Do the CSS106 switches avoid duplicate IP address 192.168.88.1 when multiple "out of the box" switches are deployed on a network with no DHCP server?

The documentation suggests that the v2.5+ default method "DHCP with fallback" will use the configured address if no response is received from DHCP server within 10 seconds.

There is no mention made about whether an ARP request is sent to the specified address before the switch uses it.

No, it will not. Confirmed this few days ago when setting small lab with CSS106 and CRS series router, both had same IP, tho in that case it was simple to resolve because of MAC Winbox.

@eider Thanks.

So we should plan on setting the ip address even if we use reserved addresses in our DHCP server.

Case I am thinking about is building loss of power, where the SwOS will reboot much faster than the DHCP server.

I still like to have the MAC addresses in the DHCP server reservation, if for no other reason than documentation.

Best would be UPS backup and PoE.