Configuring the DHCP and FDR Servers

Description

The Ethernet communication module includes both a DHCP and a Fast Device Replacement (FDR) server. The DHCP server provides IP address settings to networked Ethernet devices. The FDR server that provides operating parameter settings to replacement Ethernet devices that are equipped with FDR client functionality.

Use the Address Server page to:

enable and disable the communication module’s FDR service
view an automatically generated list of devices included in the communication module’s Ethernet configuration, displaying for each device:
- IP addressing parameters, and
- whether the device’s IP addressing parameters are provided by the communication module’s embedded DHCP server
manually add remote devices—that are not part of the communication module’s Ethernet configuration—to the communication module’s DHCP client list

NOTE: Confirm that each device you manually add is equipped with DHCP client software, and is configured to subscribe to the communication module’s IP addressing service.

The Address Server page looks like this:

To display this page:

Step	Description
1	Select the Services node in the navigation tree located on the left side of the Device Editor. The Services page opens.
2	In the Services page, set the Address Server field to Enabled. The Address Server node appears in the navigation tree.
3	Select the Address Server node in the navigation tree.

Enabling the FDR Service

To enable the communication module’s FDR service, set the FDR Server field to Enabled. To disable the service, toggle the same field to Disabled.

NOTE: Refer to the topic Configuring Properties in the Device Editor for instructions on how to apply edited properties to networked devices.

Any networked Ethernet device equipped with FDR client software can subscribe to the communication module’s FDR service. The communication module can store up to 1 MB of FDR client operating parameter files. When this file storage capacity is reached, the module can not store any additional client FDR files.

The communication module can store FDR client files for up to 128 devices, depending on the size of each stored file. For example, if the size of each FDR client file is small—not more than 8 Kb—the module could store up to the maximum of 128 parameter files.

Manually Adding Remote Devices to the DHCP Service

Remote devices that are part of the communication module’s Ethernet configuration—and which have subscribed to the communication module’s DHCP IP addressing service—automatically appear in the Automatically Added Devices list.

Other remote devices—that are not part of the communication module’s configuration—can be manually added to the communication module’s DHCP IP addressing service.

To manually add networked Ethernet devices to the IP addressing service:

Step	Description
1	In the Address Server page, click the Add Device Manually button. Control Expert adds an empty row to the list of Manually Added Devices.
2	In the new row, configure the following parameters for the client device:
	IP Address	Type in the IP address of the client device.
	Identifier Type	Select the type of value the client device will use to identify itself to the FDR server: MAC address Device Name
	Identifier	Depending upon the identifier type, type in the client device setting for the MAC address or Name.
	Mask	Type in the client device subnet mask.
	Gateway	Type in the gateway address used to access a remote client device. Use 0.0.0.0 if the device is located on the same subnet as the server.
3	Refer to the topic Configuring Properties in the Device Editor for instructions on how to apply edited properties to networked devices.

Viewing the Auto-Generated DHCP Client List

The list of Automatically Added Devices includes a row for each remote device that is:

part of the communication module’s Ethernet configuration, and
configured to subscribe to the communication module’s DHCP addressing service

NOTE: You cannot add devices to this list in this page. Instead, use the configuration pages for the remote device to subscribe to this service.

The list of Automatically Added Devices contains the following information for each networked device:

Property	Description
Device Number	The number assigned to the device in the Control Expert configuration.
IP Address	The client device IP address.
Enable DHCP	TRUE indicates that the device subscribes to the DHCP service.
Identifier Type	Indicates the mechanism used by the server to recognize the client (MAC address or DHCP device name).
Identifier	The actual MAC address or DHCP device name.
Mask	The client device subnet mask.
Gateway	The IP address a DHCP client device will use to access other devices that are not located on the local subnet. A value of 0.0.0.0 constrains the DHCP client device by allowing it to communicate only with devices on the local subnet.

Subscribing to the DHCP Service for a Device that is Part of the Configuration

An Ethernet device—that is part of the communication module Ethernet configuration—can subscribe to the DHCP IP addressing service. To subscribe to the DHCP service for a specific device, follow these steps:

Step	Action
1	In the DTM Browser, select the Ethernet communication module that is connected to the remote device that you want to add to the DHCP service. In the following example, the communication module with the alias name of ETC01 is selected: NOTE: The selected module is connected to the STB NIC 2212 network interface device bearing the alias name NIC2212_01, which is the module you want to add to the DHCP service.
2	With ETC01 selected in the DTM Browser, click the right mouse button, and select Open in the pop-up menu.: The Device Editor opens.
3	In the navigation tree on the left side of the Device Editor, expand the Device List node and select the device for which you want to enable the DHCP service. In this example, select NIC2212_01: Control Expert displays the properties for the selected remote device in the right pane of the window.
4	In the right pane of the window, select the Address Setting tab to display the following page:
5	In the Address Server area of this page, configure the following properties:
	DHCP for this device	Select Enabled
	Identified by	The choices are: MAC Address, or Device Name Select Device Name.
	Identifier	Control Expert has automatically added the device name NIC2212_01. For the purpose of this example, accept the default value.
	Subnet Mask	Control Expert has automatically applied the same subnet mask used for the Ethernet communication module. For the purpose of this example, accept the default value of 255.255.255.0.
	Gateway	Control Expert has automatically applied the same gateway used for the Ethernet communication module. For the purpose of this example, accept the default value of 0.0.0.0.
6	Click OK to save your edits. NOTE: Refer to the topic Configuring Properties in the Device Editor for more information on editing and saving property settings in this window.