to manage and control the network.
For example, we can limit the bandwidth of specific IP addresses or deny Wi-Fi access to certain devices.
DHCP is a “must have” service because using DHCP helps us manage clients by assigning, tracking, and re-assigning IP addresses. It gives us more control over the network.
Steps to Reserve IP Address
The steps involved in changing the IP address may be different depending upon the router being used. We have to connect the Ethernet cable to our device. To reserve IP addresses for our devices to a network:
- We have to open the router control panel.
- We have to obtain the MAC or physical address of the device to reserve an IP address. It can be obtained from the DHCP client list.
There are other ways to obtain an IP address, depending on our routers. If your ISP is providing the router, we can contact them to get the username and password.
The sticker underneath the router or the user manual might also have the router’s default IP address, username, and password.
A few tables appear, and the first table displays the wired and wireless devices recognized by the router with their MAC addresses and the physical addresses and the mode of connectivity of all the tools.
- Now since we have obtained the MAC address, we have to set up a DHCP reservation.
- We open the ‘IP & MAC Binding’ and click on add new to write the MAC address that we saw earlier.
- The method might vary because people are using different types of routers. After entering the MAC address, we select the IP address that we want to assign.
- We have to make sure that the address being selected is within the range.
- We can also personalize the device name and also assign specific IP addresses for all the devices.
- In the end, we save the changes we have made and repeat the process by adding more tools for all the other devices. We may need to disconnect a device and then reconnect it from our Wi-Fi network to re-assign the IP address.
Conclusion
There might be some confusion because of the different routers being used, but it can be resolved quickly. You can start out by trying popular IP addresses like 192.168.1.100.
This is how you reserve an IP address for a device on your Wi-Fi network.
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