National Instruments PCI-8430 - Using DHCP

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,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90
secondsatpoweron.Inthissituation,youneedtoobtainastaticIP
addressfromyournetworkadministratorandconfigurethedevice
yourselfusingtheNIEthernetDeviceConfigurationutility.Noticethatif
DHCPfailstoassignyouanaddress,thecurrentsubnetmightnothave
anaddressavailableforyoutouse.Inthiscase,youmayneedtomove
yourproducttoanothersubnetwherethereisanavailableIPaddress.
FailurealsohappensifcommunicationbetweenDHCPandDNSdoes
notoccur.Inthissituation,DHCPassignsanaddresstothedevice,but
youcannotcommunicatetoitusingthehostnameyouassigned.Your
networkadministratormayneedtoinsertthehostnamemanuallyintothe
DNStable.Alternately,youcanusetheNIEthernetDeviceConfiguration
utilitytodeterminethehostnameassociatedwithyourassignedIP
address,andchangethehostnametomatchtheDNSentry.Referto
VerifyingtheHostnameformoreinformation.