WAN & LAN ip address assignments
hmm; there's a lack of understand for IP addresses.
For every system with an ISP connection, there are at least two IP addresses
- The WAN address (Wide Area Network) which is public and frequently pingable
- and the LAN address (Local Area Network) which is private and not visible nor pingable from the Internet side.
The LAN address is what you see with IPCONFIG /ALL. If you have a Router which allows several systems to share your ISP service, then the Router assigns the system IP address (using DHCP),
(A) the subnet mask, dns addresses and makes the Gateway address that of the Router's lan address.
If your modem has a builtin router, then your LAN address is also private but with only one physical port, you get only one system attached (ignoring WiFi for the moment).
(2) above are called the non-routing, private addresses and are only
- 192.168.x.y
- 172.16.x.y
- 10.x.y.z
and you control what the LAN side settings will be; egro you can change them easily.
The (1) WAN side belongs to your ISP and there DHCP service will make the assignments just like (A) above.
Frequently the WAN address is not directly visible so we revert to something like
http://checkip.dyndns.org/ to find it.
If you use certain Modems w/o the router feature (most frequently ADSL users), then
you may actually see the WAN side address.
As (1) belongs to the ISP, and if you have not purchase a domain-name (which has a unique public ip address),
then
nothing on your system will give you a knob to tweek the WAN side address.
IPCONFIG /Release & /Renew?
This is the correct concept, but it only goes as far as your LAN side router assignments - -
and will not address the WAN side public assignment.
For those attempting to fight with an ADMIN from the ISP on a banning restriction, it's the WAN address that gets restricted; not the LAN address.
If you have a router, you might try using the settings in that configuration to force a /Release, /Renew cycle - - usually ineffective.
WHY? Every device on the Internet has a hardware MAC address, and many times the ISP will keep a table of subscriber's MAC address' - -
this is known as hardware provisioning.
The router attempt at /Release, /Renew usually fails because
1) the ISP knows the MAC of your modem/router and
2) has set a time interval which keeps your Mac->IP assignment
Yes, you can power-off the modem, wait and then power-on - - but how long must you wait for a new MAC-IP assignment?
Got some news even if you wait long enough; If no one else has made a new assignment,
when you attempt the /Renew you just get back the same IP that you attempted to abandon
Ergo: Do everything in your power to be a good Internet Citizen and avoid the problem altogether :wave: