🌐 Network configuration of the gateway - DHCP & static IP addresses

⚙️ Default Behavior on First-Time Setup

By default, the gateway is delivered with DHCP enabled.
⚠️ Important: The default gateway will not be applied automatically until the following steps are completed:

✅ Initializing DHCP Configuration

1. Open the web interface
   → Access via the preconfigured IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.1) or as documented

2. Navigate to:
   Configuration → Network

3. Enable DHCP
   → If the option is not already active, check the box

4. Restart the gateway

🔄 Only after the reboot will the full DHCP configuration be applied – including:

• Default gateway

• DNS server

• Subnet mask

🛠️ Setting a Static IP Address

Alternatively, a manual IP configuration can be done in the same menu.

Important notes:

• The IP address must be outside the DHCP range of the network
  → Prevents address conflicts with dynamically assigned IPs

• The default gateway must be entered manually
  → Required for accessing external services (e.g., internet, NTP, API endpoints)

• Set subnet mask and DNS server correctly
  → e.g. Subnet: 255.255.255.0, DNS: 8.8.8.8 or your internal DNS server

📌 Important: Without a valid default gateway, the device cannot communicate with the external network!
Common symptoms: No internet access, no time synchronization (NTP), no firmware updates, no API communication

🧱 Common Scenarios in Corporate Networks

Professional environments often use one of the following approaches:

1. DHCP with fixed IP assignment (via MAC address)

• IP assignment is handled centrally by the DHCP server

• Automatic IP allocation on every boot

✅ Advantage: Centralized control & easy IT management

2. Manually configured static IP within the gateway

• Ideal for isolated or controlled segments (e.g. VLANs)

• Autonomous operation without DHCP infrastructure

✅ Advantage: Full device-side control

🤝 Relevance for High Availability (HA) and Cluster Setups

For clustered or high availability (HA) setups, a static IP configuration is mandatory.

Why?

• Virtual IP addresses (VIPs) require fixed IPs

• Failover mechanisms need consistent IP structure

• Monitoring and API endpoints must not change dynamically

⚠️ Using DHCP may cause unstable behavior or system failures!

💡 Practical Tip for Planning

When planning and deploying redundant gateways or HA environments:

🔹 Coordinate the network configuration in advance with the customer’s IT department
🔹 Define IP addresses, subnet masks, gateways, and DNS entries together
🔹 Keep documentation up to date – especially when using multiple gateways