Static of Dynamic IP's?

[turnkey]

Hi,

I was wondering what your thoughts were on whether a Static or Dynamic IP address would be best for IP Phones?

I'm contemplating this at the moment and I think Static IP's are probably best, especially in a mixed PC and Phone network?

 

[comresource]

I typically create static reservations in a range outside normal desktops. The phones are still DHCP clients but they get the same address each time they boot.

 

[turnkey]

Sorry, but I don't see how the phones can tell which range to use?

 

[KerryG]

You can define the range within your DHCP scope depending on which DHCP server you are using. You can set the DHCP server to hand out reservations based on the mac address of the phone. That said, I usually don't setup reservations or static ips on the phones. Always seems like its more work than its worth.

 

[turnkey]

Sure, okay thanks Kerry, I'll give that a go.

 

[comresource]

You can define the range within your DHCP scope depending on which DHCP server you are using. You can set the DHCP server to hand out reservations based on the mac address of the phone. That said, I usually don't setup reservations or static ips on the phones. Always seems like its more work than its worth.

We really only do it for a couple of reasons.

1. This makes troubleshooting a bit easier. If running sniffer traces it helps to know that X.X.X.101-199 is a phone so we can filter out the rest.

2. Our managed service offerings allows us to apply os/application/device specific monitoring templates to devices based on ranges of IP addresses. for example 1-10 for servers, 50-100 desktops, 101-150 IP Phones. 200-254 Network devices (switches, routers, wireless).

A clean IP mapping table is easier to manage.