Static vs Automatic IP Address Assignment

[Neto]

Just wanted to start a fight here about static vs automatic IP Addresses..... (I told a customer recently that while each approach has some advantages, when you get the two sides together, it's like Democrats & Republicans.)

[mike]

Just wanted to start a fight here about static vs automatic IP Addresses..... (I told a customer recently that while each approach has some advantages, when you get the two sides together, it's like Democrats & Republicans.)

I am not an IT expert but I manage my small business network and know a little about static vs. dynamic, leases/reservations/ranges. I sure would hate if my scales, registers, printers, and terminals had IP addresses that hopped around all over the place... so I'm guessing the static fans are the Republicans, and the dynamic fans are the Democrats?

[QuietObserver]

At my job we use both. I guess that makes me an independent.

[Neto]

I sure would hate if my scales, registers, printers, and terminals had IP addresses that hopped around all over the place... so I'm guessing the static fans are the Republicans, and the dynamic fans are the Democrats?

I am neither Republican nor Democrat (or anything else political), so I just used it as an indication of the vigor with which I've seen this question debated.

But as to static vs automatic - I personally tend toward the automatic side, but I really do want to hear what others think.

[QuietObserver]

I am neither Republican nor Democrat (or anything else political), so I just used it as an indication of the vigor with which I've seen this question debated.

But as to static vs automatic - I personally tend toward the automatic side, but I really do want to hear what others think.

I prefer automatic if possible. I don't understand why someone would prefer static. There are certain applications that require static addresses. For example, some credit card terminals communicate with a computer using the local intranet.

[Bootstrap]

Imagine every chair has a number on the bottom of it.

Automatic IP is like a restaurant where you walk in and ask for a seat, they sit you down, and you can be served as soon as you have a seat. In this case, all of the seats are the same and you get the same service. A restaurant does not have enough chairs to provide every customer that will come into the restaurant with a unique seat that will never be used by another customer.

Static IP is like my kitchen table where my wife and I each sit in our fixed places. We also have some chairs that are free for guests, these are shared by other guests and by family members who no longer live with us.

Regardless, if you know the person's name, you can use it instead of the number on the seat. I address my wife by name. I do that at home, I do that when we eat at a restaurant, and I don't think how the seats were assigned when I talk to her. Similarly, I address well-known devices on my network by name.

On a small network where you know the devices, you can use either static or automatic. If you address the devices by name, it doesn't make much of a difference.