GBPVR with MVP - Static IP and ZoneAlarm

[Pneumoped]

I just got my MVP and Hauppauge WinTV 500 in the mail today and I'll be setting up my PVR this weekend - or even tonight.

Since I'm using ZoneAlarm Pro with a Linksys firewall router, I needed to set up my LAN on a Static IP network instead of DHCP. I've tried looking for any posts here that talk about whether I can use the MVP and GBPVR with a Static IP network.

Is this possible? If so, are there any set up tips anyone can pass along?

Thanks,
pneumoped

Win XP Pro

[gomjabar]

You could always set your DHCP server to assign the same IP address to the same mac address. Its called a reservation. Some routers do it but you could always use a third party DHCP server.

[wtg]

I just got my MVP and Hauppauge WinTV 500 in the mail today and I'll be setting up my PVR this weekend - or even tonight.

Since I'm using ZoneAlarm Pro with a Linksys firewall router, I needed to set up my LAN on a Static IP network instead of DHCP. I've tried looking for any posts here that talk about whether I can use the MVP and GBPVR with a Static IP network.

Is this possible? If so, are there any set up tips anyone can pass along?

As I understand it, the MVP doesn't allow you to assign it a static IP. It needs a DHCP server to operate.

Many routers allow you to set up a static DHCP server, which is where the router can be configured to always assign the same IP address to the computers on your network, based on their MAC address, but the linksys doesn't have this option using the standard firmware. You can replace the firmware with 3rd party firmware, like the Alchemy firmware available from Sveasoft and some other open source firmwares, like HyperWRT, but the stock firmware doesn't have a static DHCP server option. Replacing your firmware with third party firmware does void your router warranty.

For a while I used Sveasoft's firmware in my WRT54G, but it was pre-release beta and had some issues so eventually I abandoned it. It's probably better now, but because I wanted static DHCP so badly at the time and couldn't put up with it's other issues, I just bought a D-Link router which supports it standardly. Someone on the forums yesterday mentioned some other firmware based on the Alchemy release that's supposed to be real good, but I've not tried it.

The Alchemy's basis is the standard Linksys GPL code, so presumably you'd still be able to use the Linksys/ZoneAlarm combo, but I don't know for sure.

Good luck,
Tim

[AOSandman]

Since I'm using ZoneAlarm Pro with a Linksys firewall router, I needed to set up my LAN on a Static IP network instead of DHCP.

I guess I haven't used ZoneAlarm in a long time, but I don't see why you would be "required" to use static IP addresses. Anyway...

Even if you have all of your PCs setup with static IP addresses, you could still leave the DHCP server enabled on the router. All of the static addressed devices will ignore it, and devices that require DHCP (like the MVP) will still be able to get an address.

[dgeezer]

I have my linksys router setup so that some of the computers have static IP addresses and the rest (including the mvp) are dynamic. My GBpvr machine and my laptop are set up to be static. (My laptop is sometimes used for bittorrent so I need port forwarding... sshhhh).

See this article:

http://www.dslwebserver.com/main/fr_inde...twork.html

The mvp seems to find a connection quicker setup this way.

[AOSandman]

I have my linksys router setup so that some of the computers have static IP addresses...

Technically that's not static addressing, (as Gomjabar said) it's a reservation. Static addressing would be done on the client device (i.e. PC, server, etc), not the router. No matter what, the client device will only use that static address. With reservations, the client device is still configured to use DHCP. If the DHCP server recognizes the client's MAC address then it hands out the appropriate reserved address, if not then it hands out an address from the pool. Two very similar ideas, but distinctly different.

[soccerdad]

I am using regular Zone Alarm (not pro) and I only use DHCP. I keep xp firewall shutdown. I have a WRT54G router. It works fine. I just allow the zone alarm exceptions when they pop up. I just check the "always do this box" and it is fine until I update GBPVR and then I just have to ok the changed program items.

[gomjabar]

Have you set up a trusted zone in zonealarm for your lan? Then you can set the safety slider to low for just your computers and mvp, while leaving the internet at full.

[malcolm]

Like the other posts I don't see why you would need a static IP with Zone Alarm, but I have set my router (not a Linksys) to a 99 day lease time, so all my in house systems effectively have a fixed IP. Would this help?

[Pneumoped]

I was able to set everything up with Zone Alarm (ZA) and everything works just fine. I think what I was concerned about was a problem that ZA had several years ago when I first set up my network.

I had read on the DSLNuts boards about how a DHCP setting would confuse ZA each time a different address was handed out and therefore home networks using ZA would have to use Static addresses.

However, since that time I've upgraded ZA dozens of times and when I changed my network over to DHCP it all worked just fine.

Thanks for all the help.
Chris