# Static I.P. option



## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

I've been fighting DHCP issues with Dish DVRs for as long as they've been IP capable. Neither of my 622s or either of my Hoppers will reliably or consistently pull a DHCP address from any of the three servers / routers I've used with them over the years. It's always the same story; a manual reset of the DVR will result in a successful DHCP assignment, but every time the device does it's nightly reboot it doesn't pull an IP address and forcing it to reset the connection via the menu doesn't work either. This means that my DVRs always end up off-line and I can't schedule or view recordings remotely. I'm to the point I'm going to start pulling network traces overnight to see if I can catch the traffic when it reboots but I have to wonder why we don't have the option to set a static IP address and be done with it.


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## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

bobukcat;3166283 said:


> I've been fighting DHCP issues with Dish DVRs for as long as they've been IP capable. Neither of my 622s or either of my Hoppers will reliably or consistently pull a DHCP address from any of the three servers / routers I've used with them over the years. It's always the same story; a manual reset of the DVR will result in a successful DHCP assignment, but every time the device does it's nightly reboot it doesn't pull an IP address and forcing it to reset the connection via the menu doesn't work either. This means that my DVRs always end up off-line and I can't schedule or view recordings remotely. I'm to the point I'm going to start pulling network traces overnight to see if I can catch the traffic when it reboots but I have to wonder why we don't have the option to set a static IP address and be done with it.


The equipment will work with static IP but its not needed. Have you tried putting your receivers IPs into the DMZ on the router to see if they remain connected after the nightly update?


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

I've never had this problem with my 722, 922 or either Hopper.


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## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

RasputinAXP;3166421 said:


> I've never had this problem with my 722, 922 or either Hopper.


Me neither.


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## Cardini (Aug 14, 2002)

Nor I


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## klang (Oct 14, 2003)

No problems here either. 

But the OP could reserve the addresses and have the router issue the receivers the same address every time.


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## 3HaloODST (Aug 9, 2010)

I've never really had DHCP issues with Dish receivers (or much else for that matter.) Check your router settings. What model router and what firmware?

I always have all my devices on static IP but instead of manually assigning each machine or device a static IP in software I do it through DHCP. 

I've never assigned specific ports (or DMZ) to any of the receivers and have had no NAT-related issues with Sling or Dish Remote Access either.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

I've tried setting up static assignments but when they get IP addresses they are always the same ones anyway. It is so odd that it only happens after the auto-reboot at night, when I manually reset them they pull an IP address with no problem. All the stuff I've had them connected to is enterprise grade from either Cisco or Motorola Solutions and I've changed firmware and tweaked settings on the routers/switches many times. No other piece of equipment (about 20 things connected at once) have any such problems with DHCP. I do wired and wireless networks as part of my job so I know my way around them pretty well but I've never seen anything like this. I guess I'll just have to setup a wired capture on a mirror port and try to see why it fails at 1:00AM or whenever it actually reboots.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

At the risk of boring to death anyone who reads this I wanted to provide an update. A quick review of my setup: 2 Hoppers, one with a CAT-6 ENet connection to a router / switch has Bridging Enabled. 2nd Hopper connected via MOCA only bridging disabled.

I waited until neither Hopper would pull an IP address (doesn't take long) and ran a trace while trying to renew the IP. I see the DHCP Discovery Packets from the Hopper but the Cisco router never answers. At the same time the router will respond to other DHCP requests on the same network. I reboot the connected Hopper and when it sends DHCP Discovery it is offered, requested and ACK for three I.P. addresses (Hopper ENEt, Hopper MOCA and 2nd Hopper MOCA). 

What I continue to see after this though is almost constant DHCP traffic from and to the Hopper. It continually sends discovery asking for the same I.P. addresses it already has. So far these have all been answered, sometimes the Hopper responds to the offer with a request and other times it just sends another Discovery packet.

