Echelon i.LON 600 LonWorks/IP Server - Manual (Page 57)

Section 2: Advanced Topics
DNS
DNS is a mechanism that translates an IP host name like www.echelon.com into a
numeric IP address like 205.229.51.8. For example, when you enter www.echelon.com in
your web browser, your web browser queries a DNS server to find the IP address. It then
requests the home page from the numeric IP address – not the IP host name. Because the
process is transparent, many people are not aware of the existence of numeric IP
addresses.
Note that IP host names are usually used to reference servers such as a Web server
(www.echelon.com), a database server, or a file server. Because these servers are fixed
assets, they are usually assigned a static IP address. That static IP address is also entered
into a DNS server so that the mapping between the IP host name and the numeric IP
address can be made.
If you are in control of your local DNS server, you should give all participants in your
L
ON W ORKS /IP channel static IP addresses and create DNS entries for each participant.
This allows you to specify an IP host name when setting up the L ON W ORKS /IP channel in
the Configuration Server instead of numeric IP addresses. The Configuration Server will
translate the IP host name into a numeric IP address and pass that address to all members
of the channel.
Note: The i.LON 600s themselves do not query DNS servers to resolve addresses, they
only work with numeric IP addresses provided by the Configuration Server.
By default, the configuration server will periodically (once every five minutes) attempt to
resolve any IP host name on all channels (including SNTP server) with a DNS server. If a
translation is successful, and the resulting IP address is different than what was
previously used, the channel members will be updated. This re-translation process also
occurs when the Configuration Server is first started.
Follow the below steps to set the Configuration Server automatic IP host name address
translation.
1. Select Settings from the Network menu in the Configuration Server and click
on the IP Host Names tab shown below:
i.LON 600 User’s Guide 49