Dave Stone
asked on
Running Out of IP Addresses
Hello,
We are running out of IP addresses on our LAN. The scope is 192.168.1.20 - 192.168.1.250. Between static IPs, Reserved IPs and all the mobile devices we are constantly bumping up against the limit. How can I increase the quantity of IP addresses available?
We are running out of IP addresses on our LAN. The scope is 192.168.1.20 - 192.168.1.250. Between static IPs, Reserved IPs and all the mobile devices we are constantly bumping up against the limit. How can I increase the quantity of IP addresses available?
Perhaps introduce a second DHCP range for the wireless devices? You'll just have to use some routing to allow them to get back to the original range.
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Just some general things, what is your DHCP lease time? How about setting it to 24 hours?
Do you clear out reservations for defunct equipment regularly?
The guys above are correct but my suggestions can be useful practice.
Do you clear out reservations for defunct equipment regularly?
The guys above are correct but my suggestions can be useful practice.
Is there a reason you're limiting yourself to the range 192.168.1.20 - 192.168.1.250? There are lots more private IP addresses available, which you can use (as long as these ranges aren't already in use somewhere else in your company):
If you're not the person responsible for assigning IP ranges in your company, then ask the person who is if you can have an additional range to use. The easiest (most optimal) additional range for you would be 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.1.254, as LeeW mentioned above.
- 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255
- 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
- 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
If you're not the person responsible for assigning IP ranges in your company, then ask the person who is if you can have an additional range to use. The easiest (most optimal) additional range for you would be 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.1.254, as LeeW mentioned above.
Actually, just to add to the list of possibilities, it is a good idea to have your static IPs (servers?) in a separate range than your dynamic IPs anyway. So if you move your dynamic IPs to a new range, you can assign it the full range and get even more IPs that way.
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I like the sound of Lee's suggestion "change the subnet mask from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.254.0 - this will give you 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.1.254 as usable addresses (that's essentially doubling the number you have). But EVERYTHING must have it's subnet mask changed or they can have problems communicating." But am a little concerned with "Changing EVERYTHING" to the new subnet mask.
Ok. Care to elaborate?
If you don't understand networking, I'd suggest hiring a professional to do it for you. If you change the mask, then only devices with the same mask can communicate!
Your only other option is to add a new logical network and a router between the two of them.
If you don't understand networking, I'd suggest hiring a professional to do it for you. If you change the mask, then only devices with the same mask can communicate!
Your only other option is to add a new logical network and a router between the two of them.
But am a little concerned with "Changing EVERYTHING" to the new subnet maskI suspect a lot of your device are getting their address from DHCP? So changing the subnet mask the the DHCP server hands out will look after a lot of things.
If you wish, Experts Exchange offers the ability to hire an Expert to help you with things like this. This could either be a Gig (short term project) or may even be a candidate for Live Help.
changing your subnetmask can change things or even better use VLAN if possible to manage logical groups.
Modify DHCP, layer 3 switches and routers + firewall, and maybe proxy.