Hub Two DHCP address reservation.

[#1]

Hello All,

I have just spent a frustrating half an hour trying to manage DHCP reserved address for a scanner, voip adapter, NAS and a wireless access point . Setting the scope and reserving addresses was easy on the hub zero. On every router or AP with DHCP I have ever used, address reservation is an "opt in". On H2, the properties on each device show that the switch for using re-using the adress is already ON and even of you switch it off and wait for a new lease (I set it to one hour) the DHCP table does not flush and the device resumes on the previous address. Also , I am uied to cutting and pasting the address and MAC in before the device is connected so we start out with the correct address. Trying to edit the address, disconnecting the device and reconnecting does not deam to help, even though the interface says the new savings are saved. I have done a hardware reset and no improvement. I now gone back to doing DHCP on my cheapy tp-link AP, which is much simpler and works. It doesn't show you icons or have field for the device name but it does work!

The inability to force new leases without rebooting or flush the DHCP table or edit the address (editing the name and icon works, just not the data I actually want to change, ie address or MAC) doesn't seem right.

Anyone else had a similar problem?

ATL.

[#2]

I'd need to play around with a Hub Two to get a feel for what you're describing but ignoring that for a second, is there any reason you aren't setting the local IP explicitly on the ATA, NAS and wireless access point themselves? I'm fairly certain this should be possible and is a much 'cleaner' way of doing things IMO. Not sure if you'll be able to do this on the scanner mind you.

In fact, I was under the impression that the DHCP toggle defaulting to 'on' was typically seen where something like this had been done in the first place.

[#3]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. I'm not with you on it being cleaner to go round the devices. The router is a nice central place and it was not a problem on either my cheapy TP or the "expert_user" or whatver it was on the Hub zero. There is also no chance of clashing addresses. It seems to me that if its there, I would like it to work predictably. However I may be doing something wrong, but I am not sure what.

I may have found a problem that you may want to check out. Most TP link stuff puts the router/gateway LAN  address at 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. This is below the default scope on the H2 which is I think 192.168.1.64 - 253, If I set the lan address to 192.168.1.1 then the browser interface becomes unreliable. I tried a few addresses in the 192.168.1-10 range. The only device connected was a laptop at 192.168.1.64 over ethernet. When I put it back to 192.168.1.254 it all worked again. It not a biggy but if the option is there, it should work 😉. How are bug/enhancements handled for these? I guess from your answer that hub two quite a new product. I once had a contract with shell broadband who sent me one of the standy-uppy technicolour routers. Terrible wifi (hence the AP) but otherwise a cinch to set up.

cheers

ATL

[#4]

If you're fiddling with DHCP, reservations and the LAN address of the router itself then there's potential for all sorts of oddities whilst leases are renewed etc. Making changes to any of these things rarely sees the immediate change you might be expecting. After any change of this nature, I would recommend both the router and all of the connected clients are rebooted in sequence.

Setting IP's/gateways etc. on the devices themselves completely removes DHCP from the equation so you have one less point of failure. I have multiple devices on my network assigned static local IP's this way and I have zero issue when the Hub Two is in use.

The hub is not going to assign an IP over DHCP that matches one of an already connected client. If that does concern you, the DHCP pool can be modified to omit the IP's that you're assigning on the devices.

What do you mean by 'the browser interface becomes unreliable'? I will change the LAN address of my Hub Two the next time it's on the network (I have another hub in situ at the moment), however I've a feeling I'm going to struggle to replicate the problems you're describing (changing LAN address was tested pre-launch).

[#5]

@adthelad 

take a look at this thread 

I found the Hub two DHCP not that easy to use, so I gave up.

Put the Hub Two in 'bridge mode' and now using a TP-Link router which has more features and a straight forward GUI (in my opinion)

Dan. 

[#6]

Bob,

I have been rebooting everything between changes. Not disconnecting, actual reboots. They just reconnect at their previous addresses with "keep this" address defaulted to ON even where they had prevously been switched off. The revised addreses manually inputted didn't "take", the prevous address was still being used. Using DHCP reservation is a matter of personal choice. Given that this seems to be the default mode of the router someone else seems to think this is an OK choice too. If you want some addresses reserved and others not, then I seem to be having a problem. If the DHCP can't handle a few devices when older and cheaper kit can then that's a problem. How do does plusnet dish out addreses to subscribers? That's DHCP I think. How to they do it with people who have bought a fixed IP addy? Reserved DHCP. It's a mature technology.  I have never had this kind of problem with a home router before. I have never seen a domestic router that defaults to reservation for scope addresses. The whole point of DHCP is that devices do not hog addresses. Furthermore, this is the first home router I have seen that offers the option of making the DHCP server authorative or peer. Someone thought about that and offered it for a reason.

With respect to the web interface and the lan address, if you cant reproduce it then you can't. It happens and its not the end of the world. I may be wrong about all this but I would appreciate a look.

Cheers.

ATL. Former MSCE for Windows NT4 Advanced Server in about 1998. And I look it.

[#7]

As mentioned, I'll look to replicate the next time I'm able, your observation doesn't seem to match those of others in the thread @Dan_the_Van linked to though?

Don't get me wrong, if there's an inherent bug then I will endeavour to have it fixed.

Assuming that to be the case though, it's not going to be 'quick' so the option remains to handle IP assignment on the devices themselves if it's causing you significant inconvenience.

Assuming you're talking about the assignment of a broadband subsciber's IP, then no - we do not use DHCP. IP's are assigned as part of the PPPoE negotiation.

[#8]

No worries about the time scale. I'ts all working and thats the main thing. 😊 £15 TP-Link TL-WR841N to the rescue. repeater/Bridge/AP and router mode. I think it would struggle as a router but for £15 the wifi is rather good. Walls too thick for 5Ghz here so haven't bothered.

I bet you have your work cut out with the likes of me. Thanks @Dan_the_Van. He suggested that H2 DHCP IS dfficult to configure and I could put the Hub Two in bridge mode (good feature) and use another router set up for PPPoE. Some people like the auto-reservation feature. I would like to be able to choose and for what's there to work as I have seen it elsewhere many times

I stand corrected about PPPoE 🤣.

Cheers,

ATL