Vera Lite thinks it's a gateway/router?

[njbair]

Recently (past 6 months or so) my two Vera Lite controllers started acting as DHCP servers, randomly issuing IP addresses on my network. I've worked around the issue by configuring my actual router to block all DHCP response traffic not originating from itself, but it's still a problem that I'd like to solve.

Has anyone else experienced this? I am running the latest firmware version (1.7.1017), in case that matters.

[akbooer]

If you search the forum for "Vera DHCP" you may find some useful discussion.

[Jamr]

Make sure to turn off WIFI and DHCP in the settings and if you want the Vera unit to have a static IP, I recommend you tell your router to give it a static Ip.
I also recommend you check to make sure the WIFI is not on and double check it with a WIFI analyzer app.
I have had the WIFI stomp on other WIFI signals in a network area and cause problems, so make sure it is off, if you do not need it.

Edit: Clarification

[thief]

I recommend you make tell your router to give it a static Ip and leave your Vera on DHCP.

You can't tell a router to give static IP:s, you have to manually give vera a static ip and make that ip reservation in the router.
and turn DHCP off.

see below picture

[njbair]

Thanks for the quick replies, folks. My Vera Lite does not have any Wi-Fi or LAN ports. Interestingly, though, in the settings it does think there's a LAN even though it only has one physical Ethernet port. See attached screenshot for my settings page.

Is there a bug in the Vera Lite firmware or something?

You can't tell a router to give static IP:s, you have to manually give vera a static ip and make that ip reservation in the router.

Just as an aside, I think he meant have your router reserve a statically-assigned IP via DHCP. Most home router/gateways allow this somewhere in their advanced settings, usually associating a given IP with a MAC address.

[thief]

Just as an aside, I think he meant have your router reserve a statically-assigned IP via DHCP.

I know that, but that is not a "static" Ip, it is just an address reservation.
Although it acts the same way, but it becoms static when you write it down in vera.

And the recommendation is to have both - Turn off dhcp in vera and give it an ip address, then make that reservation in the router.

[Jamr]

Just as an aside, I think he meant have your router reserve a statically-assigned IP via DHCP.

I know that, but that is not a "static" Ip, it is just an address reservation.
Although it acts the same way, but it becoms static when you write it down in vera.

And the recommendation is to have both - Turn off dhcp in vera and give it an ip address, then make that reservation in the router.

Yes turn DHCP off in Vera and have your router assign the IP to your Vera unit.
I was under the impression that if the IP is not dynamic (changes), it is static no matter who assigns it. Is this not correct?

[njbair]

Just as an aside, I think he meant have your router reserve a statically-assigned IP via DHCP.

I know that, but that is not a "static" Ip, it is just an address reservation.
Although it acts the same way, but it becoms static when you write it down in vera.

And the recommendation is to have both - Turn off dhcp in vera and give it an ip address, then make that reservation in the router.

Yes turn DHCP off in Vera and have your router assign the IP to your Vera unit.
I was under the impression that if the IP is not dynamic (changes), it is static no matter who assigns it. Is this not correct?

Technically yes, static would refer to any IP that doesn't change. But in networking it traditionally refers to a statically-configured IP on the client side--in other words, the client never asks the DHCP server for an address, it just assigns itself the specified address.

Personally I don't statically assign anything that's DHCP-capable, mainly because a) it can become hard to manage all those addresses unless you keep a record, and b) if you have to set the reservation in your DHCP server anyway (to avoid IP conflicts), why bother?

[Jamr]

Just as an aside, I think he meant have your router reserve a statically-assigned IP via DHCP.

I know that, but that is not a "static" Ip, it is just an address reservation.
Although it acts the same way, but it becoms static when you write it down in vera.

And the recommendation is to have both - Turn off dhcp in vera and give it an ip address, then make that reservation in the router.

Yes turn DHCP off in Vera and have your router assign the IP to your Vera unit.
I was under the impression that if the IP is not dynamic (changes), it is static no matter who assigns it. Is this not correct?

