Dell PowerVault ME5 Series Administrator's Guide

Configuring controller network ports

The system provides concurrent support for IPv4 and IPv6 protocols. Both protocols can be set up at the same time by configuring the network parameters.

You can manually set static IP address parameters for network ports, or you can specify that IP values be set automatically, using DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) for IPv4 or DHCPv6 or SLAAC (Stateless address auto-configuration) for IPv6.

If (Settings > Network > IPv6 > (controller A|B) > Source > Auto) is selected, the system will use an automated method- defined via the network configuration: which could be DHCPv6 or SLAAC-to auto-configure the address. The Auto setting presents a single IPv6 address. If a DHCPv6 address is available, DHCPv6 will provide the interface address; otherwise, the SLAAC address will be used.

When setting IP address values, you can choose IPv4 formatting, IPv6 formatting, or both for each controller. Additionally, you can set the addressing mode and IP address version differently for each controller and use them concurrently. For example, you could set IPv4 on controller A to Manual to enable static IP addressing, and IPv6 on controller A to Auto to enable automatic IP addressing. Given that network parameter settings are independent between the two protocols, you can set them as needed for IP addressing on controller B.

When using DHCP mode, the system obtains values for the network port IP address, subnet mask, and gateway from a DHCP server if one is available. If a DHCP server is unavailable, the system will use its default values. You must have some means of determining what addresses have been assigned, such as the list of bindings on the DHCP server. You can retrieve the DHCP assigned IP addresses either through the USB serial console login page, which lists IPv4 and IPv6; via CLI commands; or from the DHCP server list of MAC address to IP address leases. When using Auto mode, addresses are retrieved from both DHCP and SLAAC. DNS settings are also automatically retrieved from the network.

Each controller has the following factory-default IP settings:

• IP address source: Manual
• Controller A IP address: 10.0.0.2
• Controller B IP address: 10.0.0.3
• IP subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
• Gateway IP address: 10.0.0.1

For IPv6, when Manual mode is enabled you can enter up to four static IP addresses for each controller. When Auto is enabled, the following initial values are set and remain set until the system is able to contact a DHCPv6 and/or SLAAC server for new addresses:

• Controller A IP address: fd6e:23ce:fed3:19d1::1
• Controller B IP address: fd6e:23ce:fed3:19d1::2
• Gateway IP address: fd6e:23ce:fed3:19d1::3

Once you set the type of controller network ports to use, you can configure domain names using the Domain Name Service (DNS). DNS accepts IPv4 and IPv6 address formats. For more information about the DNS feature, see DNS settings.