National Instruments GPIB-ENET/100 - Manual (Page 35)

© National Instruments Corporation 6-1 GPIB-ENET/100 for Mac OS
6
Using Your GPIB-ENET/100
and NI-488.2
This chapter lists some general programming requirements and describes
how to use the following various options available with the
GPIB-ENET/100 and NI-488.2 for Mac OS:
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
• Configuration Reset (CFG RESET) switch
• Firmware update utility
• Interactive Control utility
Using DHCP
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is designed for large
networks in which networking devices are transient and network
parameters cannot be statically assigned and thus tied to specific devices.
DHCP eases the addition of networking devices onto a network by having
a server assign necessary network parameters, including the IP address, the
netmask, and router information, to a newly attached network device.
Optionally, if the device provides a hostname with the configuration
request, DHCP may attempt to configure your network to recognize
the device with the requested hostname.
DHCP requires a Domain Name Server (DNS) to associate the numerical
IP address assigned with the requested hostname. Within the past few years,
an Internet community standard has emerged to provide a standardized way
for these services to provide dynamic domain name services. Using this
standard, after DHCP assigns the numerical IP address, it can communicate
with DNS to register the newly assigned IP address with the requested
hostname. However, the complexity of DHCP and dynamic name
registration typically requires active management by a corporate MIS
department, or equivalent, because of several risks for failure.
One possible failure can occur if the pool of available addresses contains
no more unassigned IP addresses. This problem is evident if DHCP fails
to work and the PWR/RDY LED continues to flicker for longer than