Getting "another device on your network is using your computers IP address"

[russconde]

Hi,

We have an Inn with 7 suites.  We have probably 25 Inn devices (locks, cameras...) and we often have another 25 devices from guests. When we are busy, guests have complained about getting the message in the Subject line and cannot connect. We do not have a separate guest network defined in google wifi, just the primary network. Google router is set for DHCP. I'm guessing for some reason the google router is assigning an IP already in use.  Some of our Inn devices can be idle for some time. Wondering if that could be causing an issue. 

I have two ideas. 
1. Set static IP addresses using DHCP Reservations for our Inn devices and remove those IPs from the DHCP address pool.  That might help avoid conflicts.

OR

2. Set up a guest network so guests connect to that rather than the primary.  Not sure that will do anything since the IP address pool is the same pool. 

Any other thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,
Russ

[MichaelP]

Hello @russconde 

It's hard to know what's going on here, but it's possible one of your devices is not renewing its DHCP lease properly, so that address gets assigned to someone else at some point. I would definitely use a guest network for your guest, though – that's actually not in the same address pool as the main network. Typically, the main network is 192.168.86.x while the guest network is 192.168.87.x for example. Using a guest network would also let you have a different password for guests, and you could change it occasionally for security without having to reconfigure any of your permanent devices on the main network.

[russconde]

Thanks Michael.  That's good that the guest network is a different address pool. I'll have some logistics to do around wifi signage, etc.,  so would it still make sense to set static IPs for my known Inn devices in the meantime? Would that still help avoid conflicts as long as I remove those IPs from the DHCP pool range?

[MichaelP]

I'm not a fan of reserving IP addresses unless you have to so something can be accessible at a fixed address (e.g., from outside the firewall). I think I would probably set up a guest wifi network first, then I might go through and just power cycle all of your main network devices just to force a DHCP lease from everything. Hopefully that will get everything back running properly, and without the constant churn of new devices in that DHCP pool, it shouldn't get exhausted even if one of those devices isn't renewing properly.

[EdwardT]

Hi folks,

@MichaelP, thanks for the help!

@russconde, I hope that MichaelP's response helped you. Let us know if you have other questions and we'd be glad to assist.

Thanks,

Edward

[EdwardT]

Hi russconde,

It's me again. I wanted to check back in to see if you have other questions and concerns. Feel free to let me know if you do. 

Thanks,

Edward

[EdwardT]

Hi russconde,

I'm just checking in to make sure that you've seen our response. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours.

Thanks,

Edward