Network Setup Problem/Question

[NotSoEzAsIXpecteD]

Hello!
I want to setup my network to be 10GbE Base-T capable. But I found something that I'm not sure about. In this config:
Netgear X10 connected to Netgear Managed Switch XS708E, and to this managed switch I want to connect two unmanaged ones in two rooms. I would connect devices to unmanaged switches. And the question is: could I see (and edit networking setting such as static LAN IP adress) devices connected to unmanaged switch in console of managed switch or router console?

Thanks in advance

[Oshino Shinobu]

The static IP address of devices would be managed from the device end, not from the switch or router. 

 

You can still see their IP addresses, but they're set client side. Any management of ports would only be available on the managed switch (and router). If you had it managed switch > unmanaged switch > end device and you wanted to change some setting for the end device on the managed switch, then it would effect everything connected to the unmanaged switch as well. 

 

EDIT: As the switch is a layer 2 device, you may not see IP addresses there as that information doesn't mean anything to the switch. You will be able to see the IP addresses used on the network through the router though. 

 

[NotSoEzAsIXpecteD]

1 hour ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

The static IP address of devices would be managed from the device end, not from the switch or router. 

 

You can still see their IP addresses, but they're set client side. Any management of ports would only be available on the managed switch (and router). If you had it managed switch > unmanaged switch > end device and you wanted to change some setting for the end device on the managed switch, then it would effect everything connected to the unmanaged switch as well. 

 

EDIT: As the switch is a layer 2 device, you may not see IP addresses there as that information doesn't mean anything to the switch. You will be able to see the IP addresses used on the network through the router though. 

 

Ok then, but is there an option to set manually all LAN IP adresses for all devices connected to unmanaged switches that are connected to main managed switch and to the router?

[Oshino Shinobu]

18 minutes ago, NotSoEzAsIXpecteD said:

Ok then, but is there an option to set manually all LAN IP adresses for all devices connected to unmanaged switches that are connected to main managed switch and to the router?

Well, if you want to set all of them manually, then you'd need to go to each device and set it on each one. It's not really a setting that you'd change on the router or switches. 

 

The one thing you would need to do if you're setting all, or at least some of the IP addresses manually is set up the DHCP pool appropriately. Technically, if you're setting everything manually (for some reason), then you could turn off DHCP completely, but I wouldn't really advise it. 

 

Instead, what I'd recommend doing is setting the DHCP pool (this will be an option in the router's settings) to start or end part way through your range of addresses. So, if you're using the address range 192.168.1.x/24 for example, then you could set the DHCP pool to go from 192.168.1.150 to 192.168.1.254. That way, you have addresses 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.149 available to set manually without any potential DHCP conflict issues, but then you also have 192.168.1.150 to 192.168.1.254 available for devices using DHCP to obtain their IP address info. You can adjust the pool to account for how many static addresses you need. 

 

I personally have my DHCP pool running from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.220 so that I have 192.168.1.221 to 192.168.1.254 available for static addresses (things like my personal PC, NAS, access points, printers and some other devices I need to know the IP address of are set manually).

 

EDIT: To clarify on the router and switch side of things: 

 

Switches don't care about IP addresses. Unless they're layer 3 switches, they basically won't even look at the IP address, they'll just go right to the MAC address and use that. 

 

The router, so long as the IP info is correct (ie. in the correct subnet, with the correct default gateway), doesn't care if the address is static or assigned via DHCP. It will still route traffic in the same way. If you have a device on the network that needs to be accessed from outside of the network, then you'll likely be needing to port forward on the router to the local IP of the device that needs accessing. In that case, it makes sense to have the address assigned manually so that it won't change, so the port forward rule keeps working. That's really more of how you configure it though, rather than the router caring one way or the other whether the address is static or not.