What are the benefits of Static IP addresses?

[plexer]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the replies. Some seem to think its handy but most seem to think its not necessary.

 

Are there any disadvantages to doing it? All those who said its not necessary on clients never really gave a disadvantage to the set up, merely that it was not needed.

 

Thanks

K

 

The disadvantage on lab machines with a true static IP is the time it would take to do it.

 

DHCP reservations would be slightly less onerous provided you had a list of the mac addresses for all the machines.

 

It's what DHCP was created for so why not use it?

 

Ben

[mac_shinobi]

The disadvantage on lab machines with a true static IP is the time it would take to do it.

 

DHCP reservations would be slightly less onerous provided you had a list of the mac addresses for all the machines.

 

It's what DHCP was created for so why not use it?

 

Ben

 

Am sure in one of mark russinovich's books for server OS it mentioned something along the lines of 'dhcp is your friend', otherwise you are just creating extra unnecessary work for yourself ( at least imo )

 

Obviously that is only if used correctly as above with regards to dhcp reservations and if needed / wanted keeping a list of machine mac addresses etc

[GrumbleDook]

The disadvantage on lab machines with a true static IP is the time it would take to do it.

 

DHCP reservations would be slightly less onerous provided you had a list of the mac addresses for all the machines.

 

It's what DHCP was created for so why not use it?

 

Ben

 

And most folk make a note of the MAC addresses on machines in their Asset Register and CMDB, so it is just another part of your process when setting up a new machine to also configure a reserved address for it too.

[PiqueABoo]

Well you won't get me spending my time making reservations for anything that isn't in traditional "static vs reservation" territory: The premise of computers is to make stuff easier, not to provide you with more ways to use people's time performing trained monkey work.

 

It hasn't yet, but if my "risk analysis" suggested there was a significant chance of needing to map IPs to MACs in some serious investigation then I'd just turn on DHCP logging to record the assignments and their timestamps, and should that ever need mapping to a specific machine/serial just go look in the DB with the *automagic* h/w inventory (via SCCM, Spiceworks, whatever).

[SimpleSi]

And most folk make a note of the MAC addresses on machines in their Asset Register

There's one thing for sure - GDs never going to be caught out by any sort of auditor or inspector

 

ll those who said its not necessary on clients never really gave a disadvantage

 

The time to do it!

 

Si

Edited May 23, 2012 by ZeroHour
Merged posts - ZH

[ZeroHour]

Merged posts.

A tip, you can quote multiple people using the bottom far right bar icon (http://statica.cdngeek.net/images/buttons/multiquote-back_40b.png) of the post then hitting "Reply to Thread" at the bottom.

[PiqueABoo]

There's one thing for sure - GDs never going to be caught out by any sort of auditor or inspector

 

Does GD need or have one of those CMDBs? I suspect the idea is that folk with networks can readily help a "police inspector" i.e. their long held Seven Year Snitch[tm] (preferably longer) data retention ambitions, where we log eveything in minute detail on the off chance they might need to investigate some serious crime with roots going back that far.

Edited May 23, 2012 by PiqueABoo

[GrumbleDook]

Does GD need or have one of those CMDBs? I suspect the idea is that folk with networks can readily help a "police inspector" i.e. their long held Seven Year Snitch[tm] (preferably longer) data retention ambitions, where we log eveything in minute detail on the off chance they might need to investigate some serious crime with roots going back that far.

 

Yes, I have CMDBs, and yes, I have logs which have helped investigations.

 

I also see to it that others have logs, which has also helped in investigations.

 

I have also seen investigations fall down because initial information, which could have forced larger checks, was not there ... and subsequent activities showed that if a further investigation was carried out at the time then the individuals could have been dealt with sooner ... but without justification for further investigation it just couldn't be done.

 

Anyway, people know my views on documentation, being accountable and being professional. If you have other tools to log things and don't need DHCP reservations , and there are a variety of ways of doing it (a good number tend to be ruled out as too pricey within some schools or to complex to set up it seems ... or simply not needed).