How to use static IP addresses for better network management

You've probably heard of IP addresses. They essentially give you a digital address that other people can use to find you online. What you may not know is that when your device connects to your router or mesh network, it gets an IP address that other devices on the same network can also use to find you. This local network is called a subnet, and it uses a set of private IP addresses that are specific to your network.

Depending on what device you're using, if you check what IP address your computer, laptop or phone is using, you'll probably see your local IP address. This usually starts with “192.168” and is a private IP address within your local network. In other words, this IP address only exists within your home network and no one outside your home network can contact it without first using your router.

While most people don't need to worry about their IP address on their home network, there are a few reasons why you might want to use static IP addresses on your devices at home to improve your network management.

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Why you should use a static IP address in your home network

Facilitate local networking with dedicated IPs

Configuring your network to use static IP addresses

You must ensure that there are no IP conflicts

Before you assign static IP addresses to the devices on your network, you first need to understand what your router's DHCP is and how it works on your network.

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and is a network management protocol used by routers to automatically assign IP addresses to devices connected to the network. When a device, such as a computer, smartphone, or smart home device, connects to your network, the DHCP server in your router assigns it an IP address from a pool of available addresses. This process ensures that each device has a unique IP address and can communicate effectively within the network without manual configuration.

However, that's not all that DHCP does. The DHCP server also manages an IP's lease times. This means that each IP address assigned by DHCP is temporary and can change over time. While this dynamic assignment simplifies the process of connecting new devices to the network and ensures efficient use of IP addresses, it can lead to some challenges in network management. For example, if a device's IP address changes, it can become difficult to access it remotely or configure network settings consistently.

It's incredibly important to understand DHCP because if you choose to use static IP addresses, you're essentially disabling DHCP-assigned addresses for those devices. Instead of allowing the DHCP server to automatically assign an IP address, you manually assign each device a fixed IP address. This fixed address doesn't change over time and provides a consistent and reliable way to access the device on your network.

Since you are no longer using DHCP to assign IP addresses to devices, you need to make sure that none of your devices have a conflicting IP address. Devices with the same IP address may experience intermittent connectivity issues, frequently connecting and disconnecting, resulting in poor network performance. Additionally, one or both of the conflicting devices may lose their connection to the network entirely. As they attempt to resolve the conflict, this may cause network congestion and instability for other devices on the same network.

Most routers allow you to disable DHCP, so we recommend you do this if you want to assign a static IP address to all your devices. Otherwise, a new device could connect and take over the IP address of another device. Some routers allow you to change the range of IP addresses that DHCP assigns, so you can change this to ensure you have a reserved block of IPs that you can use.

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Why you may want to use static IPs on your home network

They are ideal for networking enthusiasts

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Using static IP addresses instead of using DHCP alone can provide several benefits, especially in scenarios where you need a consistent and reliable connection to a device on a network. A common example of this is managing servers in an enterprise environment. Servers such as web servers, email servers, and file servers provide services that must be accessible at all times. Assigning a static IP address to these servers ensures that their IP address remains constant, allowing other devices and users to contact them reliably. For example, if a web server's IP address changes due to DHCP, you may experience downtime or connection issues when trying to access the website.

Static IP addresses aren't just for businesses, though. For example, if you have a NAS at home, you'll want to give it a static IP address. Otherwise, if the IP address on your network changes, you may have to try and guess which IP address it switched to. If you're using something like Jellyfin on a NAS on a Chromecast, it can be a pain to change the address Chromecast contacts to access your library.

While most users don't even need to think about static IP addresses on their home network, home networking enthusiasts should definitely consider them. They can make things a lot easier and you can ensure that all of your devices are consistently reachable across the entire network.

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How to set a static IP address

We will show you how to do it on Windows, but it is also possible on other platforms

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If you have decided to assign static IP addresses to all your devices, this will depend on the operating system and the device you are using. We recommend reading the device manufacturer's instructions to learn how to do this, but it is very easy to do on Windows.

Right-click the network icon in the taskbar (bottom right) and select “Open network and Internet settings”.
In the Network and Internet Settings window, clickAdvanced network settings.”
Click the network connection you want to configure (usually “Ethernet” or “Wi-Fi”) and select “Show more features”
In the Properties window, select “Edit” next to IP allocation.
Enter the IP address you want to assign, the subnet mask (usually 255.255.255.0 for most home networks) and the default gateway (usually the IP address of your router, e.g. 192.168.1.1).
Enter the addresses of the preferred DNS server and the alternate DNS server (often the same as the default gateway or your preferred DNS service, for example Google DNS with 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).
Click “OK” to close the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window.

That's all! As long as the IP address you chose doesn't conflict with any other devices, this is now the IP address your computer will use on your home network. You can follow similar steps for other devices depending on how it's done there, but the concept is the same. It will make managing your network a lot easier if you like to play around with networks, and I highly recommend you give it a try!