DrayTek Vigor2920N Router

Posted by: ken c on 21 October 2012

I have tonight chaged my Virgin Super Hub function to 'modem only' and connected the above router.

 

Installation was OK, if a little nerve-wrecking -- the manual that came with the router is not very well written. Had a little issue with static IP I had previously assigned to the ReadyNas Duo, which i forgot to reset before installing the router -- so had to reset the ReadyNas to forget the previous IP before installing the new router, after this all was OK. Another anxious moment as the NAS re-installed firmware and re-booted. Fortunately this worked!

 

I now have both the UnitiServe and ReadyNasDuo IP addressed automatically assigned by DHCP now.

 

But I seem to recall one of them had to be static -- cant remember now -- grateful for a gentle reminder.

 

So far so good though. I am actually playing the US as i type now. Strangely sounds a bit better -- (could this because of the powercycle i had to do on the NAS as someone reported sometime ago?) Or else this is just the relief of an apparently successful installation -- though i must say i was a bit nervous going through it all and not understanding the implcations of certain options.

 

Ah well, so far so good ...

 

enjoy

ken

 

ps: Oh, the reason i bought this is to try to cure the problem that has been dogging me whereby the library would suddenly disappear with a resyncing msg -- which started happening when the Super Hub was installed. (Phil Harris kindly suggested this specific router as it has cured the problem for him).

 

So hopefully, this will be cured -- and also the wireless signal strength which was hopefull with the Super Hub

Posted on: 22 October 2012 by ken c
Originally Posted by Peter_RN:

Ken, it is usual to set-up your static or reserved IP addresses outside of the range that the DHCP server will use.

 

.......

 

Edit: OK, Richard has answered whilst I was typing. I would only say that reserved addresses are usually assigned outside of the range of the DHCP server, perhaps the Draytek is unusual in this respect?

 

I meant to add that when you change the IP addresses you will need to reboot NAS etc for the new addresses to be assigned.

Thanks Peter. What is the logic for reserving outside the range of the DHCP? My IP poolcount is 50.

Thanks for the hint on reboot -- easily forgotten and then panic! when things dont work after...

 

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by trickydickie
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

Trickie, I'd be weary of the so called WAN loadbalancing. I see the router is rather limited (as a router) and only supports RIPv2 routing protocol and so this will be very limited and most likely be limited to crude policy based routing to acheive load balancing - ie this data type go out through this path and that through the other.

The two WAN connections have far more use as a primary and backup - so if primary link fails then all traffic goes over suriving link

Simon

 

Yes, agree the load balancing is quite crude.  Initially I let the router decide what to do and despite having 5 Meg ADSL and 50 Meg cable the router was choosing ADSL far too often.  Also using https it would sometimes switch connections during a transaction which causes issues with banking and shopping websites!

 

Hence I decided to manually setup the policies, utilising the fixed IP address on ADSL for SMTP traffic (we run Exchange and have direct delivery) and also customer backups and other externally facing services and use Virgin for general surfing and more domestic tasks such as iPlayer/streaming.  It also separates business use from domestic use which probably avoids upsetting Virgin Media.  If one connection fails then failover works perfectly, even for SMTP as I have  an MX record pointing to a dynamic DNS account.

 

It's a great router though, very stable, but there have been a few botched firmware releases over the years, so have tended to stick with a version that is stable rather than chasing the latest release.

 

Richard

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by Frank Abela:

My recollection is that Phil Harris recommends that you set the NAS drive to have a fixed IP address.

 

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

 

I usually set the IP address on the device itself as a true static but reserving an IP address on your router is also fine and, as has been mentioned by someone else on this thread already, means that you can take the unit onto another network and it will at least DHCP itself a valid IP address for the new network.

 

Cheers

 

Phil

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by Peter_RN:

 

Ken, it is usual to set-up your static or reserved IP addresses outside of the range that the DHCP server will use.

 

 

...and...

 

Originally Posted by Peter_RN:

 

Edit: OK, Richard has answered whilst I was typing. I would only say that reserved addresses are usually assigned outside of the range of the DHCP server, perhaps the Draytek is unusual in this respect?

 
 
Hi Peter,
 
Just to be clear - if you *RESERVE* an IP address on a router then you reserve an address that is *WITHIN* the DHCP range, not outside of it.
 
