> I have had only one static address and it is for the server. Haven't
> set up all the items with static mainly using dhcp and its worked so far.
We need to be careful with terminology here. What i was meaning is
that the DHCP server gives out the same IP address every time to the
same client. You configure the DHCP server with the clients MAC
address and the IP address you want it to have.
So this is not a static address, but a fixed address.
Part of setting up a network is learning what all the terms mean :-)
> Part of the issue is the smart phone and the tablet and the streaming box
> and the 2 laptops and the other computer (all on wireless) and then there
> are the main box and the server and the printers. dhcp makes things a
> little less complicated, when it works that is - - - grin.
Exactly. Keep with DHCP, but configure fixed addresses.
> > It does DNS for everything in your home network. It can relay requests
> > to your ISP, or to 8.8.8.8. But ideally you want it to answer when
> > somebody ask about server.home, ipad.home, laptop.home, or whatever
> > you call your devices. What you don't want is the devices in your
> > house directly using the DNS servers of your ISP. If your ISP falls
> > over, it does not matter if you cannot resolve names on the internet,
> > but you do want names for your own devices to keep working. So they
> > need a use a local DNS server which is still running.
>
> So I need to set up a local dns server - - - okay - - - on the order
> paper (that
> list keeps expanding and the items aren't coming off near as fast as new
> ones are hitting!).
Openwrt's dnsmasq DNS/DHCP server will do this for you, once you have
configured fixed addresses. So you configure the MAC address, the IP
address you want the client to get, and its name. It then has all the
information it needs to give out IP addresses, and answer DNS lookups
for local devices. For DNS requests it cannot answer, it asks the
ISP's DNS server, or any other server you configure it with.
Andrew