[n0aH]

We are upgrading the computer system of the place i work and im the only one that knows anything at all obout computers, so they have kinda thrown me into the whole upgrade process. We had 10 pentium 2 pos comps, and they have purchased 10 new p4's. Only problem is we HAVE to have broadband now, no more dial up.

The problem is, the dsl company says that they can NOT give us a static ip due to our adress, do we really need one. The only thing on the netwrok will be roughly 10 workstations, and two credit card machines. Thanx

[klingens]

No static IP needed. Static IPs are only if you're running servers like a webserver or doing VPN for remote employees.

If all you do is websurf, no static IP needed. You will need a router and a switch to get all 10 client PCs and the credit card terminals online.

[CGR]

There is no reason they cannot give you a static IP address. Your physical address does not affect whether you can get a static IP or not. It only affects the amount of bandwidth you may receive.

And I do not know of any DSL service that doesnt provide minimum 1 static IP. I would call them back and ask why you cannot get a static IP.

Technically King is right though, you could have your router do DHCP to get the address from your DSL service, however I always prefer having a static IP for my router/firewall.

[almstsobur]

Most DSL companies make you upgade your plan to a much pricier plan to get a static. If your not hosting anything to the outside world .. just use the dynamic and it will be fine.

[Shelnutt2]

One thing I recently discovered was www.no-ip.org. I read it from the sticky on setting up apache. With their service you can setup wit a sub domain that auto redirects to your dynamic IP address. They have a client you download that will run in the background, that updates your IP when it changes.

Just handy info incase you ever go to setup something where you might have needed a static IP, such as VPN, or website, or anything. (Note also with no-ip.org domain you can do a domain trace and find your actual IP that way when not on site at work, if needed).

[skidooosl]

When you ask if you need static or dynamic ip addresses do you mean for your computers or from the ISP? If you have 10 computers that all need internet access you will need to setup a hide NAT behind the IP that is assigned by the ISP…. To make it cheap / easy I would get a residential router ( Linksys, Netgear etc) and a switch. Keep in mind that if you have 10pc’s and 2 credit card machines over 2 switches you will need a minimum of 14 ports for your internal network. As far as the addressing goes leave everything DHCP for both your internal and external IP addresses. Your router will receive a public routable ip address from your ISP and your internal workstations will receive a private ip address.

[Enablingwolf]

I am unsure with other providers.

I have a dynamic IP for my ISP. If my modem is left off for 18 hours I get another IP. Otherwise I have the same IP day after day. Actually my IP has been the same for many months now. The only reason I have a new IP is from a vacation and turning the modem off for 2 days. If I left the modem on, I would have the same dynamic IP for over a year now. Close to two years.

So long as I do not turn the modem off for long periods. I don't worry about renewing it.

[n0aH]

First off, i am talking about a static or dynamic between the isp and our store, not in our network. They gave me some bs about not being able to give me a static adress because there equipment is to old... The only thing that worries me is that they say that there is an "offsite server" that we will be using for backups. im wondering exactly what that is going to be and if i will need a static ip for that.

[klingens]

The backup server itself should have a static IP (there are ways around this but they aren't "Business" grade). But since it's not your backupserver but their server which provides a service to you, that's no problem of yours

Again: unless you run a server for the internet (e.g. hosting your own website locally) you won't need a static IP.

THe reason they don't like to give out static IPs is simple: static IPs are lost for them, dynamic ones they can share between several people on average. IPs are scarce, hard to get from ARIN. ISPs also don't want you to host your own website. They'd rather host it for more money in their datacenters. Result is, you have to pay extra for static IPs if you can get them at all.