I need help with my network?

Question

I have roughly 40 computers at my work. I use a linksys router and I manually assign each computer an ip .106, .107,.108, etc. All the way to .140. I do this to avoid ip conflicts and to know which computer is what. However I have 3 laptops i need to hard code the ip to like I do on the desktops but I figure i cant put the ip info on the network adapter because we use them at home aswell. Is there anyway to hard code specific ips for those laptops or restrict ips in the router to keep the laptops from getting an ip of a computer that might be off at that time?

Answer 1

This sounds like the Forrest Gump of networks.

Have you heard of Dynamically assigned IP address? Then the server will keep track of it. You can also configure your routers to dynamically assign IP address. They Use NAT. Windows 2003 is also compatible with NAT-t (NAT Transversal) meaning that NAT assigned IP address can be forwarded through a router. And you can use VPN for your remote access. Do you have a server on your LAN? Are you on a domain? Do you have DHCP? I can't believe that a business would run like this.

I suggest a networking consultant or a couple books.

Cheers

Answer 2

Yes, make them get automatically DHCP and you can use whatever you go.

Answer 3

My Linksys router allows me to set 3 DHCP address and set the range for static IP addresses starting from 100 to 150. You can leave the connection as DHCP on the laptops and only three devices will be able to get an IP addrerss.

I hope that makes sense.

Good Luck

Answer 4

Unless you have a DHCP server on your network, they won't get an ip address that isn't statically assigned (apart from the default one windows assigns if it can't get an address).  If they are then you have an active DHCP server somewhere.  You can find the IP address of this by typing

ipconfig /all

What I would do, personally, is to find this (or set up a DHCP server) and set up a limited scope (maybe 5 ip addresses) to cater for the laptops.

As an alternative, depending on what OS you have on them and whether they use wireless, you may be able to set up multiple networks, each with their own ip setup.