Static vs. DHCP IP: Which is faster?; Analyzing an employee’s PC use without his knowledge

* Dr. Internet columnist Steve Blass clarifies static vs. DHCP debate in terms of speed * Help Desk columnist Ron Nutter offers advice regarding analyzing an employee’s PC use without his knowledge

* Static vs. DHCP IP: Which is faster?

By Steve Blass

Q: Did you really mean to say, in an earlier column, that using a static IP address will make file transfers go faster than using DHCP IP addresses?

A: No, using static addresses is not magically faster than using DHCP addresses. The goal in that article was to get two PCs on the same physical network segment onto the same IP subnet, so that the router hop could be eliminated from the file-transfer network path. The same result could be accomplished by putting those two PCs onto the same IP subnet using DHCP rather than static ones. When the physical segments line up with the IP subnets, packets bound for destinations on the same subnet/segment are delivered directly in Ethernet frames. When IP packets are delivered through a router, the router delivers the packets to the destination machine in Ethernet frames.

To read Steve’s response in its entirety, please click here.

* Analyzing an employee’s PC use without his knowledge

By Ron Nutter

Q: I was contacted by a department supervisor at my company about a potential problem with an employee’s use of the computer assigned to that individual. The supervisor isn’t sure whether it is Internet access, files stored locally or some combination of both. We haven’t had this kind of request before and I want to proceed carefully. How is the best way to proceed?

A: The short answer is: Very carefully. I would immediately get your boss, the employees supervisor, the head HR person and your company attorney in a meeting. HR and legal counsel need to know of the situation immediately. HR will need to review the employee policy to see what the employee has been told in writing as to what kind of privacy they do or dont have. Your lawyer will need to look for any potential liability from the employee. Within your department, you and your boss should be the only ones who have knowledge of the situation. The fewer people that know about this, the better.

To read Ron’s response in its entirety, please click here.