Chancing IPs

[Aart Koelewijn]

Hello list,

in my network I have an old laptop with Ubuntu 8.04 running 24/7 for a 
measurement project. This laptop has a WiFi connection with my router. 
Normally it will get an IP from the DHCP range off the router, 
192.168.nn.mm. This is always the same IP. But every so often, perhaps 
after a week or two weeks it will change its IP to 169.254.7.206 and it 
will lose its connection to a database outside my home where the data are 
combined with data from other places. The data of course are still saved 
in a database in the laptop itself. I also have a ssh-connection from my 
desktop to this laptop to monitor what is happening on the laptop. This 
connection is lost too.

I wonder how this change of IP can take place and how I can pretend it.

As the best the laptop can do is a web-64 protection and the least the 
router will accept is a web-128 protection the wifi connection is 
unprotected. The router will only check if the mac-address is one of the 
allowed mac-addresses.

Aart