Roku, Fire TV, and TV’s for that matter, are end user appliances. They can work differently and I can see why they might not have this capability. But Tablo is a server. A different thing on the network.
Look, static IP assignment has been the backstop solution for networking problems simply forever. Every networking colleague I have has depended on it at one time of another to solve problems that just do not seem to have any other solution. Why abandon it now in this product?
I cannot believe it already exists as a capability within the Tablo unit. After all, as a developer wouldn’t you implement this first? I would just like to be let in on how to use it.
I DO have DHCP reservation configured. Last night around 10 PM I lost electrical power and it was still off when I left this morning at 7 AM. When I got home at 11 AM power had been restored. I didn’t think to check my Tablo remote access. When I tried to watch it while out, it was taking forever to connect, so I figured the Tablo was doing its old tricks and left it alone until I got home. I put my phone on WiFi, connected to Tablo and it said I had to manually configure my router (which I had already done). To fix it, I unchecked Remote Access, and checked it again. It now works.
PLEASE at least give us an option to run a static IP and handle the networking ourselves. IF you were to go away, with the current setup we will all have boat anchors. IF there was an option where it did not need to go to tablotv.com then it would continue to work even if you go out of business or brought out we could still use our Tablo.
After the power outage, was the Tablo actually in fact the same IP as it was previously?
Likely your WAN IP changed after the modem reboot and thus the remote device had to just be repaired locally with the Tablo. Sometimes even when the Tablo Connect is not broken and it still works, the Tablo itself reports the ports are not forwarded. I have had this error noted once or twice and yet I could still connect remotely. Yes, it is insane.
The LAN IP was the same, but with the power being out for so long, I bet I had a new IP address from Roadrunner. IF I was running my own server, the NO0IO client would have updated my record. Tablo needs to allow for NAMES in addition to numbers. People that actually have a static IP can use the number, but for the rest of us, there will me a name
Next time, even if the Tablo Settings page gives you the error, before turning OFF and ON the Tablo Connect feature, just re-pair locally and try to connect remote after. It likely will work.
@theuser86 I had my phone in WiFi and opened the Tablo app. It connected. I then went to settings and scrolled down to Remote access. How do you pair locally? I thought by having my phone in WiFi and use Connect that it does pair. If it does, then why waw the remote still saying I had to configure my router? Should I have closed Tablo app, turn Wifi off, and open the Tablo app and see if it worked prior to unchecking and rechecking? Hopefully I don’t lose power again any time soon.
I’ve seen this happen and my “fix” is/was to uncheck and recheck the Tablo remote access box.
Sure would be a lot less trouble with a system generated code or password for a limited number of remote clients. I say limited number of users/clients because I realize the potential for abuse beyond immediate households.
I would try to just increase the lease time if your router does not support static assignments. If the pool is large enough not to have to recover addresses often, then you should never run into devices getting different addresses. If it still ends up being a problem, I would focus on getting a different router or moving the DHCP services for your network to a different device that has more features. It is much easier to manage all IPs from your DHCP server vs touching each device manually.
“How do you pair locally? I thought by having my phone in WiFi and use Connect that it does pair.”
–> This is correct. Connecting to your Tablo locally (aka on the same network) pairs the phone with the Tablo.
“Should I have closed Tablo app, turn Wifi off, and open the Tablo app and see if it worked prior to unchecking and rechecking?”
–> Yes, you should have tried this first. It usually still works after re-pairing even if it gives you the error as long as the Internal IP has remained unchanged.
Static IP is a basic option in my opinion. I know that some DHCP server allow for reservation. I’m using DHCP off a Cisco 3750G switch and that doesn’t have that option.
Maybe only make it available for the wired versions…
A switch does not have a DHCP server which assigns IP addresses so may be you’re looking at the wrong networking device to configure it. Which device is your router?
Well if that is the manual to your switch, it does in fact have the capability to setup DHCP Reservation. I quote “DHCP server port-based address allocation is a feature that enables DHCP to maintain the same IP address on an Ethernet switch port regardless of the attached device client identifier or client hardware address.”
Go to the Section “Understanding DHCP Server Port-Based Address Allocation”.
A cheap $10 consumer router has DHCP reservation, I’m sure an enterprise grade switch can muster up the effort to do the same.
