Automatically Assigned IP Address

Configuring a static IP address without a DHCP or BOOTP server

By default, the S4 Open Appliance will attempt to retrieve an IP address from a DHCP or BOOTP server.  If one is not available on the network where the S4 Open Appliance is being installed, the Appliance can be configured to use a static IP address.  Microsoft Windows includes a DHCP failover mechanism known as APIPA.  With APIPA, DHCP clients can obtain IP addresses when DHCP servers are nonfunctional or absent.  APIPA exists in all popular versions of Windows except Windows NT.  To complete this procedure, it is important to follow the next steps exactly as prescribed:

1. Start with the S4 Open Appliance powered off.
2. Install the S4 Open Management Console on a Windows PC.
3. Set your PC Ethernet adapter to automatically obtain an IP address. (Refer to Windows help for additional information on this procedure.)
4. Connect a crossover Ethernet cable between the S4 Open Appliance and the PC.
5. Power on the S4 Open Appliance. The network status on the PC will indicate “Acquiring IP Address”
6. The S4 Open Appliance will go through its normal initialization process.
7. The PC and the S4 Open Appliance will negotiate addresses, with Windows automatically assigning IP addresses in the range of 169.254.x.x.

The following two steps may take several minutes, please be patient.

When the initialization process is complete and the addresses are negotiated, the S4 Open Appliance will be auto-detected by the Management Console and its folder will show up in the navigation pane.  At this point you will have normal communication between the Management Console and the appliance.  Now, you will be able to go to the S4 Open Appliance’s Properties page, select Communications Protocols, and change the IP address to a fixed IP address and subnet mask of your choice; the other fields can be left blank.  Once this is done, hit the Apply button.  The S4 Open Appliance will need to be rebooted for the changes to take effect; use the Reboot button on the General Properties tab to initiate the reboot sequence.  The S4 Open Appliance will re-initialize itself with the address and subnet mask that was assigned to it.

To maintain communication between the Management Console and the S4 Open Appliance it is necessary to change the IP address of the PC running the Management Console to a fixed IP address in the same subnet as the S4 Open Appliance.