Configure network settings

The Network Configuration page enables you to configure the following:

• Network interfaces
• Routing and gateways
• Host name and DNS clients
• Host addresses

Network interfaces

Click the Network Interfaces icon on the Network Configuration page to view the network interfaces that are currently active on the appliance. The active interfaces are listed in two tables. The first shows the interfaces that are currently active and have an IP address assigned, while the second table shows the interfaces that were activated at system boot time.

Edit network interfaces activated at boot time

There are four network interfaces altogether on the appliance. The interface called eth0 obtains its IP address from DHCP, while the eth1 interface has a fixed IP address by default. There are two more interfaces on the appliance, eth2 and eth3, which are typically used for handling API Gateway traffic. The eth0 and eth1interfaces are usually employed for administration and management purposes.

You must configure the third and fourth interfaces using the Web Administration Interface after one of the two management network interfaces has been configured. However, it is up to the administrator to decide which interfaces are used for administration purposes and which interfaces are used to handle API Gateway traffic. All four interfaces are completely interchangeable in terms of the roles they serve.

The four Ethernet ports can be seen in the center of the back panel with the interface ports and are labeled Gb1 through Gb4, corresponding to the four network interface names, eth0 through eth3.

To change the default configuration of a network interface,edit the interface from the Interfaces Activated at Boot Time table on the Network Configuration page. Click the name of the interface in the Interfaces Activated at Boot Time table, and complete the following fields:

1. To assign an IP address automatically to this interface, select the From DHCP option. Alternatively, to assign a fixed IP address to this interface, select the Static option, and enter the new address in the text box provided. You can also use the Bootstrap Protocol to obtain an IP address by selecting the BOOTP option.
2. If necessary, change the Netmask field. The Broadcast field must be changed accordingly if either the IP Address or Netmask fields are changed.
3. Ensure that the Activate at Boot option is set to ensure that the interface is activated when the appliance starts up.
4. Click the Save and Apply button to save the configuration changes and apply them immediately.

To remove a boot-time interface that it is activated at startup, click the Delete button on its form. You can use the Delete and Apply button to delete the interface immediately.

For a complete example of editing the default network interfaces activated at boot time, see Modify the default network configuration.

Add a network interface that is activated at boot time

To add an interface that starts up at boot time, click the Add a New Interface button above or below the Interfaces Activated at Boot Time table on the Network Interfaces page. Complete the fields as described in the previous section.

Edit network interfaces active now

To edit a currently activated network interface, click its name in the Interfaces Active Now table and complete the following fields:

1. Enter an IP address in the IP Address field to assign a new address to this interface. To assign an IP address automatically to this interface, edit the boot time settings for the interface as outlined in the previous section.
2. If necessary, change the Netmask field. The Broadcast field must be changed accordingly if either the IP Address or Netmask fields are changed.
3. The default settings for the MTU and Hardware address fields should not need to be changed. If you do change the MTU setting, exercise caution, as an inappropriate value might result in severe performance degradation. The Hardware Address setting should only be changed to give your network card a different Ethernet address.
4. You can temporarily disable the interface by setting the Status field to Down. You can then re-enable it by setting this option back to Up.
5. Click the Save button to activate the changes.

Add a network interface that is active now

You can add and activate an interface immediately by clicking the Add a New Interface button above or below the Interfaces Active Now table. Complete the fields as described in the previous section.

Add virtual network interfaces

You can add virtual interfaces to an existing interface to further organize and compartmentalize your network. For example, to have the SNMP service available on a particular network only. In this case, you can add a virtual network interface and configure the SNMP service to only listen on this interface.

To add a virtual interface, add an additional IP address to an existing real interface. Virtual interface names typically include the name of the real network interface and also the number of the virtual interface, because you can have several virtual interfaces configured for a single real network interface. For example, eth1:1 where eth1 is the name of the real network interface, and 1 identifies the virtual interface.

To add a virtual interface, see Add a virtual IP address.

Routing and API Gateways

For the appliance to communicate with other networks, it must be configured with the IP address of an API Gateway machine. The API Gateway machine is responsible for forwarding packets from one network to another.

To change the default API Gateway used by the appliance, click the Routing and Gateways icon on the Network Configuration page, and complete the following steps:

1. Specify the IP address of the default API Gateway in the Default Router field, or select None if the API Gateway is assigned by a DHCP server.
2. Enter the name of the network interface that must be used to communicate with this router in the Device field.
3. The Static Routes table can be used to set up static routing. For a given static route, enter the name of an interface that can be used to communicate with the router (for example, eth0) in the Interface column. Enter the name of the remote network in the Network column. Specify the netmask of this network in the Netmask column. Finally, in the API Gateway column, specify the IP address of a router that is capable of forwarding packets to this network.
4. You can use the Local Routes table to set up routing to other IP networks on connected LANs. To configure a local route, enter the name of an interface that the LAN is connected to in the Interface column. Enter the address of the additional IP network in the Network column, and its netmask in the Netmask column.
5. Click the Save button to store the configuration changes.

Routes

The currently active routes are listed in the Active Routes table.

To delete an active route, select the route to delete, and click the Delete Selected Routes button.

To create a new route, complete the Route destination, Netmask for destination, and Route via fields and click the Create button.

Host name and DNS client

To enable the appliance to look up and resolve the host names and IP addresses of destination servers, you must configure a DNS server. To update the appliance's DNS settings, click the Hostname and DNS Client icon on the Network Configuration page, and complete the following steps:

1. Enter the new host name in the Hostname field.
2. Enter the names of up to three DNS servers to use. If the first DNS server is not available, the appliance uses the second one, and if this is not available, it attempts to use the third server. If all listed DNS servers are unavailable, a DNS error occurs.
3. You can use the Search Domains field to specify domain names that the appliance should append automatically to resolved host names. This enables you to avoid entering fully qualified host names.
4. Click the Save button. The changes take immediate effect.

Host addresses

You can use host addresses to provide mappings between host names and IP addresses that can be used by the appliance in cases where the configured DNS servers are not available, or where no DNS server has been configured at all.

Click the Host Addresses icon on the Network Configuration page to view the addresses configured on the appliance. If you have changed the host name or IP address of the appliance, the new name might not be reflected in the list (unless you have changed it already). To change a host address, complete the following steps:

1. Click the IP address of the host in the list.
2. On the editing form for this host, enter the new IP address in the IP Address field.
3. Enter both the fully qualified host name and the host name itself into the Hostnames field.
4. Click the Save button to save the changes.