Netopia Router PN Series - Manual (Page 246)

B-10 Reference Guide
Manually distributing IP addresses
If you choose to manually distribute IP addresses, you must enter
each computer’s address into its TCP/IP stack software. Once you
manually issue an address to a computer, it possesses that
address until you manually remove it. That’s why manually
distributed addresses are sometimes called static addresses.
Static addresses are useful in cases when you want to make sure
that a host on your network cannot have its address taken away by
the address server. A network administrator’s computer, a computer
dedicated to communicating with the Internet, and routers are
appropriate candidates for a static address.
Using address serving
The Netopia Router provides two ways to serve IP addresses to
computers on a network. The first, Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP), is supported by PCs with Microsoft Windows and a
TCP/IP stack. Macintosh computers using Open Transport and
computers using the UNIX operating system may also be able to use
DHCP. The second way, MacIP, is for Macintosh computers. MacIP is
provided with the Netopia Internet Software Starter Kit.
The Netopia Router can use both DHCP and MacIP. Whether you use
one or both will depend on your particular networking environment.
If that environment includes both PCs and Macintosh computers
that do not use Open Transport, you will need to use both DHCP and
MacIP to distribute IP addresses to all of your computers.
Tips and rules for distributing IP addresses
■ Before you allocate IP addresses using DHCP and MacIP,
consider whether you need to set aside any static addresses.
■ Note any planned and currently used static addresses before
you use DHCP and MacIP.