Setting the Discovery Addresses

Last Updated : Apr 28, 2022 |

By default, when or File | Open configuration is selected, Manager's Select IP Office window opens. It performs a UDP broadcast to the address 255.255.255.255. This broadcast will only locate systems that are on the same network subnet as the PC running Manager.

For systems not located on the same subnet as the Manager PC, the following options are supported.

Description

Specific Addressing

The Unit/Broadcast Address shown on the Select IP Office menu can be changed to the specific IP address of the required system. A single address is routable and so can be used to discover a system on another subnet.

TCP Discovery Address Ranges

A set of TCP addresses and address ranges can be specified for use by the Select IP Office discovery process.

Known System Discovery

Manager can write the details of systems it discovers to a file. The list of systems in that file can then be used for access to those systems.

DNS Lookup

Manager can be configured to locate systems using DNS name lookup. This requires the systems on a customer network to be added as names on the customer's DNS server and the Manager PC to be configured to use that server for DNS name resolution. The use of DNS is configured through File > Preferences > Discovery.

Changing the Initial Discovery Settings

The Discovery tab of the Preferences menu can be used to set the UDP and TCP addresses used by the discovery process run by the Select IP Office menu.

  1. Select File | Preferences menu.

  2. Select the Discovery tab.

  3. Adjust the settings as required:

Option

Description

TCP Discovery

Default = On.

This setting controls whether Manager uses TCP to discover systems. The addresses used for TCP discovery are set through the IP Search Criteria field below.

NIC IP/NIC Subnet

This area is for information only. It shows the IP address settings of the LAN network interface cards (NIC) in the PC running Manager. Double-click on a particular NIC to add the address range it is part of to the IP Search Criteria. Note that if the address of any of the Manager PC's NIC cards is changed, the Manager application should be closed and restarted.

IP Search Criteria

This section is used to enter TCP addresses to be used for the TCP discovery process. Individual addresses can be entered separated by semi-colons, for example 135.164.180.170; 135.164.180.175. Address ranges can be specified using dashes, for example 135.64.180.170 - 135.64.180.175.

UDP Discovery

Default = On

This settings controls whether Manager uses UDP to discover systems.

Enter Broadcast IP Address

Default = 255.255.255.255

The broadcast IP address range that Manager should use during UDP discovery. Since UDP broadcast is not routable, it will not locate systems that are on different subnets from the Manager PC unless a specific address is entered.

Use DNS

Selecting this option allows Manager to use DNS name (or IP address) lookup to locate a system. Note that this overrides the use of the TCP Discovery and UDP Discovery options above. This option requires the system IP address to be assigned as a name on the users DNS server. When selected, the Unit/Discovery Address field on the Select IP Office dialogue is replaced by a Enter Unit DNS Name or IP Address field.

SCN Discovery

If enabled, when discovering systems, the list of discovered systems will group systems in the same Small Community Network and allow them to be loaded as a single configuration. At least one of the systems in the Small Community Network must be running Release 6.0 or higher software. See Configuring Small Community Networking.

This does not override the need for each system in the Small Community Network to also be reachable by the TCP Discovery and or UDP Discovery settings above and accessible by the router settings at the Manager location.
Related information
Editing Configuration Settings