[BC] "Jealous" equipment

[Harold Hallikainen]

I haven't been following this thread, but just read Cowboy's interesting
comments. I've been working on design of equipment where we need to
provide some method for the user to get initial contact with the unit so
he/she can change the configuration as desired. Here's some info I wrote
for the manual. Does it seem accurate and a proper approach?

Initial Configuration
	The DAX units are shipped with a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
client enabled. Further, the DAX supports the use of NETBIOS, so it is
possible to connect to the device by name instead of by IP address.

Using DHCP and NETBIOS
	If you have a network with a DHCP server, you should be able to plug the
DAX in to the network. Then, open a web browser and type “DAX” in the
address field. You should see the status page, similar to that shown
above.

Using IP Autoconfiguration and NETBIOS
	If no network with a DHCP server is available, connect a computer to the
DAX using a network “crossover” cable. Some recent computers can use a
standard “straight through” cable, but a crossover cable will always
work.
	Many computers support “IP Autoconfiguration” where the computer chooses
an IP address in the 169.254.x.y  range. With such computers, once again,
opening a web browser and typing “DAX” in the address field will connect
you to the DAX unit and show the status screen.

Using Default IP Address
	If your computer does not support IP Autoconfiguration or NETBIOS, you
should configure your network connection to be in the same subnet as the
DAX, and set its IP address to something other than that of the DAX. For
example, you may set your computer to have an IP address of 169.254.1.123
and a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 . Then, type the default DAX IP address
(169.254.1.1 ) in the address field of your web browser. You should see
the status page.

So, does that seem about right? My testing has mostly been on a network
with DHCP (in the 192.168.1.x range) using NETBIOS. It's interesting to
watch the network with WireShark. Once the device has been assigned an IP
address by DHCP, I can use a web browser and get to the device by name. On
WireShark I see something like "Who has name NETBIOS" as a broadcast
message, and the device answers. From then on, it's referenced by that IP
address.

I have not done much testing with the auto config that uses the
169.254.x.x range. As I understand it, a device should choose a random
address in that range, ping it to make sure no one else has it, then take
it. It's an interesting approach for when there is no DHCP server.

Harold

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