Setting fixed IP address for SuperUniti

Posted by: Nick Rich on 27 June 2012

I've gathered from another thread (thanks Steven Shaw) that to show album art in n-stream at full quality I need to set the receiver type in Twonky to Songbook DS, but for this to work properly a fixed IP address is needed.  I also understand (thanks roo) that this is best done by configuring the router rather than the Superuniti.

 

Could someone please explain in simple terms how best to go about this?  I'm afraid I'm not well up on how this all works.  In Twonky I can see a list of "generic media server" IP addresses which are presumably those assigned by DHCP to the SuperUniti.  In my router configuration screen I can see a different IP address assigned to my NAS drive.  What is it I need to change and to what?

 

Thanks.

Posted on: 27 June 2012 by Peter_RN

Hi Nick

 

Your aim is to set a reserved/static IP address for the Uniti, although you may also choose to do this for the NAS and any other permanently attached item, by doing this you will also know where to find the item.

 

As it is the router that is issuing the IP addresses it makes sense (to me at least) that this is the best place to set the ‘Static’ or ‘Reserved’ addresses. Exactly how this is done will depend on the make and model of your router.

 

If you look again at your router configuration page you may find that it is actually quite simple/obvious how this is done. If not posting the make and model may help bring specific info.

 

You should pick an address to set outside of the range that the router uses to issue addresses via DHCP. For example, if the router is set to issue addresses in the range 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.100 you should use addresses from 101 to 254 so in practise perhaps start from 192.168.0.110. Your settings may well be different to this example, just ensure that you keep the first three groups the same and just change the last group. Should your router be set to issue addresses between 1 and 254 (last group remember) you should be able to restrict the range within your settings.

 

You will need to re-boot the Uniti to allow it to pick up its new IP address, as well as any other device you choose to reserve an address for.

 

Regards

Peter

Posted on: 27 June 2012 by Nick Rich

Peter,

 

Many thanks for such a clear and detailed explanation.  I think I am making some progress.

 

I've identified the SuperUniti from its MAC address, shown as connected to ethernet port 1 as expected, and can see a router configuration screen where I can tick a box for "always use the same address".  I assume applying this will give me access to setting a fixed IP address.

 

What I can't see is what range of addresses the router is set to issue.  They seem to range from 192.168.1.64 to 192.168.1.123.  If I choose say 192.168.1.200 is that OK?

 

The router is an O2 Speedtouch ST780WL.

 

Nick.

Posted on: 27 June 2012 by Claus-Thoegersen
Originally Posted by Nick Rich:

Peter,

 

Many thanks for such a clear and detailed explanation.  I think I am making some progress.

 

I've identified the SuperUniti from its MAC address, shown as connected to ethernet port 1 as expected, and can see a router configuration screen where I can tick a box for "always use the same address".  I assume applying this will give me access to setting a fixed IP address.

 

Hi,

Normally at least with the routers I have used, in the screen with the always use the same address box, there should be a line with the name of the device, the mac address of the device, the ip address the device is using currently, and the box that wil ensure that the same address is still given to the device after a reboot or even a normal reset of the router. Usually only a reset to factory defaults will remove this setting. Since you just tell the router to remember the current ip address no reset of either router or streamer is necessary.

 

Also must routers seem only to allow a certain portion of the private ip addresses to be fixed like you describe, probably because very few people will need more than  250 devices attached to a home router anyway, and for the few that tries this the router or network will for sure run into problems.

 

Claus

 

Posted on: 28 June 2012 by Nick Rich

Claus,

 

Yes, you are quite right.  I selected "always use the same address" and it appears to have fixed the IP address that was already shown.  The router did a restart on its own so I think I'm now home and dry.

 

Many thanks for the help.

 

Nick