Configuring the management module

You must configure the management module for command-line interface operation.

You configure only the primary (active) management module. The standby (redundant) management module, if present, receives the configuration and status information automatically from the primary management module when necessary. The configuration information in this topic applies to the primary management module, which might be the only management module in the BladeCenter® unit.

If the management module that you installed is a replacement for the only management module in the BladeCenter unit and you saved the configuration file before you replaced the management module, you can apply the saved configuration file to the replacement management module. For advanced management modules, see read command for information about applying a saved configuration file.

For the primary management module to communicate, you must configure the IP address for the external Ethernet (remote management) port (eth0) of the management module. The initial automatic management module configuration enables a remote console to connect to the management module to configure the port completely and to configure the rest of the BladeCenter unit.

Note: The internal Ethernet ports (eth1) for the advanced management module cannot be configured.

After you connect the primary management module to the network, the Ethernet port connection is configured in one of the following ways. Either of these actions enables the Ethernet connection on the primary management module.

If you have an accessible, active, and configured dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server on the network, the IP address, gateway address, subnet mask, and DNS server IP address are set automatically. The host name is set to the management-module MAC address by default, and the domain server cannot change it.
If the DHCP server does not respond within 2 minutes after the port is connected, the management module uses the factory-defined static IP address and default subnet address.
Note: If the management-module DHCP setting is set to try the DHCP server and then use the static IP address, 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.

Important: You cannot connect your system to the management module by using the factory-defined static IP address and default subnet address until at least 3 minutes after management-module startup.

Note: If the IP configuration is assigned by the DHCP server, you can use the MAC address of the management-module network interface to find out what IP address is assigned.

To configure the management-module Ethernet ports, complete the following steps:

Connect your system to the management-module command-line interface (see Starting the command-line interface for more information).
Configure the external Ethernet interface (eth0), using the ifconfig command (see ifconfig command for instructions).
Notes:
- The internal Ethernet management port on each I/O module provides for communication with the management module. You configure this port by configuring the IP address for the I/O module (see the BladeCenter Advanced Management Module User's Guide and the User's Guide for your I/O module type for information and instructions). Some types of I/O modules, such as the pass-thru module, have no management port. See the documentation that comes with each I/O module to determine what else you must configure in the I/O module.
- For I/O-module communication with a remote management station, such as an IBM®® Systems Director management server, 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.
- To communicate with the blade servers for functions such as deploying an operating system or application program, you also must configure at least one external (in-band) port on an Ethernet I/O module.