Configuring network access - Lenovo XClarity Administrator

When you initially set up Lenovo XClarity Administrator, you configure up to two network interfaces. In addition, you must specify which of those interfaces is to be used to deploy operating systems. After the initial setup, you can modify these settings.

Before you begin

Attention:

Changing the XClarity Administrator IP address after managing devices might cause the devices to be placed in offline state in XClarity Administrator. Ensure that all devices are unmanaged before changing the IP address.
You can enable or disable checking for duplicate IP addresses in the same subnet by clicking the Duplicate IP address checking toggle. It is disabled by default.

When enabled, XClarity Administrator raises an alert if you attempt to change the IP address of XClarity Administrator or manage a device that has the same IP address as another device that is under management or another device found in the same subnet.
If the network interface for the management network is configured to use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), the management-interface IP address might change when the DHCP lease expires. If the IP address changes, you must unmanage the chassis, rack and tower servers, and then manage them again. To avoid this problem, either change the management interface to a static IP address, or ensure that the DHCP server configuration is set so that the DHCP address is based on a MAC address or that the DHCP lease does not expire.
If you do not intend to use XClarity Administrator to deploy operating system or update OS device drivers, you can disable Samba and Apache servers by changing the network interface to use the discover and manage hardware only option. Note that the management server is restarted after changing the network interface

About this task

XClarity Administrator has two separate network interfaces (eth0 and eth1) that can be defined for your environment, depending on the network topology that you implement.

When only one network interface (eth0) is present:
- The interface must be configured to support the device discovery and management (such as server configuration and firmware updates). It must be able to communicate with the CMMs and Flex switches in each managed chassis, the baseboard management controller in each managed server, and each RackSwitch switch.
- If you intend to acquire firmware and OS device-driver updates using XClarity Administrator, the network interface must be connected to the Internet, preferably through a firewall. Otherwise, you must manually import updates into the repository.
- If you intend to collect service data or use automatic problem notification (including Call Home), the interfaces must be connected to the Internet, preferably through a firewall.
- If you intend to deploy operating-system images and update OS device drivers, the interface must have IP network connectivity to the server network interface that is used to access the host operating system.
  
  Note: If you implemented a separate network for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates, you can configure the second network interface to connect to that network instead of the data network. However, if the operating system on each server does not have access to the data network, configure an additional interface on the servers to provide connectivity from the host operating system to the data network for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates, if needed
When two network interfaces (eth0 and eth1) are present:
- The first network interface (typically the Eth0 interface) must be connected to the management network and configured to support the device discovery and management (including server configuration and firmware updates. It must be able to communicate with the CMMs and Flex switches in each managed chassis, the management controller in each managed server, and each RackSwitch switch.
- The second network interface (typically the eth1 interface) can be configured to communicate with an internal data network, a public data network, or both.
- If you intend to acquire firmware and OS device-driver updates using XClarity Administrator, the interface that you use for the management network must be connected to the Internet, preferably through a firewall. Otherwise, you must import updates into the repository.
- If you intend to collect service data or use automatic problem notification (including Call Home and Lenovo Upload Facility), at least one of the network interfaces must be connected to the Internet, preferably through a firewall.
- If you intend to deploy operating-system images and update device drivers, you can choose to use either eth1 or eth0 interface. However, the interface that you use must have IP network connectivity to the server network interface that is used to access the host operating system.
  
  Note: If you implemented a separate network for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates, you can configure the second network interface to connect to that network instead of the data network. However, if the operating system on each server does not have access to the data network, configure an additional interface on the servers to provide connectivity from the host operating system to the data network for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates, if needed
- Other XClarity Administrator functions (including discovery and hardware management, server configuration, firmware downloads and updates, service-data collection, automatic problem notification, and warranty data retrieves) can be performed from either interface.

The following table shows possible configurations for the XClarity Administrator network interfaces based on the type of network topology that has been implemented in your environment. Use this table to determine how to define each network interface.

Table 1. Role of each network interface based on network topology
Network topology	Role of interface 1 (eth0)	Role of interface 2 (eth1)
Converged network (management and data network with support for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates)	Management network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval OS deployment OS device-driver updates	None
Separate management network with support for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates and data network	Management network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval OS deployment OS device-driver updates	Data network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval
Separate management network and data network with support for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates	Management network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval	Data network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval OS deployment OS device-driver updates
Separate management network and data network without support for OS deployment and OS device-driver updates	Management network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval	Data network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval
Management network only (OS deployment and OS device-driver updates is not supported)	Management network Discovery and management Server configuration Firmware updates Service data collection Automatic problem notification (such as Call Home and Lenovo Update Facility) Warranty data retrieval	None

For more information about XClarity Administrator network interfaces including IPv6 address limitations, see Network considerations.

