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Chad Goldsworthy
4,209 PointsNetworking / IPv4 Address Allocations / Ranges / Static & Dynamic
Hi all, apologies if this is not an appropriate question as it is slightly unrelated to the lessons Team Treehouse offers, but it is definitely computer science related.
I am stuck on a university assignment where we are designing a small network for a company, the current question I am struggling with is:
" For the network you designed in task 2, devise appropriate IPv4 address allocations and explain how these will be implemented. You need to include both static and dynamic addresses in your scheme. "
We have to devise logical grouping of devices, and assign IP address ranges for each as well as specific IP addresses (both static and dynamic) for the devices (workstations, server, switchers, routers, wireless access point, etc...)
I assume the correct thing to do is assign static addresses to my server and workstations, and dynamic addresses to devices connecting through the wireless access point, but maybe that's wrong. I have been researching this for almost a week now and am still confused as to how I must assign IP address ranges and what addresses to assign to which devices.
3 Answers
Steven Parker
231,269 PointsThere's nothing in the TOS requiring forum questions to be specific to a course, even though that's what the majority are. And yours is certainly topic-related.
It sounds like you already have a good idea of how to proceed. The only other thing I'd want to know is what quantity of addresses needs to be accommodated.
In my home network for example, I have reserved 192.168.0.1 through 192.168.0.127 for static addresses which are assigned to the router, server, and permanently-connected devices (like the printer). Then the DHCP service in the router is programmed to provide leases in the 192.168.0.128 to 192.168.0.255 range to wireless devices.
The only adjustment I might make is to use a different internal range if a large number of addresses were needed. Many enterprise networks establish a scheme using the 10.x.x.x range.
Chad Goldsworthy
4,209 PointsThanks Steven! There are 20 devices total: 10x workstations, 1x server, 3x switches, 2x firewalls, wireless access point, 2x printers and a router.
Here is my network diagram: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zXamhSQB5MBGWDv1rhRW2CgT8_yVQOWt/view?usp=sharing
Thanks for the info on the info on your IP addresses, helps a lot, but I'm still a bit confused as to where I would set these addresses? I know I can set the workstations to be an address, but then would I set those addresses on the switcher too so the data packets know where to go, or on the server software? As far as I know, a switcher uses the computers MAC addresses to know where to send data correctly, so the idea of now having more addresses confuses me. I get the idea of a public IP address, but having private ones within a network doesn't make sense to me since all devices already have their own hardcoded unique identifiers, MAC addresses.
If you have a look at my network diagram, does it look correct, or should the router be inbetween the server and workstations, rather than just branching off?
Steven Parker
231,269 PointsI added a comment to my answer.
Chad Goldsworthy
4,209 PointsThank you very much Steven, really appreciate the advice! Very helpful.
Steven Parker
231,269 PointsSteven Parker
231,269 PointsI'm unable to open your diagram because it fails authenticity verification on my computer. But you usually don't need to be concerned with MAC addressing, that's all handled transparently and the configuration only involves IP addresses.
Switches usually have discovery mechanisms so you don't have to manually configure them to know which ports to route packets to. But you might if you're setting up some unusual types, but only for the fixed addresses. As to where the settings are made, most of them will be in the router, but any machine using fixed addressing will be individually configured for its assigned address.
The router handles the translation of address(es) (there might be just one) on the public side to the internal private addresses. This will be another part of the router configuration.