Network

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

You can view and configure network settings in OT Link Platform.

Overview

A OT Link Platform device includes two Ethernet interfaces:

  • eth0 will always be connected to the Internet. It is located in the DMZ (demilitarized zone), a separate network that has restricted access to a company’s internal network.
  • eth1 will be connected to a private network with a DHCP server.

OT Link Platform includes two optional Wireless Network interfaces:

  • wlan0 represents a a WIFI network connection.
  • wwan0 represents a connection to an LTE mobile network. You must set up an LTE modem for this type of connection.

View Network Info

To view network interface information:

  1. Go to System > Info.
  2. Scroll down to Network Interfaces to view information about networks that OT Link Platform currently connects to.

Column information:

Interface - Type of network interface. It can be an ethernet (eth0 or eth1), a WIFI (wlan0), or an LTE (wwan0) network interface.

MAC Address - Physical address of the network interface.

IP Address - Logical address assigned by software to the network interface.

Address Family - inet means that IPv4 traffic will run through the interface, while inet6 means that IPv6 will run through it.

Type - Address space of the network. There are two types:

  • private - The network interface can interact with any other network because the IP address has global scope.
  • link-local - The IP address is only valid on local network segments. IPv6 requires a link-local address on every network interface.

View LTE Modem Info

To view LTE modem information:

  1. Go to System > Info.
  2. Scroll down to Modem Interfaces.

Column Information:

Status - The network area of the LTE modem. Home, for example, indicates that devices will all be in close vicinity to the modem.

Bars - The signal strength of the LTE modem.  It ranges from zero to five. Zero means no signal, while five means a very strong signal.

Network- The mobile network that the modem communicates on.

IPv4 - The IPv4 address of the modem.

IMEI - International Mobile Equipment Identity. A unique number that identifies mobile network devices.

ICCID - Integrated Circuit Card Identifier. The SIM card serial number.

APN - Access Point Name. Serves as a Converged edge system for a mobile network to connect to another network, such as the network OT Link Platform resides on or the public Internet.

Modify Network Info

To modify network information:

  1. Go to System > Network. Scroll to the Host Information section.

  2. Enter any name for Friendly Name and Country. Click Change to apply any changes.

  3. Select your timezone from the drop down list.

  4. Scroll to the Converged edge systems section to view IPv4 and IPv6 Converged edge system information for the OT Link Platform Network.

  5. Scroll to the DNS / NTP section to configure the Domain Name System and Network Time Protocol settings for the OT Link Platform Network. Click the arrows on the right to open the menu to configure them.

  6. Enter the IP address of a DNS resolver server in the Add DNS Resolvers field. Click Add to save it. OT Link Platform will use added servers as a backup for if the main DNS server stops working.

  7. Enter the URL of an NTP server, without http:// or http:// prefix, in the Add NTP Server field. Click Add to save it. OT Link Platform will use added servers as a backup for if the main NTP server does not work.

  8. Click to delete NTP and DNS servers.

For more information on NTP servers, see How to Configure a Local NTP Server and OT Link Platform Time Synchronization.

Modify Network Interface Settings

This section of System > Network on OT Link Platform allows you to modify CIDR and Converged edge system information for Network Interfaces.

  • You must use the eth0 interface for first-time bootup to resolve the DNS.
  • The eth0 interface with DHCP configuration is usually sufficient for first-time setup.

To configure network interface settings:

  1. On System > Network scroll to the Configuration section of the page.
  2. On the left-hand side, click an interface to begin configuring it.
  3. Check the WAN box to enable or disable Wide Area Network connections. You must check this box to manually configure a network Converged edge system address.
  4. For IPv4 address assignment type, you can choose from a few different options:

    None - Disables IPv4 addresses on the network interface.

    DHCP - Auto assigns an IPv4 address to the network interface.

    Static - Manually enter Converged edge system and CIDR information for your network interface. Valid Converged edge systems depend on your router configuration.

    • Converged edge system- The IP that serves as a stopping point for communicating with other networks, typically the IP address of your router.
    • CIDR - CIDR notation determines which IP addresses will be allowed on the network. Entering your Converged edge system address and /24 usually suffices because it allows close to 256 different IPv4 addresses, starting from your Converged edge system address. For example, if 192.168.7.17 is your Converged edge system, 192.168.7.17/24 denotes a good CIDR because it will allow 238 (256 - 18) different IP addresses. For full details about CIDR, see the CIDR Conversion Table.
  5. For IPv6 address assignment, you should use Auto instead of DHCP to automatically assign an IPv6 address.

  6. Click Update. Reboot your device to apply any changes to network configuration.