It is not uncommon that devices on the home network offer configuration of networking: either “DHCP”, where the device obtains the credentials from a DHCP server on the network (usually provided by the router), or “Manual” where the user sets IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS directly. Setting DHCP first, and then altering to Manual presets the netmask, gateway, and DNS fields appropriately, the user can then alter the IP address to their liking.
The advantage of this approach is to have the U1 on a predictable IP address on the network, for access to the Fluidd interface (etc), without having to configure it in the router.
So have I, but if the router has to be reset or replaced, all the reservations (not just the U1) will need setting up again. So much simpler to have user control over networking in the device, as several other of my devices do.
It’s not a simple task in the router either (YMMV). I would not be able to do it unless the U1 was connected at the time, then it needs to be identified in the devices list (not difficult with the U1 as it identifies itself as “U1”), and then register its MAC as having a reserved address.
I would not have bothered had my U1 started out on .118 (which I got used to) and then one day randomly switched to .108.
I’m all about user choice. It doesn’t seem hard to provide the option of manual control over the networking parameters.
I understand that more than a few folks have requested a desire to create a static IP and that modern devices and networks, to some degree, rely on DCHP. In my case we need to keep our entire network dynamic and even when I assign a static IP from the network side to test, any major restart or network disconnect causes our U1s to reassign their own IPs.
We use a cloud based tool to centralize the control of about 40+ printers and constantly needing to hunt down the new IP of a handful of printers and punch them back in to the server host of my tool to reconnect is, to say the least, not ideal.
Can we at least have the option to toggle static IP on the device side of things?
If you’re running 40+ printers, you can assign a dynamic IP to the MAC address in your DHCP server. Getting that setup will likely pay the time back quickly.
I run mixed on my home network. Desktops and servers get assigned a fixed IP by the DHCP servers, but laptops and phones get an IP from the dynamic pool. I manage my firewall myself, but my previous smart cable modem/wifi had the option to add MAC address → Static IP in the management console.
[Edit to add] I’m not downplaying the feature, just trying to offer a solution that is more immediately actionable. I think it’s a good feature request.
I appreciate the thoughtful response! Unfortunately, the issue is not Static vs DHCP as it pertains to network persistence so much as is about communication with a 3rd party cloud software we use to manage our printers. The software is quite robust and helpful for us (so we’re sticking with it) but one current limitation is that it only plays nice with static IPs on our network because it is not directly linked to our network [nor are we chomping at the bit to have a 3rd party have access to our network]. Totally reasonable solution otherwise though and I genuinely appreciate the thought/ input!