Assigning IP Address and Domain Name Server

This chapter describes how to create the initial configuration (for example, assigning the IP address and default gateway information) for the Cisco LoRaWAN Gateway by using a variety of automatic and manual methods.


Note

Information in this chapter about configuring IP addresses and DHCP is specific to IP Version 4 (IPv4).

Assigning IP Address

You can assign IP address through a DHCP server or manually.

Use a DHCP server for centralized control and automatic assignment of IP information after the server is configured.

Configuring DHCP

Understanding DHCP

DHCP provides configuration information to Internet hosts and internetworking devices. This protocol consists of two components: one for delivering configuration parameters from a DHCP server to a device and a mechanism for allocating network addresses to devices. DHCP is built on a client-server model, in which designated DHCP servers allocate network addresses and deliver configuration parameters to dynamically configured devices.

DHCP client support is enabled on the Fast Ethernet 0/1 or VLAN interface on the LoRaWAN Gateway for automatic IPv4 address assignment.

The DHCP server, which supplies the IP addresses to the LoRaWAN Gateway interfaces, does not need to be on the same subnet as the LoRaWAN Gateway. However, when the DHCP server and the LoRaWAN Gateway are on different subnets, DHCP relay must be active in the network. Generally, DHCP relay is configured on a LoRaWAN Gateway in the path between the LoRaWAN Gateway and the DHCP server. The DNS address and default gateway can also be assigned via DHCP.

Enabling DHCP on Interfaces

To assign IP address by negotiation via DHCP, use the ip address dhcp privileged EXEC command.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to enable DHCP on interfaces:

Procedure
  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Enter global configuration mode.

Step 2

interface interface_type interface_number

Enter interface configuration mode.

Step 3

ip address dhcp

Enable DHCP client on the interface to allow automatic assignment of IP addresses to the specified interface.

Step 4

description [interface_description ]

Enter description for the interface.

Step 5

exit

Return to global configuration mode.

Step 6

ip default-gateway ip-address

Configure default gateway.

Note

 

The default gateway may be learned from DHCP.

Step 7

Use the following commands to verify the configuration:

  • show interfaces interface_type interface_number
  • show ip interfaces interface_type interface_number
  • show ip route

Verify the configuration.

Step 8

copy running-config startup-config

(Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

Manually Assigning IP Information

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to manually assign IP information to multiple interfaces:

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Enter global configuration mode.

Step 2

interface interface_type interface_number

Enter interface configuration mode.

Step 3

ip address ip-address subnet-mask

Enter the IP address and subnet mask.

Step 4

description [interface_description ]

Enter description for the interface.

Step 5

exit

Return to global configuration mode.

Step 6

ip default-gateway ip-address

Configure default gateway.

Step 7

Use the following commands to verify the configuration:

  • show interfaces interface_type interface_number
  • show ip interfaces interface_type interface_number
  • show ip route

Verify the configuration.

Step 8

copy running-config startup-config

(Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

What to do next

To remove the IP address, use the no ip address interface configuration command. If you are removing the address through SSH, your connection to the LoRaWAN Gateway will be lost.

Configuring DNS

DNS Client

When your network devices require connectivity with devices in networks for which you do not control the name assignment, you can assign device names that uniquely identify your devices within the entire internetwork using the domain name server (DNS). DNS uses a hierarchical scheme for establishing host names for network nodes, which allows local control of the segments of the network through a client-server scheme. The DNS system can locate a network device by translating the hostname of the device into its associated IP address.

On the Internet, a domain is a portion of the naming hierarchy tree that refers to general groupings of networks based on the organization type or geography. Domain names are pieced together with periods (.) as the delimiting characters. For example, Cisco is a commercial organization that the Internet identifies by a .com domain, so its domain name is cisco.com. A specific hostname in this domain, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) system, for example, is identified as ftp.cisco.com.

Name Servers

Name servers keep track of domain names and know the parts of the domain tree for which they have complete information. A name server might also store information about other parts of the domain tree. To map domain names to IP addresses on the LoRaWAN Gateway, you must identify the hostnames, specify a name server, and enable the DNS service.

You can configure the LoRaWAN Gateway to use one or more domain name servers to find an IP address for a host name.

DNS Operation

A name server handles client-issued queries to the DNS server for locally defined hosts within a particular zone as follows:

An authoritative name server responds to DNS user queries for a domain name that is under its zone of authority by using the permanent and cached entries in its own host table. When the query is for a domain name that is under its zone of authority but for which it does not have any configuration information, the authoritative name server replies that no such information exists.

A name server that is not configured as the authoritative name server responds to DNS user queries by using information that it has cached from previously received query responses.

Configuring DNS Server

To configure the DNS server, use the ip name-server privileged EXEC command

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure DNS:

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Enter global configuration mode.

Step 2

ip name-server ip-address

Configure DNS server.

Step 3

exit

Return to global configuration mode.

Step 4

show hosts

Verify the configuration.

Step 5

copy running-config startup-config

(Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

Mapping Hostnames to IP Addresses

This section provides configuration of hostname to IP address mapping, so that host can be reached by name without DNS.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to map hostnames to IP addresses:

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Enter global configuration mode.

Step 2

ip host hostname ip-address

Define a static hostname-to-address mapping. You can define up to 5 mapping entires.

Use the no form of the command to delete the mapping entry.

Note

 

You can also use this command to set the LXC /etc/hosts entries from the CLI.

Step 3

exit

Return to global configuration mode.

Step 4

show ip host

Verify the configuration.

Step 5

copy running-config startup-config

(Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

Example


Gateway#config terminal
Gateway(config)#ip host thinkpark.com 122.23.12.1


Gateway#show ip host
IP                              Hostname
--                              -------
11.11.11.1                      apple.com
11.11.11.2                      apple2.com
11.11.11.3                      apple3.com
11.11.11.4                      apple4.com