[cobalt-developers] Re: DHCP but, still static?

[Bruce Timberlake <bruce.timberlake@xxxxxxx>]

Will Eberle wrote:
> 
> DHCP by definition (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) does
> not use static IP addresses.

You can hand out fixed IP addresses to known MAC addresses with DHCP, or
else assign a "dynamic" IP address with such a ridiculously long lease
time that the address is, for all intents and purposes, "static".

On my cable modem, the lease time is a week, but I keep getting the same
IP week in and week out, even when my cable modem was turned off for
more than a week when I went on vacation once.  I would bet that they do
something on their end to ensure the same IP does get handed out
"permanently" to a customer, even though it is via DHCP, to ensure ease
of tracking/monitoring, etc.  They just reserve the right to change your
IP with no notification...  My DSL provider, on the other hand, never
even mentioned DHCP. They just gave me a range of IPs to use how I saw
fit... (it's a "business class" line, though, so that may be handled
differently than "residential" DSL, although having 2 infrastructures in
place doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to me).

And to answer the original question, the RaQ3 does not have any
provisions to receive dynamically assigned IP addresses.  The only
appliance we make that does that (for now) is the Qube3.  For the RaQs,
you have to get the IP/netmask/gateway info and manually configure the
RaQ with it. If they ever change your IP, the RaQ would stop working.

-- 
Bruce Timberlake
Technology Engineer
Sun Cobalt Server Appliances
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

E: bruce.timberlake@xxxxxxx
U: http://www.sun.com/cobalt/