This would be a good solution but unfortunately this is not the case, in order to use this feature you have to use DHCP on the first connection and then static on the alternate connection, and this will not work for me because I have a DCHP server at work that gives out IP addresses in a different range than the static IP’s that I have to assign to the laptops in the Domain, and at the moment the scope for the DHCP server cannot be changed, so this would not be a good solution either.

Thanks for your input.
CG._

You could get them a little USB “docking” station for home. It will have a seperate nic interface that you can set up as DHCP. The internal nic on the laptop you static. When they are at home or on the road they hook their cable up to the USB docking thingie and get a DHCP but at the office, the internal nic get’s the static.

Targus makes one of these kind of docking stations. (It’s not a real dock, it’s a USB extension of the ports)

Thanks Jirvine, I have never seen one of these USB docking stations that you are referring to, but I know that there is a way to do this without having to purchase additional hardware for the laptops.

Thanks
CG._

Do you or can you set up the server to be a DHCP server? If so proceed to the answer below.

Actually the easiest way to handle this and will not require any additional hardware.

Get the MAC address of the laptop you are wanting to configure.
Go to your DHCP server assign a static address to that MAC. ( Make sure that you exclude this address from any range of IPs your server issues.)
Set the laptop to use DHCP. ( The server will then assign that computer the same IP everytime it connects to the network, the equivalent of a static address. )

This will give you a virtual static address in the office and when connected to any other network it will still use DHCP but obtain a different address.

If this is not an option. Get a PCMCIA NIC for the laptop and you are done.

Thanks BB this would be an easy solution, but there is already a DHCP server on the Domain, but it assigns IP addresses on a different range, and I do not want to change the scope for the DHCP server, or add another scope with the range that I need.

Thanks maybe this is impossible the way I want to do it.

CG._

Is the address you want to give the PC totally outside the range of the subnet (i.e. are you using secondary addresses)? If the address is within the scope, then you should be able to assign the address via DHCP reservation – so it looks like DHCP, but gets the fixed address any time its on that network segment – and can still be identified and “filtered” if that’s the purpose of the “foreign” address.

If you are using secondary addresses and want an address within that range, then you may have to rethink things – like DHCP superscope with reservation.

if the DHCP at work will not allow the general and alternate settings then you can buy a usb ethernet stick. it looks just like a usb flash drive but it has an ethernet jack on the other end. I have one and it works great. you can get them in wireless too. great technology!