SMC Networks EZ Connect SMCWEB-N User Manual page 18

DHCP Server Settings
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. The DHCP section is where you configure the built-in
DHCP Server to assign IP addresses to the computers and other devices on your local area network (LAN).
Enable DHCP Server
Once your access point is properly configured and this option is enabled, the DHCP Server will manage the IP
addresses and other network configuration information for computers and other devices connected to your
Local Area Network. There is no need for you to do this yourself.
The computers (and other devices) connected to your LAN also need to have their TCP/IP configuration set to
"DHCP" or "Obtain an IP address automatically".
When you set Enable DHCP Server, the following options are displayed.
DHCP IP Address Range
These two IP values (from and to) define a range of IP addresses that the DHCP Server uses when assigning
addresses to computers and devices on your Local Area Network. Any addresses that are outside of this
range are not managed by the DHCP Server; these could, therefore, be used for manually configured devices
or devices that cannot use DHCP to obtain network address details automatically.
It is possible for a computer or device that is manually configured to have an address that does reside within
this range. In this case the address should be reserved (see DHCP Reservation below), so that the DHCP
Server knows that this specific address can only be used by a specific computer or device.
Your access point, by default, has a static IP address of 192.168.2.2. This means that addresses 192.168.2.3
to 192.168.2.254 can be made available for allocation by the DHCP Server.
Example:
Your access point uses 192.168.2.2 for the IP address. You've assigned a computer that you want to
designate as a Web server with a static IP address of 192.168.2.3. You've assigned another computer that
you want to designate as an FTP server with a static IP address of 192.168.2.4. Therefore the starting IP
address for your DHCP IP address range needs to be 192.168.2.5 or greater.
Example:
Suppose you configure the DHCP Server to manage addresses From 192.168.2.100 To 192.168.2.199. This
means that 192.168.2.3 to 192.168.2.99 and 192.168.2.200 to 192.168.2.254 are NOT managed by the
DHCP Server. Computers or devices that use addresses from these ranges are to be manually configured.
Suppose you have a web server computer that has a manually configured address of 192.168.2.100. Because
this falls within the "managed range" be sure to create a reservation for this address and match it to the
relevant computer (see Static DHCP Client below).
DHCP Lease Time
The amount of time that a computer may have an IP address before it is required to renew the lease. The
lease functions just as a lease on an apartment would. The initial lease designates the amount of time before
the lease expires. If the tenant wishes to retain the address when the lease is expired then a new lease is
established. If the lease expires and the address is no longer needed than another tenant may use the
address.
Always Broadcast
If all the computers on the LAN successfully obtain their IP addresses from the access point's DHCP server as
expected, this option can remain disabled. However, if one of the computers on the LAN fails to obtain an IP
address from the access point's DHCP server, it may have an old DHCP client that incorrectly turns off the
broadcast flag of DHCP packets. Enabling this option will cause the access point to always broadcast its
responses to all clients, thereby working around the problem, at the cost of increased broadcast traffic on the
LAN.
NetBIOS Advertisement
Check this box to allow the DHCP Server to offer NetBIOS configuration settings to the LAN hosts. NetBIOS
allow LAN hosts to discover all other computers within the network, e.g. within Network Neighbourhood.
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