Chapter 4: Remote Management HTTP and SNMP
Other than the e3switch.local addresses described below, all IP addresses used within the converter's
management interface must be in xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx numeric format rather than a human-readable DNS-
resolvable hostname.
Automatic Link-Local IP Address
E3Switch converters are shipped with an initial IP address that conforms to recent zero-configuration link-
local standards. This allows multiple E3Switch converters on the same IP network to initialize with unique
IP addresses without conflict and allows simple ping/HTTP/SNMP access to the converters using
hostnames e3switch.local or e3switch-2.local,... provided that the free
ZeroConf
mDNS software has been
installed on the machine attempting to communicate with the converter.
Do not prefix www.
prior to
e3switch.local. www.e3switch.local will not work.
The converters negotiate between themselves to determine which converter is assigned name e3switch.local
and which receives e3switch-2.local and so on. Since the assigned name will not necessarily be fixed to a
particular converter after power cycles, the system manager will probably want to use/set the converter's
numeric IP address sometime during or after initial installation.
Web descriptions are available for
ZeroConf
mDNS and
Link-local
IPV4LL ip addresses. Free ZeroConf
software such as
Bonjour for Windows
or Avahi is available for Windows/Linux/Unix machines.
Initial Numeric IP Address
The converter can also be contacted at its initial default IP numeric address which always takes the form
169.254.aa.bbb. Units shipped after October 20
th
, 2007 typically have the initial IP address listed on top of
the chassis or can be initially contacted at the IP address above where aa.bbb matches the serial number
listed on the front label. For units shipped prior to November 2007, serial numbers listed on the front label
translate to IP addresses as follows:
●
.51.bbb => .51.bbb
●
.15.bbb => .49.bbb
●
IP3.bbb => 51.bbb
●
B2hh6 => .50.bbb where bbb is the base10 decimal version of the base16 hexadecimal number hh.
The converter's current IP and MAC addresses are both shown at the HTTP management screen.
Unknown IP Address Recovery
The following methods may be used to determine a converter's IP address if lost or forgotten. Note that
once determined, management communication may only be possible from the same IP network if the
converter's default router address is invalid.
For firmware dated July 9
th
, 2008 or later, unplug all LAN and BNC cables from the converter and power
cycle the unit. 30 seconds after powerup, the converter will begin blinking out its IP address on the leftmost
LED. Each digit is counted up as an orange blink with a pause between digits and a short blink for a 0. A
decimal in the IP address is indicated with a green blink. For example, <orange><orange><pause><short-
orange><pause><green>... would be an IP address that begins “20.”
For earlier firmware or those with access to packet sniffers, upon powerup, the converter will broadcast
several gratuitous ARP packets on its network ports which can be examined with a sniffer or packet
monitoring software to determine a unit's IP address. The source Ethernet MAC address of such packets
and E3Switch converters is 00:50:C2:6F:xx:xx. Tcpdump or Wireshark are two readily available software
packages to examine network packets.
Additionally, examination of the MAC address table of an attached LAN switch or router may provide the
IP address if the E3Switch MAC address prefix (00:50:C2:6F:xx:xx) can be located.
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