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LFMNX

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 14, 2011
150
2
Airport Extreme - 20 device environment typical or repeating users


I am interested in what the pros / cons are of using short vs long DHCP lease times. What are the conveniences or inconveniences or security concerns if any or performance concerns. Real world experiences.

The default is 1 day in the airport extreme. I occasionally look at it too see a 24 hour footprint of what devices have been active.

I really have not problem to solve other than to better understand it. I could see if you had a coffee shop with hundreds of users coming or going that you would not want to tie up hundreds of IP addresses for days so I am thinking there must be some relationship here.
 

thewitt

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2011
2,102
1,523
Long lease times tie up IP addresses.

If you have no issue with a shortage of IP addresses, set them as long as you like.
 

drsox

macrumors 68000
Apr 29, 2011
1,706
201
Xhystos
Airport Extreme - 20 device environment typical or repeating users


I am interested in what the pros / cons are of using short vs long DHCP lease times. What are the conveniences or inconveniences or security concerns if any or performance concerns. Real world experiences.

The default is 1 day in the airport extreme. I occasionally look at it too see a 24 hour footprint of what devices have been active.

I really have not problem to solve other than to better understand it. I could see if you had a coffee shop with hundreds of users coming or going that you would not want to tie up hundreds of IP addresses for days so I am thinking there must be some relationship here.

Depends on your personal situation. Is your network stable ? Are there daily/hourly changes in devices being plugged in or removed ?

I have 30+ devices that don't change from day to day with only 2 users. So I assign addresses through the AE DHCP function to about 25 of them. This helps with troubleshooting if needed and slightly improves access times. But I still haven't extended the lease time beyond 24 hours as there is no real reason to change it.
 
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