The default gateway refers to when you connect to the internet, and is usually the ip address of your router. (Commonly 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1)
The ip address of your router can be changed to a different one if you need to.
The ip address that your isp assigns to you is usually a 'dynamic ip address'.
You can pay for a fixed ip address from your isp if you require this, and you want to access your network from outside via the internet. Not normally required by the majority of domestic users though.
The ip address of your individual computers, printers, ipads etc is something else.
They refer to your internal network and allow your network switch/router etc to connect to your computers together on your internal network (LAN or Local area network) and to allow them to pass information through to other devices on your LAN, and also to connect through your router/adsl modem and out onto the internet. (WAN or Wide area network).
Your router is the thing that assigns an ip address to all your local devices on your internal network LAN.
It does this by keeping a tab on all available IP addresses in the pool, and assigning them dynamically or actively to devices as and when they appear on the network, (when you switch on the pc for example).
This is called DHCP or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
An ip address may last for a few days or a week, depending on the settings configured.
You can renew all ip addresses by using cmd prompt.
Type ipconfig /release and hit enter. This will release the currently assigned ip addresses, Then type ipconfig /renew and press enter again. This will renew all available ip addresses within the available ip pool.
Now let's say you want to connect to a NAS drive or a printer on your network, then you need to know it's address ( a bit like your house number in your address) so it helps if that address never changes (or in other words it is fixed), you could then assign your printer on the network with a static ip address, so that you always point to it when required.
You need to assign it with an available ip address from any one of the available ip numbers in the pool.
Usually anywhere between 1-255
So you could call your printer for instance 192.168.0.12
If you follow this method, then you also need to tell your router which controls the DHCP to reserve this ip address so that it does not try to use it for other devices, (which it will do if you do not tell it otherwise).
You can use
192.168.0.2
to
192.168.0.20
for reserved ip addresses in your router, and then then assign one of those numbers to each device on your network.
Eg your router will always have the lowest number address of 192.168.0.1
Then a Managed switch could be the next number 192.168.0.2
Then your 'wireless access point' could be the next one 192.168.0.3
Then your print 192.168.0.4
Then you main pc 192.168.0.5
Then your DAW 192.168.0.6
Then your wifes pc 192.168.0.7
Etc etc etc.
This leaves ip address of 192.168.0.21 and above for use by the DHCP server to use for anything else that connects to your network le your Laptops etc and mobile smart phones when on wireless.
Remember to let your DHCP server know what your doing, and you should avoid clashes and two devices trying to use the same ip address.
Also another thing you need on your network is for all devices to share the same workgroup.
Windows normally by default names your network 'WORKGROUP'
But you can change this to 'mshome'
As long as all device are members of the same group, then they will all be able to see one another when you click on NETWORK under my 'computer'.
For details on how to do some of these things you will need to consult your manual.
I am sure someone else can explain it better and in more detail.
I do it in front of the screen easier than I can explain it in writing, sorry about that.
Hope this helps to fill in the pieces of the puzzle a little.
Regards
The Wildman
post edited by the wildman - 2013/03/05 10:21:32