I'm using PFsense and was wondering how you guys setup your IP cameras, Pfsense is 192.168.1.1 DHCP range is from 192.168.1.2 -192.168.1.49
Do you set static IP for each camera such as 192.168.1.50 -192.268.1.70
That is how I do it. It certainly isn't the easiest way of doing it, but I like to have my individual devices set up for DHCP in case something goes wrong and I need to troubleshoot. This way I know the device will present itself on any network (perhaps I am bench testing a flaky device, etc). However I also really like the idea of having a "known" assigned IP address for each device as well. This way I know that I can always log into my device's GUIs on a known IP address that won't change if the power goes out and/or the network is reset for some reason.
Therefore I set my devices up for DHCP, but then I reserve static IP addresses using pfSense (but this technique works on any router). Of course this takes more time to set up each device initially, and honestly it is probably a waste of time to do it this way, but it's how I handle it - right or wrong. I usually set my DHCP range for something small and at the end of my IP range - perhaps 230-254, The rest of the IP range is used for these reserved/static IP addresses. If you really do go in and assign these reserved/static addresses for all your devices, you will find very few devices use DHCP - usually just new or guest devices. Therefore your DCHP range can be pretty small. I usually only have 3-8 devices using DHCP on my network at any given time (and I have about 100 devices with reserved static IP addresses spread out across 7 different VLANs) .
I did try to think about my IP ranges and reserved devices before I started and haven been able to hold on to these plans for the most part. For example on my camera VLAN, each side of the house gets an IP range and I reserve individual cameras in that range. So the front of the house might be 11-20, the right side 21-30, back 31-40, left side 41-50, interior cameras 51-60, etc, etc, etc. You could also break it up into rooms if needed, etc, etc, etc. There is no need to do this, but I like the structure it provides. Personally I don't want to see devices assigned IP addresses in random order based on when I purchased the device. I want to see devices grouped together in what I would consider a logical order.
There is no right or wrong way of doing this and my way is probably NOT normal.
