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[jclarkw]

It has been recommended that DHCP reservations increase reliability (eliminate IP conflicts, which I have occasionally observed on power-cycling the router) and simplify troubleshooting, all of which sounds reasonable and desirable.  My User Manual says, "Enter the computer name. Alternatively, select a computer that currently has a DHCP lease from the drop down menu and click << to automatically populate the Computer Name, IP Address, and MAC Address fields..."

Questions not addressed by the Manual:

1) Is a "computer name" actually required, or just the MAC address?  (For example, when connected, my two Kindles show up in Setup/Network Settings/Number of Dynamic DHCP Clients with Host Name "unknown," although their MAC addresses appear correctly.)

2) What if your device is not currently connected and does not have a name (as above), or if you only have the MAC address available for a device that's offline?  Can you manually add such a device to your DHCP Reservations List?

3) Having enabled DHCP reservations (in order to get to the Add DHCP Reservation box), what happens when you specify an IP address different from the one that the device is currently using?  Does none of this take effect until you save settings?  Until the router is rebooted?

4) Off topic -- Is there any difference between clicking "Don't Save Settings" and just closing the browser?

5) Further off topic -- My User Manual, DIR-645_Manual_US.pdf, says it's Rev. 1.0, June 02, 2011 for DIR-645 Revision A1 with firmware version 1.00.  Is a newer one available?  (I'm running firmware 1.03.  The UK version is similarly out of date.)

Maybe I'm expecting too much hand-holding, but before I start blindly experimenting with DHCP reservations, it would be nice to have some idea what can/must be done... -- jclarkw

[FurryNutz]

DIR-645/865L/826L/835 Gaming and Gamefuel for XBL

Using IP Reservations is highly recommended and preferred.

On the 645, You need to Save Settings first, continue to make any other configurations, then when you are done, use the Tools/System/Reboot Router to finalized and apply the changes.

There are no newer User Manuals.

[jclarkw]

DIR-645/865L/826L/835 Gaming and Gamefuel for XBL
On the 645, You need to Save Settings first, continue to make any other configurations, then when you are done, use the Tools/System/Reboot Router to finalized and apply the changes.

Well, after some experimentation I guess the answers to the questions above are as follows:

1) Yes, a name is required.

Kindles (at least model 2, which show up in the connections list with correct MAC addresses but "unknown" names) apparently cannot be given reservations.  Trying to save settings with one in the reservations list yields an error message, "invalid device name."  Any suggestions?

2) No.

3) Answered above.  A device reboot re-connects the devices to the reserved IPs. -- jclarkw

[FurryNutz]

Just type in a NAME in the Host Name box, can't be anything to help you identify what the device is.

[jclarkw]

Just type in a NAME in the Host Name box, can't be anything to help you identify what the device is.

OK, that worked.  Thanks.  The names are apparently arbitrary in the DHCP Reservations screen.  (I don't know whether renaming devices that already have names is acceptable, but it seemed inadvisable since these names sometimes also appear elsewhere -- see below.)

I'm still a bit confused about where "computer names" do and do not matter and/or show up.  For example, sometimes no names, sometimes some names, and sometimes all names show up in the Status/Device Info/LAN Computers list and in the Status/Internet Sessions list.  (The Status/Wireless/Number of Wireless Clients list has no column for names for whatever reason.)   Nothing is ever listed anymore in the Setup/Network Settings/Number of Dynamic DHCP Clients list, perhaps because they are now all reserved?

Best Regards -- jclarkw

[FurryNutz]

Computer Names comes from the devices host name, if there is one. Mostly seen on PCs and some gaming devices where you can manually enter in a Computer name. For windows, right click on the My Computer icon, left click on Properties, left click on Computer Name tab. Left click on Change button.  Anything you put here should appear on the routers Status or Dynamic Clients list. Other devices and platforms may vary on how users can configure this.

I noticed that some devices do not get reported like this correctly and presume that there could be an issue with how the device replies to the routers queries for this information. Being that there are billions and billions of devices out there and the standard may vary for this information, router may not acquire all this information.

You can change the Computer Name when ever you need to and does not depend on what is being reported either. Make it simple for you to identify the devices on the router when the name isn't being reported. K.I.S.S. 


Enjoy.

[jclarkw]

You can change the Computer Name when ever you need to and does not depend on what is being reported either. Make it simple for you to identify the devices on the router when the name isn't being reported. K.I.S.S. 

Thanks!

[FurryNutz]