ip address allocation

Posted by: ChrisSU on 22 August 2014

I've just tried to play some music on my Superuniti through n-stream. It wouldn't play, and I got a message on the screen of my MacBook saying 'Another device on the network is using your computer's ip address....' So although my computer was already connected to the network (for non-music purposes), it seems that either my Superuniti or my Unitiserve, or maybe my iphone, was able to steal it's ip address, causing it to lose it's connection.

Would it prevent this if I were to give my Naim devices static ip addresses, or am I barking up the wrong tree? The network is Apple airport extreme + express.

 

Thanks for any suggestions. Chris

Posted on: 25 August 2014 by Penarth Blues
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:

OK, so I've checked my router settings, and the Talktalk router was the active DHCP server. The Airport Extreme was in Bridge mode, which as I understand it, means it wouldn't have been able to allocate ip addresses. So I'm not sure I've achieved anything yet!

You will also need to set the Airport Expresses to bridge mode too

Posted on: 25 August 2014 by Bart
Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:

OK, so I've checked my router settings, and the Talktalk router was the active DHCP server. The Airport Extreme was in Bridge mode, which as I understand it, means it wouldn't have been able to allocate ip addresses. So I'm not sure I've achieved anything yet!

You will also need to set the Airport Expresses to bridge mode too

Both of his Airport Expresses should be set to 'extend wireless network' using the Airport Utility if I understand his setup.

 

His Airport Extreme should be in bridge mode, and in wifi set to 'create a wireless network.'

Posted on: 25 August 2014 by ChrisSU

Hi Bart, that's exactly how my Airport devices are configured.

Posted on: 25 August 2014 by Bart
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:

Hi Bart, that's exactly how my Airport devices are configured.

Great!  With that setup, if you power everything down and restart one by one, there is no way you should end up with IP address conflicts (unless you've unknowingly reserved the same address for two devices, etc.).  But set up that way, and no other customizations, DHCP will do its own thing and give each device a unique address.

Posted on: 25 August 2014 by ChrisSU

I hope you're right, Bart. However, I haven't actually changed any settings, just looked to see how everything was configured, so as time goes by and various devices connect and disconnect from the network, I suspect any stability issues that have arisen in the past are likely to recur.

I will, when I've got a few spare minutes, take up Simon's suggestion and set a static ip address for my Unitiserve - not that I understand why he suggested it for that particular device, more because he sounds like he knows what he's talking about, so I figure it's worth a try!

Posted on: 25 August 2014 by Bart

Chris I have gone into my router's DHCP settings and kept the IP address for my uServe static.  What it does is ensure that the IP address your player is currently looking to for the server is always the same; it avoids the problem of the IP address of the server changing, and the player having to find it all over again.

Posted on: 27 August 2014 by ChrisSU

Just to sum things up, I now have a static ip address allocated to my Unitiserve, and have shut down all my wifi devices then started them up one at a time. 24 hours later, so far so good. Unitiserve, Superuniti and iphone apps can all see each other, music plays, radio works. I can just about stream hi-res files over wifi! Even the dreaded n-stream app is a bit quicker and less clumsy than usual.

So, only time will tell if these improvements are permanent, but it's been a useful lesson in networking basics for me. Thanks to everyone for your advice and comments.

 

Chris

Posted on: 27 August 2014 by Bart

Glad you're up and running, Chris.  Unfortunately, you can expect the occasional hiccup.  Even when all seems sorted, every once in a while something on the network doesn't see something else.  Device discovery, UPnP, etc., are not perfect.  Occasionally the uServe or SuperUniti or nStream will need to be restarted.   (Just this morning I woke up to no internet access at home; I needed to reboot my broadband router. Why? No idea.  That has not happened in months and months.)  My sense is that there are enough variables given all of the devices we use, including but not limited to routers and switches, that 100% reliability 100% of the time is truly achievable by few if any.