BladeCenter web interface: MM Control, Network Interfaces page

The following illustration shows the Network Interfaces page for an advanced management module.

Graphic illustrating the network interfaces page for an advanced management module.

Attention: Once IPv6 has been enabled, disabling it or updating advanced management module firmware to a level that does not support IPv6 addressing causes all IPv6 connectivity to be lost. Services and interfaces that are configured for IPv6 operation might not function properly and you will need to reconfigure these services and interfaces.

Select Network Interfaces to configure the management-module Ethernet interfaces. For the advanced management module, you can configure only the external Ethernet interface that is used to communicate with the remote management and console. The internal Ethernet interface for the advanced management module has no user-configurable settings.

The advanced management module supports both IPv4 and IPv6 addressing. IPv4 addressing is always enabled and IPv6 is enabled by default. In the External Network Interface (eth0) section, if the IPv6 Enabled checkbox is not selected, IPv6 addressing is disabled for the BladeCenter unit and you will see an additional checkbox to suppress display of IPv6 information. You must click Save for any changes to take effect. The status of the internal (eth1) Ethernet connection for the primary management module is Enabled and cannot be changed.

Note: If IPv6 is enabled, at least one of the IPv6 configuration methods (IPv6 static, DHCPv6, or stateless auto-configuration) must also be enabled and configured.

For I/O-module communication with a remote management station, through the management-module external Ethernet port, the I/O-module internal network interface and the management-module internal and external interfaces must be on the same subnet.

The Primary Management Module section displays information about the interface for the primary management-module remote management and console port.

Note: If your BladeCenter unit supports redundant management modules and you plan to use this feature with both management modules set to use the same external IP address, disable DHCP and DHCPv6 and configure and use a static IP address. This action must be performed for both IPv4 and IPv6, as appropriate. (The IP configuration information is transferred to the standby management module automatically when it is needed.)

The following areas of the Primary Management Module section apply to both IPv4 and IPv6 addressing:
- Hostname field: (Optional) This is the IP host name that you want to use for the management module (maximum of 63 characters and following host-naming standards).
- Domain name field: The domain name of the management module that is used in conjunction with a dynamic domain name server (DDNS).
- Register this interface with DNS checkbox: If checked, the configured DNS servers (see Network Protocols) will also be considered DDNS servers and domain name information will be sent to them.
Click Advanced Ethernet Setup to view and configure the data rate, duplex mode, maximum transmission unit (MTU), and locally-administered MAC address for this interface. The burned-in MAC address field for the external interface is read-only.

For the advanced management module, you can enable or disable the management-module physical or logical uplink failover features by using the Failover on loss of physical network link and Failover on loss of logical network link fields. If the external network interface of the primary management module fails, the uplink failover features force a failover to the standby management module, if one is installed, after the specified network failover delay. For an advanced management module, you also can specify the IP address that the management module uses to check the status of its logical network link. The IP address should be for a reliable device on the same physical LAN as the advanced management module. If no IP address is specified, the advanced management module uses the advanced management module gateway IP address, if it is configured. The advanced management module can also listen passively for a routing multicast address to determine if the network is active.
The following areas of the External Network Interface (eth0) section apply to IPv4 addressing:
- DHCP: Select one of the following choices:
  - Enabled: Obtain IP config. from DHCP server
  - Disabled: Use static IP configuration
  - Try DHCP server. If it fails, use static IP config. (the default; DHCP times out after 2 minutes)
  Note: If the management-module DHCP setting is set to Try DHCP server. If it fails, use static IP config., the management module uses the static IP address when the DHCP server is not available during management-module startup. When this occurs, the IP address might not be reachable if multiple management modules were started with the same static IP address.
- IPv4 Static IP configuration: Configure this information only if DHCP is disabled.
  - IP address: The IPv4 IP address of the management module must contain four integers from 0 through 255, separated by periods, with no spaces or consecutive periods. The default setting is 192.168.70.125.
  - Subnet mask: The subnet mask must contain four integers from 0 to 255, separated by periods, with no spaces. The default setting is 255.255.255.0
  - Gateway address: The IP address of your network gateway router must contain four integers from 0 through 255, separated by periods, with no spaces. This address must be accessible from the IP address and subnet mask that were specified above.
- Click IP Configuration Assigned by DHCP Server to view the IP configuration that was assigned by the DHCP server. (This choice is available only when DHCP is enabled.)
The following areas of the External Network Interface (eth0) section apply to IPv6 addressing:
Note: For IPv6, both DHCPv6 and IPv6 static configuration can be enabled at the same time, each with their own address. Hosts like the advanced management module can have multiple IPv6 addresses.
- Link-local address: (read only) A unique IPv6 address for the advanced management module that is automatically generated based on the MAC address (see IPv6 addressing for initial connection for additional information).
- IPv6 Static IP configuration: IPv6 static IP configuration is disabled by default.
  Note: The advanced management module will not have a fixed static IPv6 address by default. For initial access, users can use either the IPv4 or the IPv6 link-local address.
  - IP address: The IPv6 IP address of the management module must be 16 hexadecimal bytes, divided along 2-byte boundaries, delimited with colons, of the form: 2001:0DB8:0000:0000:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A.
  - Address prefix length (1-128): The prefix length for the IPv6 address. The address prefix length is not configurable for the standby advanced management module: the same value as the primary advanced management module is used.
  - Default route: The IP address of your network gateway router must be 16 hexadecimal bytes, divided along 2-byte boundaries, delimited with colons, of the form: 2001:0DB8:0000:0000:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A. The default route is not configurable for the standby advanced management module: the same value as the primary advanced management module is used.
- DHCPv6: Select one of the following choices:
  - Enabled: Obtain IP configuration from DHCP server (the default)
  - Disabled: Not obtain IP configuration from DHCP server
- Stateless Auto-configuration: Automatic configuration of addresses is based on the receipt of Router Advertisement messages. These messages include stateless address prefixes. Stateless auto-configuration is enabled by default.
Click View Automatic Configuration to view the DHCPv6 information and stateless auto-configuration addresses assigned to the primary advanced management module. All fields are read-only.

The Advanced Failover section sets how the management module behaves when it switches over to the standby management module during failover. It also displays information about the interface for the standby management-module remote management and console port, similar to the External Network Interface (eth0) section and Primary Management Module section for the primary management module.

Graphic illustrating the advanced failover page.