Dell PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Deployment Guide

Configuring controller network ports

You can manually set static IP address parameters for network ports or you can specify that IP addresses be set automatically. IP addresses can be set automatically using DHCP for IPv4 or Auto for IPv6, which uses DHCPv6 and/or SLAAC.

When setting IP values, you can choose either IPv4 or IPv6 formatting for each controller. You can also set the addressing mode and IP version differently for each controller and use them concurrently. For example, you could set IPv4 on controller A to Manual to enable static IP address, and IPv6 on controller B to Auto to enable automatic IP address.

When using DHCP mode, the system obtains values for the network port IP address, subnet mask, and gateway from a DHCP server if one is available. If a DHCP server is unavailable, current address is unchanged. You must have some means of determining what addresses have been assigned, such as the list of bindings on the DHCP server. When using Auto mode, addresses are retrieved from both DHCP and Stateless address auto-configuration (SLAAC). DNS settings are also automatically retrieved from the network.

Each controller has the following factory-default IP settings:

• IP address source: Manual
• Controller A IP address: 10.0.0.2
• Controller B IP address: 10.0.0.3
• IP subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
• Gateway IP address: 10.0.0.1

When DHCP is enabled in the storage system, the following initial values are set and remain set until the system can contact a DHCP server for new addresses:

• Controller IP addresses: 169.254.x.x (where the value of x.x is the lowest 16 bits of the controller serial number)
• IP subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
• Gateway IP address: 10.0.0.0

169.254.x.x addresses (including gateway 169.254.0.1) are on a private subnet that is reserved for unconfigured systems and the addresses are not routable. This prevents the DHCP server from reassigning the addresses and possibly causing a conflict where two controllers have the same IP address. As soon as possible, change these IP values to proper values for your network.

For IPv6, when Manual mode is enabled you can enter up to four static IP addresses for each controller. When Auto is enabled, the following initial values are set and remain set until the system can contact a DHCPv6 and/or SLAAC server for new addresses:

• Controller A IP address: fd6e:23ce:fed3:19d1::1
• Controller B IP address: fd6e:23ce:fed3:19d1::2
• Gateway IP address: fd6e:23ce:fed3:19d1::3