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[beefy314]

Which handles this better? Should i disable the one on my modem/router and use the one on theDNS323 or the other way around?

Are there any advantages of having the DNS server of the NAS run over the wireless router?

[Wiggs]

I am curious about this too.... currently I have my router assign the DHCP because it just makes more sense to me that the router would handle that function since it is always on to service the network (ie: the NAS might be off and then you would have no DHCP server!)

Wiggs

[fordem]

I would suggest that if your network includes a router for internet access, as most home networks do, that the DHCP server in the router be used, rather than the one in the NAS.

Wiggs gives one very good reason, I'll give you another ...

In most cases, the DHCP server, in addition to providing an ip address, also provides other important optional details such as the DNS server and gateway addresses, which are not required for a local area network to function, but are required if you want internet access

The DNS-323's DHCP server does not allow you to set any of these options (other than the length of the lease), so if you used it, rather than the router's DHCP server, you would have to manually set these entries on every PC on the network.

Additionally - in most cases - home networks do not have a DNS server, but use the ISP's DNS server, and the addresses of these servers can change from time to time, literally at the whim & fancy of the ISP, if you use the DNS-323's DHCP server with manually configured DNS server & gateway entries, you might not be aware of a change made by the ISP and suddenly find yourself unable to browse the internet.

On the other hand - your router, assuming it's getting it's WAN ip address from the ISP, using DHCP, will be automatically updated when such changes are made, and will in turn, automatically update the PCs - and the process is completely transparent to the end user.

The DHCP server in the DNS-323 appears to be a very basic one and suitable only for use on the most basic of networks - one with perhaps, the DNS-323 and a single PC.

[jdbos]

Agree with everything fordem and wiggs wrote... and here's another.

Many home routers let you use DHCP to distribute fixed addresses, using the hardware address (MAC address) of the device and a table that you enter into the router. If you use this capability, it gives you a centralized place to manage these addresses. Devices such as NAS boxes and print servers can pull the IP address automatically when they start, yet the address is guaranteed to be whatever you assign, so that your PCs all know where to look for it. From the point of view of the peripheral you are just doing DHCP, so devices automatically get the information such as gateway and DNS server that fordem alluded to. The devices will also work automatically if you plug them into another network (as long as there is a DHCP server), which is not necessarily the case if you assign their address statically.

Not all of these considerations apply to every network setup (for example, the DNS-323 runs SAMBA, so it will show up in the Network Neighborhood of your Windows PCS even if its IP address floats) but you lose nothing by having your router assign addresses and you potentially gain manageability if you hang more devices onto your network.