Procedure

To configure network access, complete the following steps.

From the XClarity Administrator menu bar, click Administration > Network Access. The currently defined network settings are displayed.
- Network topology
- Eth0 IP settings
- Eth1 IP settings (if the Eth1 interface exists)
- Routing settings
- Hostname and domain for virtual appliance
- DNS search order
Click Edit Network Access to display the Edit Network Access page.
If you intend to deploy operating-systems and update OS device drivers using XClarity Administrator, choose the network interface to use for managing operating systems.
- If only one interface is defined for XClarity Administrator, choose whether that interface is to be used to discover and manage hardware only, or whether it is also to be used to manage operating systems.
- If two interfaces are defined for XClarity Administrator (Eth0 and Eth1), determine which interface is to be used to manage operating systems. If you choose "None", you cannot deploy operating-system images or update OS device drivers to managed servers from XClarity Administrator.
Modify the IP Settings.
1. For the first interface, specify the IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or both.
  - IPv4. You must assign an IPv4 address to the interface. You can choose to use a statically assigned IP address or obtain an IP address from a DHCP server.
  - IPv6. Optionally, you can assign an IPv6 address to the interface using one of the following assignment methods:
    - Use statically assigned IP address
    - Use stateful address configuration (DHCPv6)
    - Use stateless address auto configuration
    Note: For information about IPv6 address limitations, see IP configuration limitations.
2. If a second interface is available, specify the IPv4 address, the IPv6 address, or both.
  Note: The IP addresses that are assigned to this interface must be in a different subnet from the IP addresses that are assigned to the first interface. If you choose to use DHCP to assign IP addresses for both interfaces (Eth0 and Eth1), the DHCP server must not assign the same subnet for the IP addresses of the two interfaces.
  - IPv4. You can choose to use a statically assigned IP address or obtain an IP address from a DHCP server.
  - IPv6. Optionally, you can assign an IPv6 address to the interface using one of the following assignment methods:
    - Use statically assigned IP address
    - Use stateful address configuration (DHCPv6)
    - Use stateless address auto configuration
3. Specify the default gateway.
  If you specify a default gateway, it must be a valid IP address and must use the same network mask (the same subnet) as the IP address for one of the network interfaces (Eth0 or Eth1). If you use a single interface, default gateway must be on the same subnet as network interface.
  Tip: The default gateway must use the same network mask (the same subnet) as at least one enabled interface. Therefore, if you assign the default gateway to be on the same subnet as the second interface and then change the IP address assignment method or disable the second interface, the default gateway might not be reachable.
  
  If either interface uses DHCP to obtain an IP address, the default gateway also uses DHCP.
4. Click Save IP Settings.
Optionally, modify the advanced settings.
1. Click the Advanced Routing tab.
2. Specify one or more route entries in the Advanced Route Settings table to be used by this interface.
  To define one or more route entries, complete the following steps.
  1. Choose the interface.
  2. Specify the route type, which can be a route to another host or to a network.
  3. Specify the destination host or network address to which you are directing the route.
  4. Specify the subnet mask for the destination address.
  5. Specify the gateway address to which packets are to be addressed.
3. Click Save Advanced Routing.
Optionally, modify the DNS and proxy settings.
1. Click the DNS & Proxy tab.
2. Specify the hostname and domain name to be used for XClarity Administrator.
3. Select the DNS operating mode. This can be Static or DHCP.
  Note: If you choose to use a DHCP server to obtain the IP address, any changes that you make to the DNS Server fields are overwritten the next time XClarity Administrator renews the DHCP lease.
4. Specify the IP address of one or more Domain Name System (DNS) servers to be used, and the priority order for each.
5. Specify whether to access the Internet using a direct connection or an HTTP proxy (if XClarity Administrator has access to the Internet).
  Note: If using a HTTP proxy, ensure that the following requirements are met.
  - Ensure that the proxy server is set up to use basic authentication.
  - Ensure that the proxy server is set up as a non-terminating proxy.
  - Ensure that the proxy server is set up as a forwarding proxy.
  - Ensure that load balancers are configured to keep sessions with one proxy server and not switch between them.
  If you choose to use an HTTP proxy, complete the required fields:
  1. Specify the proxy server hostname and port.
  2. Choose whether to use authentication, and specify the user name and password if required.
  3. Specify the proxy test URL.
  4. Click Text Proxy to verify that the proxy settings are configured and working correctly.
6. Click Save DNS & Proxy.
Click Restart to restart the management server.
Click Test Connection to verify the network settings.