And anyway there are some situations where even if the address-reservation approach is possible, it is not the best way to go. There does need to be a non-DHCP option in the Tablo.
I can sort of imagine why the Tablo engineers are being stubborn about this. Every time you add any feature, there is the risk that a user will misuse that feature. And then you are stuck trying to work out what the user did wrong. Resetting a Tablo that has had a static IP address set probably means doing a factory reset and then a very unhappy user who does not like having lost all of those precious recordings and settings. Probably the smart way to go would be to have a system reset that turns DHCP back on without losing all of the other settings. But that requires an extra reset button? Or a reset button that does something different depending on whether you push it for five seconds instead of ten seconds?
What’s the use case for preferring a true static IP address (vs DHCP reservation). I can’t think of one, other than a really old router that doesn’t support reservations. And I don’t think that case warrants the change.
Can someone name any other networking device that requires port forwarding and doesn’t give you the OPTION to set up a static IP?
Why is Tablo so obstinate about adding what is a standard optional setting for every single device that acts as a server for decades on the network when every other aspect of their product is so clearly well thought out and amazing? No one is asking for DHCP to be removed and require every user to setup static IP tables, just give us the option to specify a static IP. They say to setup a DHCP reservation which they admit not every router has but more importantly they deviate from what has been a standard practice without giving a valid reason why. This makes me question if they are going to be this stubborn with all aspects of future product development. I might be saving myself tons of future frustration and headaches when they decide on a whim to deviate from networking norms in some other fashion.
I just recently got a Tablo, setup remote access. My router uses dd-wrt firmware, which has a bug when you first create a port forward it doesn’t actually forward that port until you restart the router. So I created a forward to the dhcp assigned address, restarted the router. When I went to work the next day, tried out Tablo connect, it didn’t work. Got home and saw that my router had given it a new address, so I forwarded to the new address, restarted, new IP address,. I don’t have to deal with this issue on the other 10+ devices (IP cameras, Raspberry Pi’s, IP NVR) on my network that I port forward to because they all follow decades long standard practice and allow you to set a static IP address.
FlyingDiver
What’s the use case for preferring a true static IP address (vs DHCP reservation). I can’t think of one, other than a really old router that doesn’t support reservations. And I don’t think that case warrants the change.
Oh just decades of it being standard practice. Also, how about every single person both on this board having issues because the option to configure this most basic settings is missing. What is the use case for not having it?
@philsoft May '15
All other devices I have seen that are similar network infrastructure allow for statc IP assignment.
Roku doesn’t allow you to assign a static IP either. I think it is becoming more and more the standard as networking becomes more and more necessary for the average Joe.
Roku doesn’t act a server that needs ports forwarded to it, so that is completely irrelevant. I have several rokus, they work great and don’t have that setting because I’m don’t need to access them from outside my network.
What does not work because you cannot set a static IP for the Tablo? The only thing I can think of is Tablo Connect.
Umm, yeah, Exactly! Why ask a question when you already know the answer?
theuser86
That is a very expensive piece of hardware. Is it actually lacking such a basic function of DHCP reservation?
The Tablo is an expensive piece of hardware, is it actually lacking such a basic function of setting a static IP?
theuser86
Most routers these days have UPnP, if you leave that enabled on your router then it does not matter whether the IP address is assigned dynamically or is static.
That is terrible advice. Yeah sure just let anything on your network open up random ports whenever they want. Please don’t give such myopic advice online if you don’t fully understand the consequences.
Why are people making excuses for Tablo developers, who otherwise are making a fantastic product, when it is apparent that many people are having issues and having to jump through all these hoops to work around what would NEVER be an issue if an OPTION to set a static IP was available.
This has been an awesome product and user experience until coming across this baffling decision to leave out this setting. I can understand if the product was released before the Tablo Connect feature was added, so a static IP was completely unnecessary and wouldn’t be baked in by default but now it is just disappointing.
-Scott
My nephew (a networking something or other, but he does like a pint so he’s not a total berk) says, generally, never mix on-device static ip settings with dhcp, because you can end up with duplicate addresses and then everything goes to pot. If a router can’t do dhcp reservations then it probably can’t restrict the addresses for dhcp either. Dhcp reservation is bog standard, and if your router can’t do it then bin the manky thing.