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Enable DHCP Server: Once your router is properly configured and this option is enabled, the DHCP Server will manage the IP addresses and other network configuration information for computers and other devices connected to your Local Area Network. The computers (and other devices) connected to your LAN also need to have their TCP/IP configuration set to "DHCP" or "Obtain an IP address automatically". When you set Enable DHCP Server, the following options are displayed.
DHCP IP Address Range: These two IP values (from and to) define a range of IP addresses that the DHCP Server uses when assigning addresses to computers and devices on your Local Area Network. Any addresses that are outside of this range are not managed by the DHCP Server; these could, therefore, be used for manually configured devices or devices that cannot use DHCP to obtain network address details automatically.
It is possible for a computer or device that is manually configured to have an address that does reside within this range. In this case the address should be reserved (see DHCP Reservation below), so that the DHCP Server knows that this specific address can only be used by a specific computer or device.
Your router, by default, has a static IP address of 192.168.0.1. This means that addresses 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254 can be made available for allocation by the DHCP Server.
DHCP Lease Time: The amount of time that a computer may have an IP address before it is required to renew the lease. The lease functions just as a lease on an apartment would. The initial lease designates the amount of time before the lease expires. If the tenant wishes to retain the address when the lease is expired then a new lease is established. If the lease expires and the address is no longer needed than another tenant may use the address.
Always Broadcast: If all the computers on the LAN successfully obtain their IP addresses from the router's DHCP server as expected, this option can remain disabled. However, if one of the computers on the LAN fails to obtain an IP address from the router's DHCP server, it may have an old DHCP client that incorrectly turns off the broadcast flag of DHCP packets. Enabling this option will cause the router to always broadcast its responses to all clients, thereby working around the problem, at the cost of increased broadcast traffic on the LAN.
NetBIOS Advertisement: Check this box to allow the DHCP Server to offer NetBIOS configuration settings to the LAN hosts. NetBIOS allows LAN hosts to discover all other computers within the network, e.g. within Network Neighborhood.
Learn NetBIOS information from WAN: If NetBIOS advertisement is switched on, switching this setting on causes WINS information to be learned from the WAN side, if available. Turn this setting off to configure manually.
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