Technically yes, static would refer to any IP that doesn't change. But in networking it traditionally refers to a statically-configured IP on the client side--in other words, the client never asks the DHCP server for an address, it just assigns itself the specified address.

Personally I don't statically assign anything that's DHCP-capable, mainly because a) it can become hard to manage all those addresses unless you keep a record, and b) if you have to set the reservation in your DHCP server anyway (to avoid IP conflicts), why bother?

This is why I do all of my static assignments at the router, so they are all in one spot.
With all of the back and forth I do with my Vera units, they have to have a static IP.
Thanks.

[Don Phillips]

I recommend you make tell your router to give it a static Ip and leave your Vera on DHCP.

You can't tell a router to give static IP:s, you have to manually give vera a static ip and make that ip reservation in the router.
and turn DHCP off.

see below picture

Similar to setting a static IP, you can set the router to reserve a specific IP for a specific MAC address. I have done that with most of my devices.

The main advantage is to prevent the router from assigning a duplicate IP through DHCP. Here is my router table of reserved IP's to ensure devices I need the IP to not change have a specific IP and still use DHCP.

Years ago, I had many problems using static IP when rebooting the network. And administering too many static IP is a chore.

[Jamr]

I recommend you make tell your router to give it a static Ip and leave your Vera on DHCP.

You can't tell a router to give static IP:s, you have to manually give vera a static ip and make that ip reservation in the router.
and turn DHCP off.

see below picture

Similar to setting a static IP, you can set the router to reserve a specific IP for a specific MAC address. I have done that with most of my devices.

The main advantage is to prevent the router from assigning a duplicate IP through DHCP. Here is my router table of reserved IP's to ensure devices I need the IP to not change have a specific IP and still use DHCP.

Years ago, I had many problems using static IP when rebooting the network. And administering too many static IP is a chore.

Don, I noticed you assign a staticc IP to your Roku's. What is the purpose?
I thought about doing this but could not think of a reason why.

[Don Phillips]

I read somewhere you can sent IP commands to a Roku, so I reserved it to keep it consistent. I eventually will be getting a Harmony Hub so it seems good practice if working in an IP world to reserve them so they do not change on you later on.

Also notice I have 2 Vera IP's reserved. Vera is the wired IP, VeraW is the wireless IP. When I update firmware, I have to reset to factory setting to clear enough memory. I have a shortcut to Vera after the update to set up the wireless and then a shortcut to VeraW for administrative purposes.

Similarly I have my Desktop computer and Plex backup server reserved since I use both to monitor 2 UPS's and have them report to Vera battery state. Sometimes my ad hoc network will not resolve the NETBIOS names (the master browser may not be up and the other computers get lost until a new master browser takes over) so I use IP addressed to ensure communication.

[Jamr]

Sorry, Nnbair, I did not mean to hijack your thread.
Yea The Vera Lite does not have the capability of wifi so sorry for the WIFI info I gave you, referring to turning the DHCP off. For some reason I thought you were referring to a Edge or Plus which has the capability of being a router.
The Lite only has an Ethernet port for LAN connections thus the DHCP, Static Ip or PPPoE for connecting to your router.
I hope that helps.

@ Don, I use Harmony hubs with all of my Rokus. I have never had a reason to do that, but thanks for the tip.

[Sorin]

Recently (past 6 months or so) my two Vera Lite controllers started acting as DHCP servers, randomly issuing IP addresses on my network. I've worked around the issue by configuring my actual router to block all DHCP response traffic not originating from itself, but it's still a problem that I'd like to solve.

Has anyone else experienced this? I am running the latest firmware version (1.7.1017), in case that matters.

Hello there,

If you haven't done so already, please log a ticket with our Customer Care team, asking the same question (contact details in my signature). As if I remember well, under certain conditions, VeraLite might release DHCP request. If this is the case, this can be addressed from the Vera side.