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Ethernet interface profiles

⚠ IMPORTANT:
The Ethernet profiles are only valid and processed by the device if the Virtual Ethernet-WiFi Bridge is disabled.

After navigating to the Ethernet interface profiles through the Network Profiles section, similar to the Cellular Profiles settings, one can have one or multiple profiles. It is HIGHLY recommended to only use ONE Ethernet interface profile as deep network technology knowledge is required to configure multiple profiles.

Now navigate to the available profile.

General ethernet preferences

Profile name

Give the ethernet connection a unique name.

  • default: Wired connection
Automatically join this network when available

Connect this profile automatically when the resources for this connection become available. When disabled the profile will be “ parked ” in the configuration, but not actively used.

Connection Priority

Priority for profiles that are configured to auto connect, this setting spans over all profiles of all interfaces where the auto-connect setting is set to true. A higher number means higher priority.

  • Default: 0
  • Range: 0 .. 1000
Number of connection retries

Number of times to retry to connect the profile automatically before giving up. When autoconnection fails after the given number of retries, the next highest priority profile will be used. A value of zero means retry forever.

  • Default: -1

IP configuration method

Selector
  • auto
    the interface will be configured as DHCP client and therefore will be assigned a IP address from an external DHCP router.
  • manual
    static IP settings will be used,
  • link-local
    a link-local address is a network address that is valid only for communications on a local link, i.e. within a subnetwork that a host is connected to
  • shared
    interface is set to act as a DHCP server.
IPV4 Address

IP address used for either static IP, when method is set to manual or DHCP server configurations when the shared method is selected. The CIRD notation is used to define the subnet mask.

By using e.g. 192.168.82.1/24 the device will be part of the 192.168.82.0 network and will allow access or communication from IPs in the range of 192.168.82.1 - 192.168.82.255

🎯 Tip:
As security measure it is advisable to tighten the allowed IPs on the network as possible, for instance to use /29 or 255.255.255.248 subnet to only allow 6 address on the network, as 192.168.82.0 is the network address and 192.168.82.7 is the broadcast address and 192.168.82.1 - 192.168.82.6 remains available.
Example - default setting

192.168.82.1/24 will result in:

  • Network = 192.168.82.0/24
  • Host = 192.168.82.1
  • Static IP range = 192.168.82.2 - 192.168.82.10
  • Dynamic IP range = 192.168.82.11 - 192.168.82.254
  • Broadcast IP = 192.168.82.255
Example 2 - Ready for controller and display & secure

When a network is setup with ifm controllers and displays which are by default respectively configured with 192.168.82.247 and 192.168.82.245 , it make sense to

192.168.82.240/29 will result in:

  • Network = 192.168.82.240/29
  • Host = 192.168.82.241
  • Static IP range = None as only 6 addresses are available (6/10) = 0
  • Dynamic IP range = 192.168.82.242 - 192.168.82.246
  • Broadcast IP = 192.168.82.247

⚠ The Broadcast IP unfortunately collides with the IP address of the controller, for this there are two solutions:

  • more secure: change the (static) IP address of the controller and keep the pool of 6 available IPs.
  • no change needed : set the subnet mask to /28 instead of /29 , this will the increase the available IP range from 6 to 14, which is less secure but no change is needed of the controller IP address.
Example 3 - higher host IP, lower half of range

192.168.82.100/24 will result in:

  • Network = 192.168.82.0/24
  • Host = 192.168.82.100
  • Static IP range = 192.168.82.101 - 192.168.82.108 , but also 192.168.82.1 - 192.168.82.100
  • Dynamic IP range = 192.168.82.109 - 192.168.82.254
  • Broadcast IP = 192.168.82.255
Example 4 - higher host IP, upper half of range

192.168.82.200/24 will result in:

  • Network = 192.168.82.0/24
  • Host = 192.168.82.200
  • Static IP range = 192.168.82.192 - 192.168.82.200 , but also 192.168.82.201 - 192.168.82.254
  • Dynamic IP range = 192.168.82.1 - 192.168.82.191
  • Broadcast IP = 192.168.82.255
IPV4 gateway

If the manual mode is selected one can setup the Static IP address of the gateway. Keep in mind this should be in the given subnet range.

DNS servers

It is possible to setup three additional DNS servers if required.