Getting an IP address

Getting an IP address
For the most part, if you’ve set up your router to provide IP addresses within
your network using DHCP (as we discuss in Chapters 5 and 7), your gaming
PC or gaming console will automatically connect to the router when the
device is turned on and will send a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP) request to the router asking for an IP address. If you’ve configured
your gaming PC like we discuss in Chapters 7 and 8, your computer should
get its IP address and be online automatically. Or, as we like to say about this
kind of neat stuff, automagically. You might need to go into a program to
select an access point and enter your WEP password, but otherwise, it
should just work without any intervention.
If you’ve got a game console with a wireless Ethernet bridge, the process
should be almost as smooth. The first time that you use the bridge, you
might need to use a Web-browser interface on one of your PCs to set up WEP
passwords; otherwise, your router should automatically assign an IP address
to your console. Sometimes, however, a router might not be completely compatible
with a gaming console. Keep in mind that online console gaming was
introduced in November of 2002, and many home router models have been
around much longer than that.
Before you get all wrapped around the axle trying to get your game console
connected to your router, check out the Web site of your particular console
maker and your router manufacturer. We have no doubt that you’ll find a lot
of information about how to make this connection using those resources. In
many cases, if you’re having troubles getting your router to assign an IP
address to your console, you’ll need to download a firmware upgrade for
your router. Firmware is the software that lives inside your router and that
tells your router how to behave. Most router vendors have released updated
firmware to help their older router models work with gaming consoles.
Some older router models simply aren’t going to work with gaming consoles.
If online gaming is an important part of your plans, check the Web sites that
we mention earlier above before you choose a router.
In most cases, if your console doesn’t get assigned an IP address automatically,
you’ll need to go into your router’s setup program — most use a Web
browser on a networked PC to adjust the configuration — and manually
assign a fixed IP address to the console. Unlike DHCP-assigned IP addresses
(which can change every time a computer logs onto the network), this fixed
IP address will always be assigned to your console.
Every router has a slightly different system for doing this, but typically you’ll
simply select an IP address that isn’t in the range of DHCP addresses that
your router automatically assigns to devices connected to your network.
You will need to assign an IP address that isn’t in the range of your router’s IP
address pool but that is within the same subnet. In other words, if your router
assigns IP addresses in the 192.168.0.xxx range, you’ll need to use an IP
address beginning with 192.168.0 for your game console. For example, if your
router uses the range of 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.32 for computers connected
to the network, you’ll want to choose an IP address like 192.168.0.34 for your
console. Every router’s configuration program is different, but you’ll typically
see a box that reads something like DHCP Server Start IP Address (with
an IP address next to it) and another box that reads something like DHCP
Server Finish IP Address with another box containing an IP address.
(Some routers might just list the start address, followed by a count — meaning
that the finish address is the last number in the start address plus the
count number.)
The key thing to remember here is that you’ve only got to come up with the
last number in the IP address — the number after the third period in the IP
address. The first three (which are usually 192.168.0) won’t change. All you
need to do to assign this IP address is to pick a number between 0 and 254
that is not in the range that your router uses for DHCP.