Using Windows XP, I want to be able to configure my wireless TCP/IP settings for different locations. One location uses a specified static IP address, the other obtains an IP address automatically.
The problem I'm having, is that every time I connect to the IP where I use a static network (no DHCP server running), I have to re-enter the IP addy, DNS servers, etc.
Is there any way to configure XP (or perhaps 3rd-party software) to establish multiple settings I can easily switch between whenever I connect to one network or another?
've been using it since the stone age to configure my laptops for each of my customers networks and location. I think I have about 30 locations established. It's not just the IP's that need to change but the protocols, mail servers and configured printers. Netswitcher does them all. $20/license.
XP lets you set one alternate, look on the tab labelled "alternate configuration". You can set one static address there to be used in the absence of a DHCP assigned address.
Hmmmm... I was racking my brain about this one: I didn't have an alternate configuration tab, but I did some more research, and it turns out that you have to have the "obtain IP automatically" radio button selected in order for it to show up. When configured for a static IP-- which I use most often -- the tab disappears.
So in other words, the static IP has to be the alternate version - not the other way around. Goofy.
Perhaps I'll give netswitcher a try, though. Thanks for your help.
Not goofy, the first sensible option is to try DHCP such that if every location offers a DHCP assigned address then that's what you get.
If on the other hand there's no DHCP server, you then fall back to an APIPA address 169.254.y.z unless you have configured the alternate static address.
A static IP address is precisely that, if you tried to configure that first, that's always going to be valid so what could you then fall back to and more specificially, under what condition?
I suggest that you look at MultiNetwork Manager 7 from globesoft.com this is a very sophisticated piece of software and it has helped me a lot, used to be a netswitcher user until I found the Globesofts product /Randy
I suggest that you look at MultiNetwork Manager 7 from globesoft.com this is a very sophisticated piece of software and it has helped me a lot, used to be a netswitcher user until I found the Globesofts product /Randy
I suggest that you look at MultiNetwork Manager 7 from globesoft.com this is a very sophisticated piece of software and it has helped me a lot, used to be a netswitcher user until I found the Globesofts product /Randy
Mre than that, it's a whole different network addressing scheme (possibly).
Don't know what you know about IP addressing but here's the short version:-
Two machines on the same network, say A and B with addresses 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3 each with a mask of 255.255.255.0
If A wants to talk to B, then it needs to know whether to send it direct or route it. It determines the answer to this question by performing a logical AND of its address with its mask so ends up with 192.168.0.0, it does the same with B's address and gets 192.168.0.0.
Hey, that's the same so it knows that it can send on the local network. If it wanted to talk to a machine 194.65.32.3 then the result would be
194.65.32.0
192.168.0.0 is not the same as 194.65.32.0 (no shit Sherlock!) and so it knows that this third machine isn't on the same network. Machine A then looks in it's routing table to see if it has a known route to this new network and if it doesn't then it simply sends it to its default gateway (if configured) and lets the gateway forward the packet on.
So, the static IP configuration isn't going to work if either the network addressing scheme results in a foreign network or the default gateway is wrong.
For example, if you're home network was 192.168.0.0 and your work network was 192.168.0.0 and your friends network was 192.168.0.0 and you all had a default gateway of 192.168.0.1 then from an IP perspective you could configure statically and work at all locations. However you might have trouble sending email if your email provider refuses to accept the connection from external or doesn't use authenticated SMTP.
On the other hand if your home and work were on 192.168.0.0, at home you had a gateway address of 192.168.0.1 but at work they had 192.168.0.128 then you would be able to communicate with every local machine but wouldn't be able to route externally because your setting for the gateway was wrong.
This is why DHCP exits, set it up and it just works. :)
There are reasons why static addressing has a place but ease of configuration and security aren't two reasons. The only exception to this with regard to security is where you might be filtering traffic to/from other machines based upon IP address for example port forwarding to an internal host or in a corporate firewall to track internet usage. Tracking internet usage this way isn't particularly useful though as it in itself does not provide for non-repudiation and it's far better to track usage by authenticated username.
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