Moving/relocating WD MyCloud with static IP

[pazzob]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share my experience here hoping that will help preventing the same issue happening to someone else. So I’ve moved into another condo recently and I took my previously immaculately working WD My Cloud. I have always used it with FTP access therefore operating with static IP address. It was locally fixed at 192.168.1.150 on a D-link DIR-650 wireless router. When I moved to the new place the internet service provider provided an upgraded model of D-link DIR-816L Dual band wireless router. I was super happy so the time came to hook up my WD MyCloud to the network. To my surprise it didn’t work and I was completely lost what to do. I didn’t see it on the network at all and my numerous attempts to access the dashboard on 192.168.1.150 proved to be useless. Then I sat back for a second and checked the new router default DHCP gateway. It was a bit different: 192.168.0.1 instead of the previous 192.168.1.1. I suspected that the problem is somewhere here as MyCloud is trying on 1 instead of the 0 gateway.

The solution at the end was that luckily I still had the old DIR-650 so I hooked that up, connected the MyCloud and finally I was able to access the dashboard. There I immediately set the network settings back to DHCP insted of Static IP. It came back with an error message at the end but that was no problem. Once I hooked it to the new DIR-816L I could set it up like a dream. No issues at all.

So as a conclusion if you plan on moving/relocating or even changing your router make sure you set the Network settings on your MyCloud back to DHCP before you make that move. That will save a lot of headache for you. I hope this helps.

[Bennor]

The solution at the end was that luckily I still had the old DIR-650 so I hooked that up, connected the MyCloud and finally I was able to access the dashboard.

What you experienced is a common problem when using a Static IP Addresses on network devices and changing either broadband providers or one’s network router/gateway. In some cases the user may not have the old router or doesn’t want to set it up.

Another way to change the Static IP Address of the My Cloud is to first determine the new IP Address pool the new router is using. Then configure the computer’s wired network adapter to use a Static IP Address in the same IP Address pool as that used by the My Cloud. Next connect the My Cloud directly to the computer’s networking port, then open a web browser and use the IP address for the My Cloud to access the Dashboard to reconfigure the My Cloud’s Static IP Address. When finished making the changes to the My Cloud, reset the computer’s wired network port back to its previous setting (usually obtain IP Address automatically) and reattach the My Cloud to the new router/gateway.

The better way to handle this issue is to not set the Static IP Address within the My Cloud at all, rather set the Static IP Address within the router or gateway’s DHCP Server so the same IP address is always handed out to the My Cloud. See router/gateway documentation on how to reserve an IP Address within the router/gateway’s DHCP Server. Then one can leave the My Cloud configured for DHCP rather than Static IP and avoid the issue of the device being unreachable when being moved to new network or router.

[Joerg_A]

hen I sat back for a second and checked the new router default DHCP gateway. It was a bit different: 192.168.0.1 instead of the previous 192.168.1.1. I suspected that the problem is somewhere here as MyCloud is trying on 1 instead of the 0 gateway.

Hi @pazzob

Compare the first three pakets of any IP-Address a bigger house. Your older network was located in 192.168.1, your My Cloud was in Appartment 150. You moved to a new address 192.168.0 with all your inhabitants.

192.168. is the name of the town, PRIVATE NETWORK
the third segment is the number of a house in this town.
the fourth segment are the numbers of each appartment in this house, from 1 until 254 - 0 and 255 are reserved numbers as these both have special jobs.

Subnet mask is excluded here, it would be 255.255.255.0 for all these kind of IPs (in general).

Any IP-Address is an appartment,
The Gateway is the Concierge of your Appartment Building, located at the entrance door and checking everything but of course each incoming parcel that shall be delivered to any of the appartments.
The DNS-Server, Primary and Secondary, are the secretaries, knowing who is living in what appartment. The hace a huge phone book where all names are listed with their numbers. Usually all data packets will be send to numbers, not to names. Therefore the DNS servers have to enhance each address label on each paket with the numbers beside the names.

You simply forgot to tell your My Cloud that their Appartment moved from House 1 to House 0!
It’s not the fault of the My Cloud, it’s the fault that mostly happens if somebody plays around with Static IP addresses, not knowing what is behind an IP-Address and how this mechanism is working.

Best practice, as @Bennor wrote, is to make use of the so called Static Lease within the DHCP-Server of the router (if the router ic able to do this).

[pazzob]

Dear @Bennor and @Joerg_A,

Thanks for your feedback. Of course, I am a novice on this field and I had no intention to make a classroom here. I was rather just sharing my experience and how I worked around this issue with my limited knowledge. As for the static IP I had to set it because I’m primarily using MyCloud as a remotely accessible FTP server. I actually read it on this forum to set it static rather than keeping it on Dynamic. Anyhow, thanks for the info you shared. We’re here to learn.
Have a great day!