set interface with a new IP address

[Gerry Downey]

Hello,
I have an Alpha with 2 network cards. One has developed a problem so I tried to set the second card with the same IP address as the first card, however I get the error below

Enter fully qualified host name [server]:

Host server exists in the database.

Addresses which have been assigned to another
interface are flagged with "*", and cannot be
assigned to this interface.

The Internet addresses for this host are:

* 10.10.10.1

Enter Internet address [10.10.10.1]:

Internet address is already assigned to another interface

Enter Internet address [10.10.10.1]: *EXIT*
%RMS-E-EOF, end of file detected

WARNING - Error encountered during interface configuration

I have tried to set the first card with a different address and then tried to set up the second card again but still get the same error.

Any suggestions appreciated.

[Peter Zeiszler]

Whenever we have to float an IP between NICs we usually use aliases.

ifconfig we0 alias x.x.x.x netmask 255.255.252.0

Replace we0 with your network device and x.x.x.x with your IP. Use the correct netmask. If you don't have ifconfig as a symbol look for TCPIP$DEFINE_COMMANDS.COM.

To remove the alias
ifconfig we0 -alias x.x.x.x

To see your current setup type:
ifconfig -a

I think to change the default IP of a NIC you have to setup the change then bounce your IP. Then can assign the IP to the next NIC.

[Hoff]

What HP calls "LAN Failover" is a potential option here, if you want your addresses to float among (working) controllers.

Each NIC gets one or more unique IP addresses, yes.

Here, I'd clear the old address and try again.

I've also seen the word "problem" that was mentioned here have many different meanings within IP and IP networking. Bad routing configurations can cause all manner of untoward behavior, when the IP traffic all heads out "the wrong" NIC and onto the wrong LAN, for instance. Might want to elaborate on the problem seen.

[H_Bachner]

Gerry,

you probably need to deassign the address from the broken card first. You seem to use HP's TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS, so you could do this with
$ TCPIP SET NOINTER we0
(if the interface in question is we0)

Then assign the address as an alias to the other interface.

Hans.

[Gerry Downey]

Thanks for the replies,
LAN failover may be an option, the two cards are 100mb and 1gb, will failover work with different speed cards?

I tried removing the interface with
TCPIP SET NOINTER WE0 and this did remove the interface, however when I try to configure the remaining interface with the IP address, I get the same message.

Is there a way of completely removing the configuration and starting off as if it is a completely new installation?

[marsh_1]

the relevant tcpip config files are in sys$system if you want to start again with tcpip$config ($dir sys$system:tcpip$*.dat).

[H_Bachner]

Gerry,

> I tried removing the interface with
> TCPIP SET NOINTER WE0
> and this did remove the interface, however when I try to configure the
> remaining interface with the IP address, I get the same message.

Which version of TCP/IP services do you use? I just tried it with V5.5 ECO 2 (with the command line interface, not with TCPIP$CONFIG) and did not get a complaint.

Maybe you need to remove the from the permanent database as well (SET CONFIG NOINTER ...).

Hans.

[Hoff]

To elaborate on mark hunt's reply, shut down TCP/IP Services and you can then archive and delete the files involved with the configuration data store -- I tend to rename the sys$system:tcpip$*.dat files to .dat_bogus or such -- and then re-run the tcpip$config tool. It'll find no database files and will the recreation and the repopulation sequence then proceeds apace as you work through the "configure everything" sequence.

That's kind of a big hammer, though.

Flaky hardware (if that's involved here) can lead to stability problems and errors reported further up the chain and right up into the host operating system. I too would expect to be able to TCPIP> SET NOINTERFACE this stuff to remove the controller from the configuration, for instance.

And yes, I'd expect to be able to fail over the addresses between the two controllers here using the LAN Failover pieces.