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Guy Hart-Davis

"CNET Do-It-Yourself PC Upgrade Projects"


The easiest way to assign IP addresses is to have your router assign them automatically
by using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). When a PC or device
starts up, it looks for a DHCP server, a computer or device allocating IP addresses.
The PC or device requests an IP address from the DHCP server and then uses that IP
address until you shut it down. (And after you shut it down, the DHCP server marks
the IP address as being available for use by another computer or device.)
Your router may already be set up to assign IP addresses via DHCP. To find out,
connect a PC to your router following the instructions that come with the router. (For
example, you may need to connect directly via a USB cable or via an Ethernet cable
through a network switch.) Then access the configuration screens for the router and find
the means for allocating IP addresses. If necessary, change this setting to use DHCP.
DHCP works well for most small networks, but in some circumstances, you may find that you need
to assign IP addresses manually. For example, if you run your own web server or FTP server on your
network, you may need to direct incoming requests for web pages or FTP files to a particular PC.
In this case, assigning a fixed IP address to that PC makes directing the incoming requests much
easier. Consult your router??™s documentation for instructions on which IP addresses you can assign.


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