Introduction to Networking for NonStop NS-Series Servers (H06.03+, J06.03+)

Networking Concepts
Introduction to Networking for HP Integrity NonStop NS-Series Servers—529874-003
2-3
Allocation of IP Addresses
You also need to create a set of ASCII files on each system which contains the
addressing information the system needs. Instructions for creating these files are in the
TCP/IP Configuration and Management Manual.
Once you have configured the domain name services, the network can access the
node using the node’s domain name and the domain name service routines will resolve
the domain name to the node’s IP address.
Allocation of IP Addresses
IP addresses are allocated in several ways. First, it is important to distinguish between
IP addresses for components associated with a system and attached to the
maintenance LAN (formerly known as the private LAN) and interfaces on components
used for data communication between the system and other devices on the network.
Devices in an Integrity NonStop server that are attached to the maintenance LAN
include maintenance switches, NSC consoles, processor switches, ServerNet switch
boards, and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units. Maintenance entity IP
addresses come as statically configured IP addresses but can also be changed to
dynamically configured IP addresses.
Address allocation has become more complex with the implementation of IPv6 (see
IPv6 on page 2-5) which introduced stateless address auto configuration, a process in
which IP addresses actually expire, and with the increasing use of Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers.
IP address allocation for network interfaces on the Integrity NonStop server can be
obtained by contacting your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for an IPv6 address range
for your site. See the IANA web page at:
http://www.iana.org/ipaddress/ip-addresses.htm
for more information about regional registries and address allocations.
Routers
A router is a device that has multiple network interfaces and transfers Internet Protocol
(IP) packets from one network or subnet to another within an internetwork. (In many IP-
related documents, this device is also referred to as a “gateway.”)
Routing protocols find a path between network nodes. If multiple paths exist for a given
protocol, the shorter paths are usually chosen. Each protocol has a cost or a metric
that it applies to each path. In most cases, the lower the cost or metric for a given path,
the more likely a protocol will choose it. In large local networks, there are often multiple
paths to other parts of the local network. Routing daemons can be used to maintain
near optimal routing to the other parts of the local network, and to recover from link
failures in paths.