networking - Are the IP addresses static or dynamic in computer to computer adhoc wireless network?

Currently my home networking setup looks like:

I have one host laptop running windows 7 connected to usb data card to access internet. I have my client laptop running XP and able to access shared internet.

I created an adhoc network on host machine. just typed "adhoc" on windows 7 start search box, and followed the steps on the screen. This created a wireless network. I named it mynetwork. And shared the usb data card internet connection from sharing center.

Now, I am learning to use proxy server. I have installed ccproxy server on my client machine and have setup firefox to use this proxy. So my client machine and proxy machine IP address are the same (one I looked up by ipconfig/all) . Proxy is working.

My question is that will my client IP address change next time, I connect to my home wireless network my network? In such case, I will again have to check the IP address in firefox proxy setting and proxy client setting? After a quick disconnection and then connection, I see that my client IP address remains the same, but I am wondering if after a day or so, does the IP address change?

When I connect to the mynetwork, I get the status message as "Acquiring network address", this makes me think that perhaps everytime the client acquires a new IP address everytime..

Answer

A DHCP will not really acquire a new address every time, but it does check in with the DHCP server to see if it can continue to still use the same IP address, and to refresh its lease. Most home routers have a lease of one week by default, so as long as you log in within that time period, you would continue to be granted a lease for that IP address. If not, the address may have been given to another computer (less likely in a home environment, but happens more in a corporate environment).

If your data shares are being resolved using NetBIOS over TCP/IP, then you will not need to worry too much about the IP changing and cutting you off.

If you are connecting using only the IP address to find the other computer, you may lose connectivity if your IP changes. To avoid this, you can simply assign static IP address.