Understanding dynamic and static IP addressing

Gateway 7001 Series self-managed APs are built to auto-configure, with very little setup required for the first access point and no configuration required for additional access points subsequently joining a preconfigured cluster.

How does the access point obtain an IP address at startup?

When you deploy the access point, it looks for a network DHCP server and, if it finds one, obtains an IP Address from the DHCP server. If no DHCP server is found on the network, the AP will continue to use its default Static IP Address (192.168.1.1) until you re-assign it a new static IP address (and specify a static IP addressing policy) or until a DHCP server is brought online.

Important If you configure both an Internal and Guest network and plan to use a dynamic addressing policy for both, separate DHCP servers must be running on each network.

A DHCP server is a requirement for the Guest network.

When you run KickStart, it discovers the Gateway 7001 Series self-managed APs on the network and lists their IP addresses and MAC addresses. KickStart also provides a link to the administration Web pages of each access point using the IP address in the URL. (For more information about the KickStart utility, see “Running KickStart to find access points and assign IP addresses” on page 20.)

Dynamic IP addressing

The Gateway 7001 Series self-managed AP generally expects that a DHCP server is running on the network where the AP is deployed. Most home and small business networks already have DHCP service provided either through a gateway device or a centralized server.

However, if no DHCP server is present on the Internal network, the AP will use the default Static IP Address for first time startup.

Similarly, wireless clients and other network devices (such as printers) will receive their IP addresses from the DHCP server, if there is one. If no DHCP server is present on the network, you must manually assign static IP addresses to your wireless clients and other network devices.

The Guest network must have a DHCP server.

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