If you set a *STATIC* IP address on a device itself you set an IP address which is *OUTSIDE* the routers DHCP range.
 
Just wanted to clear up any possible confusion - please carry on.
 
Cheers
 
Phil
Posted on: 23 October 2012 by ken c
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:
....
 
Just to be clear - if you *RESERVE* an IP address on a router then you reserve an address that is *WITHIN* the DHCP range, not outside of it.
 
If you set a *STATIC* IP address on a device itself you set an IP address which is *OUTSIDE* the routers DHCP range.
 
Just wanted to clear up any possible confusion - please carry on.
 
Cheers
 
Phil

thanks Phil.  i wasnt aware of this important distinction. The router is working very well so far -- no issues of the library suddenly disappearing mid-play. Thanks for recommending it.

 

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by 911gt3r

Ken, shouldn't you be on the continent my friend ???  ATB Peter

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by ken c
Originally Posted by 911gt3r:

Ken, shouldn't you be on the continent my friend ???  ATB Peter

No feeling well Peter

May have something to do with my 552 @ NaimHQ which i hope will be back any day now...

 

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by Peter_RN
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:
Originally Posted by Peter_RN:

 

Ken, it is usual to set-up your static or reserved IP addresses outside of the range that the DHCP server will use.

 

 

...and...

 

Originally Posted by Peter_RN:

 

Edit: OK, Richard has answered whilst I was typing. I would only say that reserved addresses are usually assigned outside of the range of the DHCP server, perhaps the Draytek is unusual in this respect?

 
 
Hi Peter,
 
Just to be clear - if you *RESERVE* an IP address on a router then you reserve an address that is *WITHIN* the DHCP range, not outside of it.
 
If you set a *STATIC* IP address on a device itself you set an IP address which is *OUTSIDE* the routers DHCP range.
 
Just wanted to clear up any possible confusion - please carry on.
 
Cheers
 
Phil

 

Hello Phil,

 

You mean I have been doing it wrong all these years? – My heads beginning to hurt now.

 

I think its time I ordered a new bit of kit – we will call it penitence shall we?

 

All the best

Peter

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by Peter_RN:
 

Hello Phil,

 

You mean I have been doing it wrong all these years? – My heads beginning to hurt now.

 

I think its time I ordered a new bit of kit – we will call it penitence shall we?

 

All the best

 

Peter

 

 

Hi Peter,

 

Yes, you *RESERVE* an address in your DHCP range for the exclusive use of a device and then the DHCP server will only give that address to that device. Any addresses that you assign manually on a device (static) must be outside your DHCP range as otherwise your DHCP server can allocate out that address itself.

 

Cheers

 

Phil

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by ken c
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:

I usually set the IP address on the device itself as a true static but reserving an IP address on your router is also fine and, as has been mentioned by someone else on this thread already, means that you can take the unit onto another network and it will at least DHCP itself a valid IP address for the new network.

 

Cheers

 

Phil

other than the fact reserving will mean that the unit will DHCP itself a valid IP adddress on another network -- (which you of course cannot guarantee with 'static' IP address set on the unit (in my case the NAS drive)), what determines what approach one adopts in terms of IP address allocation 'static on device' vs 'reserved on router'? in other words are there cases where one method works and the other doesnt? in which case what are those cases?

 

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by ken c:
 
other than the fact reserving will mean that the unit will DHCP itself a valid IP adddress on another network -- (which you of course cannot guarantee with 'static' IP address set on the unit (in my case the NAS drive)), what determines what approach one adopts in terms of IP address allocation 'static on device' vs 'reserved on router'? in other words are there cases where one method works and the other doesnt? in which case what are those cases?

 

enjoy

ken

 

 

It's really just down to personal choice...

 

Phil

Posted on: 23 October 2012 by ken c
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:
Originally Posted by ken c:
 
other than the fact reserving will mean that the unit will DHCP itself a valid IP adddress on another network -- (which you of course cannot guarantee with 'static' IP address set on the unit (in my case the NAS drive)), what determines what approach one adopts in terms of IP address allocation 'static on device' vs 'reserved on router'? in other words are there cases where one method works and the other doesnt? in which case what are those cases?

 

enjoy

ken

 

 

It's really just down to personal choice...

 

Phil

just what i suspected. many thanks Phil...

 

enjoy

ken