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It is very important to setup a static ip address, if you are going to use port forwarding. When you have port forwarding setup, your router forwards ports to the ip address you specify. This will probably work when you initially set it up. But after restarting your computer, it may have a different ip address. When this happens the ports are no longer forwarded to your ip address. So your port forwarding configuration will not work.
What is an ip address?
IP addresses are four sets of numbers separated by periods that allow computers to identify each other. Every computer has at least one ip address, and two computers should never have the same ip address. If they do neither of them will be able to connect to the internet. There is a lot of information at the following link. You don't need all of it. But if you want to know more about how networks work you'll find it there. For more information on ip addresses, subnets, and gateways go here
Dynamic vs Static IPs Usually when a network is setup, it is setup with dynamic ip addresses. This is done because its easy to setup a dynamic ip address network. When ip addresses are assigned dynamically, the router is the one that assigns them. Every time a computer reboots it asks the router for an ip address. The router then hands it an ip address it hasn't previously handed out. This is important to note. When you set your computer to a static ip address, that ip address is not handed out by the router. So the very same ip address may be handed to another computer later, and that will prevent them from connecting to the internet. So when you start assigning static ip addresses, you need to assign a static ip address for every computer on your network.
Setting up a static ip for windows xp.
If you have a printer, before you begin print out this page!
Step 1:
Open up the start menu, and click Run. You should now see the following window.
Step 2:
Type cmd in the Open: box, and click Okay. The will bring up a black command prompt window.
Step 3:
The command prompt may look different on your screen, but it doesn't really matter. Type ipconfig /all in that window, and then press the enter key. This will dISPlay a lot of information. If it scrolls off the top you may need to enlarge the window.
Step 4:
I want you to write down some of the information in this window. Take down the IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and Name Servers. Name Server is just another name for DNS(domain name server) server. Make sure to note which is which. We are going to use this information a little bit later. If you did not see any Name Server, give your ISP a call. They should be able to tell you what they are. Type exit in this window, then press the enter key to close it.
Step 5:
Once again open the start menu. This time click Control Panel.
Step 6:
Double click Network Connections.
Step 7:
You may have several network connections in this window. I want you to right click on the one you use to connect to the internet. Then click properties.
If you are unsure of which one that is, right click it and then click disable. Open a new copy of your web browser? Did it open a webpage? If you can not, then you've found your internet connection. Close that browser window. Go ahead and right click the network connection again and then click enable. Once again open up a new web browser. You should see a webpage. Close the browser window. Right click on the network connection and click properties at the bottom.
Step 8:
You should now have the above window on your screen. Click the properties button to open up the properties window of this internet connection.
Step 9:
Click Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) and then the Properties button. You will now see the following screen.
Step 10:
Before you make any changes, write down the settings that you see on this page. If something goes wrong you can always change the settings back to what they were! You should see a dot in the Obtain an IP address automatically box. If you do not, your connection is already setup for a static ip. Just close all these windows and you are done.
Click the Use the following IP Address. Then enter the ip address we previously found in the Ip Address box. Put the subnet mask we previously found in the subnet mask section. The default gateway should go into the Default gateway box. Enter the dns servers we prevoiusly found into the two DNS Server boxes. Click okay all the way out of this menu.
If you find that you can not pull up webpages, the problem is most likely the dns numbers you entered. Give your ISP a call, and they will be able to tell you which dns servers to use. This is a question they answer all of the time. They will be able to tell you what you should use right away.
That's it you should be done! If you can't connect to the internet go back and change your configuration back to what it originally was. Remember that all of the computers on your network need to be setup like this, and every one of them needs to have a different ip address!!!!
This post has been edited by EAO ShrtCut: 03 July 2006 - 12:30 PM
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