Network Interface

The network interface configuration specifies a logical network interface. The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker supports up to four Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN). You configure a SIP interface and one or more application (SIP) ports over each network interface.

Configure a Network Interface

Set the following parameters to configure a network interface. The network Realm identifier, VLAN ID, and network IP address cannot repeat across networks. They must be unique for each network.

1. Access the Networks configuration object.
   Configuration, Network, Networks
2. On the Service page, click Add, and do the following:

   Realm Identifier	Enter the name of this interface.
   VLAN ID	Enter the identification of a specific virtual interface in a physical interface, for example, a VLAN tab. If this network interface is not channelized, leave this field blank, and the value will correctly default to 0. The sub-port-id is only required if the operation type is Media. Default: 0. Range: 0-4095.
   Hostname	Enter the fully qualified domain name.
   Network IP Address	Enter the IPv4 address of this network interface.
   Network IP subnet mask	Enter the net mask of this network interface in dotted decimal notation.
   Network IP gateway address	Enter the gateway that this network interface uses to communicate with the next hop. You can set an additional, secondary gateway with the sec-gateway parameter.
   Preferred DNS server IP address	Enter the IP address of the targeted DNS server.
   Alternate DNS server IP address	Enter an alternate IP address for the targeted DNS server.
   Alternate DNS server IP address	Enter an alternate IP address for the targeted DNS server.
   DNS domain	Enter the default domain name.
   Enable REFER termination	Select to terminate and process SIP REFER messages. Default: Disabled.
   Send NOTIFY for REFER provisional responses	Select which NOTIFY messages for provisional responses you want the system to act on. Default: None. Valid values: None | Initial | All.
   Enable ToS marking	Select to ToS mark egress packets. Default: Disabled.
   ToS value	Set the ToS value to apply to egress packets. Default: 0x00.
   Enable ICMP	Select to allow Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traffic on this interface and respond to ICMP pings. Default: Disabled.
   Enable gateway heartbeat	For High Availability, check this checkbox to allow the network interface to continually confirm that its gateway is reachable.
   High availability settings	Use the arrow control to display the HA parameters.
   Primary utility IP address	Enter the utility IP address for the primary peer to use.
   Secondary utility IP address	Enter the utility IP address for the secondary peer to use.
   Interface virtual MAC	Enter the virtual MAC address of the interface. (This address moves to which ever peer is active.)

3. Click OK.
4. (Optional) Repeat steps 2 and 3 to add another network interface (up to 4 total).
5. Save the configuration.

Enable ICMP

To configure ICMP functionality on a media interface, you define the IPv4 address on your Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker network interface and enable ICMP. Enabling ICMP entries automatically opens the well-known port associated with a service.

Set the following parameters to enable ICMP functionality on a network interface:

1. Enable icmp—Check the checkbox to enable ICMP on this network interface.

   For security and by default, if ICMP is not enabled, the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker discards ICMP requests or responses for the address. It is recommended that you only enable ICMP temporarily on a network interface.

Configure the Network Interface for High Availability Operations

After you configure the first parameters on the Modify Network Settings dialog, the High Availability (HA) setting fields allow you to manually specify the addressing to be used by this interface for HA operation. Oracle recommends, that you use run setup to configure HA.

1. Click the arrow next to High Availability settings. The system adds the following fields to the Modify Network Settings dialog.
   
2. Primary utility IP address—Enter the utility IPv4 address for the primary HA peer. This address can be any unused IPv4 address within the subnet defined for the network interface. For example, given a network interface with the IPv4 address 168.0.4.15/24 (identifying the host associated with the network interface), the possible range of unused IPv4 addresses is 168.0.4.1 to 168.0.4.254. Ask your network administrator which IPv4 addresses are available for use.
3. Secondary utility IP address—Enter the utility IPv4 address for the secondary Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker peer. Usually, this IPv4 address is the next in the sequence up from the primary utility address. It is also generated from the range of unused IPv4 addresses within the subnet defined for the network interface.

Virtual MAC Addresses

To create an HA node, you create virtual MAC addresses for the media interfaces. You enter these addresses in virtual MAC address parameters for physical interface configurations.

This field is automatically populated with a valid virtual MAC address during run setup. It is recommended that you retain this configuration.

The HA node uses shared virtual MAC (media access control) and virtual IP addresses for the interfaces. When there is a switchover, the standby Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker sends out an ARP message using the virtual MAC address, establishing that MAC on another physical port within the Ethernet switch.

A MAC address is a hardware address that uniquely identifies Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker components. Given that, the virtual MAC address you configure allows the HA node to appear as a single system from the perspective of other network devices. To the upstream router, the MAC and IP are still alive, meaning that existing sessions continue uninterrupted through the standby Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker.

To configure a virtual MAC, enter the virtual MAC address in the Interface virtual MAC field.