Static IP address Linksys Wireless Router.

There is nothing wrong with Static IPs. You need them for certain machines, such as email servers or web servers as you can't have their IPs changing.

The problem your friend is talking about is dealing with work stations. He is talking more about the difference between BIND/DNS and using a hosts file. Both methods are ways to convert names to IP addresses.

BIND/DNS servers keep names and their corresponding addresses on one machine. When you are trying to connect to a machine by name, your machine will typically go to one of the DNS servers you have defined in your network configuration to get the IP address.

Hosts files are kept on each machine and the entries look like:
[code:1]127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.122.8 steg
192.168.122.9 pteradon
192.168.122.5 satellite
192.168.122.6 t-rex
192.168.122.11 allosaurus
[/code:1]

The problem your friend is talking about is this. If you have 100 machines and you add one, then you need to add that machines name and address in each of the 100 hosts files on each machine. Next time it will be 101.

On this site the discussion on DNS and BIND are at Networking/Protocols/DNS or starting at this address: www.firewall.cx/dns-intro.php

BIND stands for Berkeley Internet Name Domain.. its a DNS server.. actually the DNS server used on the net.. I don't know why your friend told you to learn to use BIND.. but yeah you might want to know how DNS works if you're interested in networking. (the link tfs gave you will tell you everythign you need to know).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with static IP addresses. The only hassle is administrative.. as I had said earlier, if you have 500 workstations you don't want to have to manually give them all IP addresses. Since you said that you have 2-4 machines, its very easy to handle statically rather than using DHCP. You don't even need a DNS server if you want names for the internal machines, just add them to this file

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Heres what mine looks like
[code:1]
# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
63.247.78.186 www.firewall.cx
[/code:1]

I had added firewall.cx's IP when the site moved hosting providers so I didn't have to wait until the DNS servers updated with the new address.

Cheers,

Yeah but say you'd want to run an internet site off of one of these, ( www.somethingerother.com ) then you'd need to know about that right?

If you want to run an internet site of one of your address, you would need to first register the name and address ( www.somethingerother.com and 66.35.24.10 - can't be a private address). This address cannot change or you will need to re-register the address and wait for all the public DNS servers to propagate down. You would not need your own DNS server for a small system like this - but you still need the public DNS servers to know your address, if you want anyone to reach your site (unless you plan on having them input the address themselves - and that would not be fun).

You can still use the private address inside your firewall (you do have one I assume - especially if you are going to let people into your HOME). You could then port forward the web traffic to the correct server.

If you were just running your own small site, you wouldn't need to bother with the DNS, if you're providing hosting services its a different matter.

In other words .. what tom said above.. I'm just trying to rack up more posts

Linux users

The below information is for how to specify and adjust your network settings through the command prompt. Changing your network settings will require root access.

1. Get to the command prompt.
2. Move to the /etc/sysconfig/network directory.
3. Edit the interfaces file and adjust your network settings in this file.


Microsoft Windows users

To change or specify the IP address of your computer for your own local area network (LAN), follow the below steps. Keep in mind that if you're connecting to the Internet with a broadband connection, adjusting your network settings may cause issues with your broadband connection. Finally, if your home network is setup through a network router, that router could be assigning your computer dynamic IP addresses, and specifying a static IP address may cause issues.

1. Get to the Microsoft Windows desktop.
2. Right-click on My Network Places or Network Neighborhood and click Properties.
3. Right-click on Local Area Connection and click Properties.
4. Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties. If this is not present, you'll need to install this protocol.
5. In the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window, select "Use the following IP address" if not already selected and specify the new IP address you wish to use. While entering this data you'll also need to specify the subnet mask and default gateway.
And you can chk your own ip address from www.ip-details.com/