Address reservation with the Netgear WGR614 v6 and Macs

This is one of those unusually specific posts which is aimed at those using Google to answer mystifying technical questions.

I’ve recently had a new Netgear router delivered as a part of a Virgin Media signup. It’s no Cisco, but it seems to be doing the trick.

I did however have an issue with address reservation and my three OS X-based devices: an iMac G5, a MacBook and an iPhone.

I wanted my iMac G5 to have a fixed internal IP address, so that I could set up the router to forward all traffic on a particular port to it. So, for example, I could forward all traffic on port 80 to it, and it could become a (rather poor) web server.

However, on disconnecting and reconnecting, the router wasn’t paying attention to the settings I had input on the Address Reservation screen.

Really, I only wanted my stationary iMac to have a fixed internal IP, but in trying to work out what the problem was I ended up assigning one to all of my machines.

Make the road wider

Other sites were sort-of helpful. At first, I tried to reserve an address for my iMac which was outside the DHCP server’s starting and ending addresses. The firmware wouldn’t allow for this, though.

By default, the DHCP server range goes from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.51, and I was picking addresses like 192.168.1.3 to reserve. When I disconnected and reconnected all my machines, the IP addresses they were granted were mixed up, regardless of their reserved address.

So I upped the DHCP server Ending IP Address to 192.168.1.200, and instead reserved addresses such as 192.168.1.180, .181 and .182.

This seems to have worked much better! So the secret seems to be to pick an address which is outside of the low-ending IP addresses, which are constantly in use by DCHP for assigning new machine addresses.

However, you do need to give the router a gentle push it seems before it’ll start assigning these addresses right away.

In System Preferences > Network > Airport > Advanced… > TCP/IP, I had to set the “Configure IPv4″ to “Manually” as opposed to “DHCP”, with the correct/desired addresses, re-connect, and then change back to “DHCP” and re-connect again before the automatic assignment comes into action. Beyond that, it seems to work fine.

I can’t decide on whose fault this last step is: Netgear or Apple. While there have been reports that Leopard’s DHCP doesn’t quite work in this regard with Netgear routers, I can’t see how the DHCP software will have changed so significantly (and selectively) between revisions. It naturally appears to be a router firmware issue, as it doesn’t seem to be taking into account the reserved address list when assigning addresses at all.

And finally, while I’m at it:

How to get the free Netgear WGR614v6 router from Virgin Media working with Macs

This is no doubt a cause of mass hysteria in the UK. Virgin supply a free router to their customers, yet neglect to provide any kind of support for it whatsoever. Bizarrely enough, installation is even simpler than it is with Windows, so long as you know what to do.

When installing for the first time, note that there is nothing to be set up with regards to the modem. According to Virgin, it is pre-programmed to connect itself with your account’s credentials.

Simply hook up all devices to one another properly, but don’t plug in the modem or the router yet.

First turn on power to the modem, and wait a minute or two for it to connect.

Then, turn on the modem, and again give it a minute to get itself in order. Then go to http://192.168.1.1/ and log in with username ‘virgin’ and password ‘preinstall’. Change that as so as you get the chance to.

You’ll be presented with the same set-up screen twice. Ignore the second one, it is useless. By the time you reach it, your router is working! Just go back to 192.168.1.1 and set the device up as you see fit.