OK, I have done alot of networks and one thing I don't really know about is DNS servers.

What is it and what should I enter in the DNS 1 address line and DNS 2 address line? I have always just left them alone because they are automatically filled with dynamic addressing.

This has come to my attention recently because I am doing a large RTI system and I always start with dynamic addressing and I just copy the DNS server info and enter that in the DNS Server blanks when I go back to assign static addresses. Doing this twice is costing me alot of time and I always have at least one conflict that kicks an In-wall touchscreen off the network so I have to go to and fix via USB. On top of that, my damn laptop battery is crap so I must shutdown and find an outlet near the In-wall touchscreen. PITA.

DNS - resolves names to IP numbers. It's what turns microsoft.com into 207.46.197.32.

It should be whatever the ISP has assigned. Some routers will take over DNS forwarding meaning all clients would have a single DNS server address of the router's IP, and it would handle the rest.

If you don't like the ISP's DNS servers (sometimes they're slow) you could also use a free DNS server such as OpenDNS or Google Public DNS.

OK, so what should I enter into these blanks?

Can I look this up on the network router?

The router should tell you somewhere in its configuration screens, but the easiest thing to do would be to see what a DHCP-based computer on the same router is giving you.

Incidentally, why can't you use DHCP (fully automatic) with your RTI gear?

It just seems to keep things running smoother with the handhelds. So I have always assigned static IP addresses to any gear that I install. I might try going all DHCP on my store's demo system just to see if any problems come up. I may be doing all this extra work for no reason.

you should assign static IP's to be able to ID devices when you update them by ethernet: I name each device and add the last 3 digits of the static IP as a suffix to the name in properties: e.g. living room 105 would mean 192.168.0.105 IP in my system

also you will run out of DHCP addresses: I started doing a large system with DHCP and got an error message that I had used up all my DHCP assignments: you can increase the DHCP range but static IP's work much better

Depending on the router you could combine DHCP with static entries - let the router assign everything, and then tell it to make those particular devices static. You could even move them to a new IP range (I have a number of devices in my network assigned by DHCP that now fall out of the automatic DHCP range).

Of course if you replace the router you'd lose those settings.

Hi guys, your DNS settings will work more reliably if they are filled in with any type of control system or device (Escient, Media Servers, etc) even with DHCP assigned.

I am more of a Cisco/Linksys guy myself, but the way you access your DNS settings is to do the following:

Login to your router settings: 192.168.1.1
user- admin
pass- ?????

Click the 'status' field on the far right tab

You will see all your assigned router settings. Gateway, Subnet, DHCP vs assigned, DNS 1,2,&3, and firmware information about your roter.

Of course, this does not tell you what to do with Netgear, DLink, BUffalo, Apple, etc, but it should provide some clues.

Good luck, get back to me with any questions.

Vincent

Filled in with what?

I usually use OpenDNS entries, just curious what you meant.

I use Googles DNS because its so easy to remember.

8.8.8.8
or
8.8.4.4

and its fast, only problem is google is probably tracking every move.

OK, so I can use different DNS adresses? I thought iI had to use the address the router or ISP assigned.

So what is a DNS server?

On the router you could put googles DNS in the setup.

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

You could then either put the routers LAN IP on the clients (laptop, desktop, XP8, media server, blu ray, etc etc) or put the
8.8.8.8.

OK, I get it now.

I'll try Google's DNS servers.

Thanks!

You can also put your gateway address (192.168.1.1, etc...) as the primary DNS server and then use your secondary ISP DNS server... It will forward to the primary ISP DNS server so if they ever change it... which they do, you will be good to go.