Well I thought I didn’t have anything to automate, but I have 3 Roku TV’s.
I had them automated for 1 day.
Here’s my Newbie problem.
I found the Roku Device and followed someone instruction to get the IP Address.
Added the 3 Roku TVs and everything was great?
Next day Failed setup on all 3 TVs.
Well the TVs get there IP address from a DHCP server. Their IP address changed.
I know how to go into the router and set them to a static address, but my son, daughter and neighbor do not.
Here’s my question (I’m to ignorant to figure it out yet). The mac address is static. Is there a way to use the mac address? Can I get the IP address from the mac address and then update the Roku devices with the new IP address?
Yes. Best to plan and hard configure it like you say.
In your DHCP server configuration (usually your router), you should have an option to pre-allocate an IP Address to a MAC address so that you end up with a consistent/ static IP Address. This can make a lot of difference to be able to consistently locate devices rather than rely on mDNS and for network troubleshooting.
Recommended you plan and do this for all your known devices with fixed MACs.
Note: Most phones have a random MAC feature for security tracking obscurity, and it can be turned off should you wish to bring them under this umbrella also. If not, leave a small pool of dynamic addresses for them to use.
Once your router has the updated configuration saved and everything is rebooted, it should issue the same IP Address to the TV each time network connection is requested. Each TV should have a fixed unique MAC address (by definition) and they should be able to pair consistently.
Note that if you have the IP Address pre-allocated on the issuing device (the router), the possibility of it being used by another device is gone, so no frustrating conflicts. Only having it configured it on the requesting device (your TV) means that it won’t get an IP Address if it has already been snaffled by another device. Having it on both is best.
Keep a chart or spreadsheet of your device allocations is a good idea for network planning.
Once you have configured everything, be sure to save your router configuration file, not just to the router but somewhere safe where it can be restored from in the future should the router be accidentally reset to factory settings.
Your router should not require much configuration once you have set it up correctly to match your spreadsheet. Keep both updated when you add a new device to your network - a one-off activity.