Do I need Static IP Address?

[kirkwood]

All was good with my wireless configuration. Then last night during a storm, my power went out for a minute. When everything booted back up my RA assigned itself a different IP address. I've got a netgear router and I'm assuming I need to assign the RA a static IP address? Or do I need to set up a LAN address reservation?

Some of the data requests that confused me were, Subnet Mask, default gateway, domain name server

[cosmith71]

Just do an address reservation in your router. There should be a button somewhere in your router settings to reserve whatever IP it's on now.

--Colin

[kirkwood]

Just do an address reservation in your router. There should be a button somewhere in your router settings to reserve whatever IP it's on now.

--Colin

Actually I just looked at my RA user profile and my droid app and I entered my external IP address with the port number for the RA... So now I'm wondering if my external IP address was changed last night by my service provider?

So to summarize what happened, WiFi was working perfectly on portal and droid app. RA was on ***.***.1.7. Then last night the power went out and now portal and droid app don't connect. The RA is now on ***.***.1.3.

[cosmith71]

That's possible, too. Sometimes when your modem reboots the external IP changes. It shouldn't be a problem for the portal as it can figure it out, but the address in the droid app will need to be fixed. For the droid app, you can sign up for a free DNS service like no-ip.com and then you won't have to worry if your external IP changes.

--Colin

[kirkwood]

That's possible, too. Sometimes when your modem reboots the external IP changes. It shouldn't be a problem for the portal as it can figure it out, but the address in the droid app will need to be fixed. For the droid app, you can sign up for a free DNS service like no-ip.com and then you won't have to worry if your external IP changes.

--Colin

Both the Portal and the Droid app are both not working anymore. They both show the last update taking place at 1:32am. Does it matter that the RA IP changed from ***.***.1.7 to ***.***.1.3? You can see in my label below the time of the last update.

[cosmith71]

Actually, it might. Do you have port forwarding set up in your router to the .7 address? You may need to change it. Reserve the .3 address while you're in there.

--Colin

[kirkwood]

Actually, it might. Do you have port forwarding set up in your router to the .7 address? You may need to change it. Reserve the .3 address while you're in there.

--Colin

My router automatically configured port forwarding when I first set up the WiFI. I guess when I get home today I can check my external IP address and see if it has changed. If no, then I know it has to do with the internal IP address. I think the easiest would be to assign the ReefAngel to the .7 address, then unplug it and plug it back in and it will go directly to .7, right? If I set it at .3 then I would have to reconfigure the RA Wifi right?

[cosmith71]

How did you set up the RA Wifi originally? If you hard coded it to .7, then yes. Otherwise, it will set to whatever IP the router gives it (I think).

Here's what I do:

Reserve an address for the RA Wifi.
Manually forward port 2000 to that address.
Use a DNS service so the android app is always set to the right address.

--Colin

[kirkwood]

Yes, in the WiFi setup I hard coded it to .7.. I'm pretty sure that was what the directions said to do.

What is a DNS service?

How did you set up the RA Wifi originally? If you hard coded it to .7, then yes. Otherwise, it will set to whatever IP the router gives it (I think).

Here's what I do:

Reserve an address for the RA Wifi.
Manually forward port 2000 to that address.
Use a DNS service so the android app is always set to the right address.

--Colin

[cosmith71]

The DNS service gives you a name, like http://joebob.no-ip.net, that is always linked to your IP address. You run a little utility on your PC that keeps it updated.

That way, instead of entering your external IP address (that your ISP might change) on the Android app, you enter joebob.no-ip.net:8080 and it's always current, even if your ISP changes your IP address.

--Colin

[kirkwood]

I followed the directions for the WiFi Utility Application.
http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=345
My router automatically completed the port forwarding. I don't see anything mentioned about hard coding the RA IP address. How can I allow that to be dynamic?

[cosmith71]

Seems like it would already be dynamic since it changed with the power outage.

[kirkwood]

Seems like it would already be dynamic since it changed with the power outage.

I have not confirmed yet that the external IP is dynamic. At this time I can only confirm that the local IP for the RA is dynamic becaues that changed. I will have to wait till this evening when I get home from work to address the problem.

[DrewPalmer04]

Depending on your router you can use IP reservations that are based on MAC address. When the router sees the MAC address as active...it will only allow that specific device to be the IP you reserve. Pretty handy little trick for a lot of things if you have a large home network like me.

[cosmith71]

I would bet that the external IP is dynamic. Most residental ones are. The static ones are expensive!

--Colin

[cosmith71]

Depending on your router you can use IP reservations that are based on MAC address. When the router sees the MAC address as active...it will only allow that specific device to be the IP you reserve. Pretty handy little trick for a lot of things if you have a large home network like me.

Yep, that's the way mine works, too.

--Colin

[DrewPalmer04]

Only way around ISP IP changes is to:

1: call and ask if static is available/cost

2: dyndns.com

[DrewPalmer04]

Also it really just depends on how "important" remote access is...

For me. if the ISP IP changes. I lose connection remotely (because obviously the IP I'm using is wrong) so I go home later that night. Find my WAN IP and change it to be correct. No Biggy. BTW, this has only happened once in 2 years or so and that's because my ISP was bought out

[kirkwood]

Also it really just depends on how "important" remote access is...

For me. if the ISP IP changes. I lose connection remotely (because obviously the IP I'm using is wrong) so I go home later that night. Find my WAN IP and change it to be correct. No Biggy. BTW, this has only happened once in 2 years or so and that's because my ISP was bought out

I live in the City of Atlanta and for some reason I think our power grid sucks. We usually lose power during bad storms. Remote access is of critical importance to me so I want to make sure I retain remote access whenever I lose power.

I got myself a free account with no-ip so if the dynami external IP is an issue, it seems I can correct that for free. Is there any difference between a port reservation and a static IP?

[cosmith71]

Static IP is from your ISP. A port reservation is like a static IP on your home network. I.e., the Reef Angel always gets 192.168.1.x.

--Colin

[DrewPalmer04]

Another way to think about it is:

A device says "this IS my IP address router" STATIC

Versus: "What is my IP address router?" DHCP

[kirkwood]

thanks to all for the assistance. I got the issue corrected. When I got home this evening I checked my external IP and it did NOT change. Next step I set an address reservation for the RA as .7 which is what I used during wifi setup. That still didn't correct the issue. So I checked the RA port and it was closed. I did the port fwding in my router setup and that corrected the issue. I guess the port closed during the power outage.