I have analyzed the packet that fails to elicit a response prior to a reboot and one that "works" following a reboot and they are identical (except for transaction ID which is to be expected). When I saw all the DHCP traffic from the Hopper I wondered if perhaps the Cisco box is putting it in an excluded list for excessive chatter or something but why would it then work after a reboot of the Hopper?

I don't even know what to try next other than to setup a ring buffer trace and hope to catch it when it eventually loses it's IP addresses again....... :bang

P.S. A way to set a Static I.P. Address would be very nice at this point.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Honestly, I have no idea. Usually when I've got clients demanding a DHCP ACK my DHCP server responds. If it doesn't, there's something flaky going on or I've accidentally screwed up an ACL somewhere along the way.

In your case? Not a freaking clue.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Seeing more odd DHCP behavior this morning - the Hopper connected via MOCA has an I.P. address but the one connected via Ethernet does not. I'm still seeing the same thing in the traces - continuous DHCP Discovery packets from the Ethernet connected Hopper but no replies from the Cisco Router. I am starting to guess this is Spanning Tree related from the Router (the Hopper is sending spanning tree packets) but I don't have full admin rights on the Cisco Router (long story) so I can't make changes to the config. I cannot figure out why the Hoppers would keep sending so much DHCP traffic after they have an IP address assigned though. The lease time is two days so that's not a problem. If anyone else has a Hopper connected to the same switch as their PC and has Wireshark installed I'd appreciate a quick look to see if you see continuous DHCP traffic as well.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

bobukcat said:


> I am starting to guess this is Spanning Tree related from the Router (the Hopper is sending spanning tree packets) but I don't have full admin rights on the Cisco Router (long story) so I can't make changes to the config. I cannot figure out why the Hoppers would keep sending so much DHCP traffic after they have an IP address assigned though. The lease time is two days so that's not a problem. If anyone else has a Hopper connected to the same switch as their PC and has Wireshark installed I'd appreciate a quick look to see if you see continuous DHCP traffic as well.


Spanning Tree is to be expected, if you have bridging enabled. It's got to span two networks, the MOCA and the copper net.

Do you have a Ethernet/MOCA adapter installed as well as bridging on one of the copper-connected Hoppers? That could be your problem right there, single DHCP requests exiting multiple interfaces.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

RasputinAXP said:


> Spanning Tree is to be expected, if you have bridging enabled. It's got to span two networks, the MOCA and the copper net.
> 
> Do you have a Ethernet/MOCA adapter installed as well as bridging on one of the copper-connected Hoppers? That could be your problem right there, single DHCP requests exiting multiple interfaces.


I had Bridging enabled on the copper connected Hopper but not on the non-connected one, is it supposed to be the other way around? It doesn't seem to matter regarding the DHCP issue though. I had this problem with both 622s I used to have and it happens when I have both Hoppers connected via Copper and Bridging turned off. Even with bridging turned off I see constant DHCP requests from the Hoppers.


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## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

bobukcat;3168305 said:


> I had Bridging enabled on the copper connected Hopper but not on the non-connected one, is it supposed to be the other way around? It doesn't seem to matter regarding the DHCP issue though. I had this problem with both 622s I used to have and it happens when I have both Hoppers connected via Copper and Bridging turned off. Even with bridging turned off I see constant DHCP requests from the Hoppers.


Bridging only needs to be enabled on the Hopper with the Internet connection, as you have it.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

you said:


> 2nd Hopper connected via MOCA only bridging disabled


I wouldn't even connect the MOCA adapter to that Hopper. Let it do it through the built in MOCA and see if that clears stuff up.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

RasputinAXP;3168338 said:


> you said:
> 
> I wouldn't even connect the MOCA adapter to that Hopper. Let it do it through the built in MOCA and see if that clears stuff up.


I don't have any MOCA adapters, the only thing that was connected is the Sat line to the Duo Node. I went back to copper connected to both Hoppers with bridging turned off because the other setup kept wrecking the MOCA connection between Hoppers so I couldn't watch stuff from the other Hopper remotely.


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