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Full Version: Static IP same for LAN and WLAN using laptop as server?
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I'm using ServerWMC as the backend on my laptop to send live TV and recordings to my XBMC client (chromebox) front end. When setting it all up, the instructions called for assigning a static IP address under LAN for my server (laptop) in my router settings. All is working well after following instructions in advocate99's pinned guide above, but I haven't taken the laptop off the ethernet cable yet either. I intend to still use this laptop some around the house without it being plugged in to LAN. What considerations do I need to make for it to continue to communicate with XBMC and the pvr client I'm using in XBMC while I have the laptop/server using wireless internet? My thought was just to put the exact same IP under WLAN as I have for LAN and make it static like I did for the LAN IP address.

I'm new to all of this if that wasn't already obvious so I apologize if I'm not asking this question in the right way. Thanks.
Im not networking guru, but I don't think your router would allow assigning the same static IP address to 2 different MAC addresses (ie your laptop LAN port and WLAN adapter). What happens if you plug in your laptop while it is also on wireless, the same IP address cant be assigned to both interfaces... If you really had to go down this route, you could probably leave your router out of it and just set the static IP on the laptop side on both the wireless and wired connections, and be careful not to have both connected at once...

Ideally you wouldn't need to use the IP address at all, if DNS/name resolution works on the chromebox so that you could find the laptop by name. Then regardless of what IP address it has and n which network interface, you would be able to find it. I don't know anything about chromebox sorry. Can you get a command line interface and try to ping the laptop by name? Depending on what router you have it may have a DNS service. Or you could run a DNS service on another PC on your LAN (or even the laptop itself).

Becauase the IP address Is not only on the client side for where t oconnect but also on the serverside for what SMB path to send back for thhe streams/recordings, you really cant have a working setup where the server is on variable IP addresses, unless you have DNS working to allow clients to refer to the server by name
(2014-10-18, 11:26)scarecrow420 Wrote: [ -> ]Ideally you wouldn't need to use the IP address at all, if DNS/name resolution works on the chromebox so that you could find the laptop by name. Then regardless of what IP address it has and n which network interface, you would be able to find it. I don't know anything about chromebox sorry. Can you get a command line interface and try to ping the laptop by name? Depending on what router you have it may have a DNS service. Or you could run a DNS service on another PC on your LAN (or even the laptop itself).

Becauase the IP address Is not only on the client side for where t oconnect but also on the serverside for what SMB path to send back for thhe streams/recordings, you really cant have a working setup where the server is on variable IP addresses, unless you have DNS working to allow clients to refer to the server by name
Thanks for the insight. I wiped the Chromebox's OS so it's just running OpenELEC and xbmc. I'll look into just finding the laptop by name. I feel like I remember something about that in the setup process. This certainly seems like the way I need to go if I intend to unplug the laptop without losing functionality. I'll report back.
I agree with scarecrow, I'd be very surprised if your router assigned a new IP to your laptop once you switch to wireless. IMO, the bigger concern with what you are trying to do is wireless bandwidth. If you only have a single client and you have plenty of signal strength you might be okay, but watch for smooth playback and buffering issues. If you add a second client later, and you'd like them to run at the same time, you might need to build a wired server.
So you're saying it may be OK as is in regards to the IP address? And yes, long term I intend to have a dedicated wired server that never moves, but for now the laptop is the family computer so there will be times it gets used on wireless. The most likely scenario is wife and I will be watching a recorded show via the xbmc pvr client and at the same time one of us has the laptop in our lap doing something on the internet. The only additional strain I could see there is if a show is also being recorded during that time.
Yeah, my post is wrong, it will probably change the IP address because the mac will change when you switch to wireless.