Setting Up Static IP Address Directly on USRP-2974

This article explain how can we set up the USRP-2974's IP Address directly on USRP-2974 itself. There is scenario when we want to configure USRP-2974's IP Address, but the LabVIEW Communications System Design Suite crashes when configuring the IP Address of USRP-2974 through System Designer. In this case, we need to change the network settings on USRP directly, and this feature is available for USRP-2974 because it's embedded device.

Since USRP-2974 uses the NI Linux Real-Time OS, a Linux-based OS developed by National Instruments, you can change network configurations using commands commonly used in Linux OS. This section introduces an example of network configuration using ConnMan, an Internet connection manager for embedded devices running Linux OS.

USRP-2974 should be connected to the Internet to install the Connman software. Therefore, USRP-2974 must be connected to the Ethernet interface via RJ45. The default setting for the Ethernet interface is DHCP. Connect a keyboard and mouse to USRP-2974, or log in to USRP through SSH remotely and enter the command window of USRP-2974.

You must obtain root privileges in the command window (CUI) of USRP-2974. The user account name to use is root or admin. The root account's password is <blank> if it has never been changed.

After obtaining root account privileges, please follow the instructions below to run the command as shown below.

1. Install the connman software using the following command (Please see the figure below):

• opkg update
• opkg install connman-client

2. Check the current network configuration using the ifconfig command. It is especially good to know the MAC address. Please refer to the figure below.

3. Use the connmanctl command to perform the desired network configuration. First, you need to check the name of the connected RJ45 port. Use the connmanctl services command. Please see the figure below.

4. After that, you can change the network configuration using the connmanctl config command. As an example, let's set a static IP address as 10.152.4.225. The format for this command is shown below.

• connmanctl config <port> ipv4 manual <address> <mask> <gateway> nameservers <dns server>
• <port> : name of the ethernet interface checked by command connmanctl services
  • <port> example : ethernet_00802f247030_cable
• <address> : IP address to set
• <mask> : Subnet Mask to set
• <gateway> : Gateway to set
• <dns server> : Nameserver to set

The keyword manual in the middle indicates a static IP address setting. See the figure below for an example command.

5. Verify that the IP address settings are retained after subsequent reboots. Press the Reset button or use the reboot command. As shown in the figure below, you can see that the IP address maintains the changed settings after rebooting.

Additional Information

To change a statically configured network IP address back to DHCP, use the command with the dhcp keyword.

• connmanctl config <port> ipv4 dhcp

See the figure below for how to use one example command for this.