Please make sure before this installation, you will need 2 identical hard disk with same space connected to the server. But the truth is, you don’t need to same hard disk with the same space amount, but as long as you partitioned the space equally then it would be good as well. But for beginner, it is better to get a hard disk that got the same space quantity, less percentage that you would get yourself confused.

Below are the steps on how to enable the Software RAID inside Windows Server 2003:

1) You may follow the initial windows setup here:

http://www.iprobot.net/windows-tutorial/how-to-install-windows-server-2003/

2) After the installation has finished, click on Start button and right-click on My Computer. Select Manage and click on it:

3) Next is to select Disk Management:

4) Right-click on your current hard disk that contained the Windows and select Convert To Dynamic Disk:

5) Select the hard disk that you want to convert. Make sure to select the 2nd hard disk you want to add as RAID as well to convert to Dynamic Disk and click the Ok button:

6) Click Convert button to proceed:

7) Please be advised that you can’t convert the hard disks back once to normal once you have converted to dynamic. Click the Yes button to proceed:

Click Yes again to proceed:

9) After the conversion has been done, the system will go for a reboot.

10) Once the reboot done, open back the Computer Management and this time you can see both hard disks are labeled as Dynamic. Right click on the Disk 0 (which contains the operating system) and select Add Mirror (which is similar to RAID1, whereas the Extend Volume option is similar to RAID0) :

11) Now select the 2nd hard disk that you want to add as its mirror (RAID1) and click the button Add:

12) Now the system will start synchronizing. Don’t worry about the error message appeared since it is only mentioning that the boot file has been copied. Just wait for a while till it finished:

13) Once the synchronization has been done, this will be the final outlook of your hard disks appearance:

That is all on how to setup Software RAID on Windows Server 2003. It was relatively easy and quick. Happy Tryin

1) Coaxial Cable

It an electrical cable with an inner conductor surrounded by a flexible, tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield.

Coaxial cable is used as a transmission line for radio frequency signals, in applications such as connecting radio transmitters and receivers with their antennas, computer network (Internet) connections, and distributing cable television signals.

In the networking environment, they were once popular when connecting in a Token Ring network topology which has already obsolete.

2) Twisted Pair Cable

This is a type of wiring in which two conductors (the forward and return conductors of a single circuit) are twisted together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference (EMI) from external sources; for instance, electromagnetic radiation from unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables, and crosstalk between neighboring pairs.

Twisted Pair has 2 different model which is UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) and STP (Shielded Twisted Pair). The difference between these two is that STP comes with a metal shield inside the wire jacket to prevent electromagnetic interference.

Twisted Pair also has two types of setting which is Straight Cable and Cross Cable. Straight cable normally being used to connect between pc-switch-pc topology. Meanwhile the Cross Cable is used only in direct connection between pc-pc. Although they are using the same cable, but their wiring codes are a bit difference. Below is an example of the cabling inside a normal Straight Cable and also Cross Cable:

Straight Cable

Cross Cable

The twisted pair comes with different type of categories. Below is the table showing each cable category’s specification:

Among all these categories, CAT5E is currently the widely used among normal networking interface and topology. But soon after, CAT6E usage is rapidly increasing as there has been more hardware that goes Gigabit-enabled. But in the data center environment, most of the network connection among their switches and routers are using Fiber Optic cables.

3) Fiber Optic Cable

An optical fiber cable is a cable containing one or more optical fibers. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with plastic layers and contained in a protective tube suitable for the environment where the cable will be deployed.

In practical fibers, the cladding is usually coated with a tough resin buffer layer, which may be further surrounded by a jacket layer, usually plastic. These layers add strength to the fiber but do not contribute to its optical wave guide properties. Rigid fiber assemblies sometimes put light-absorbing (“dark”) glass between the fibers, to prevent light that leaks out of one fiber from entering another. This reduces cross-talk between the fibers, or reduces flare in fiber bundle imaging applications.

As been mentioned earlier, the fiber optics cable are getting popular in the data center usage. Some are quite critical to serve as the network backbone of the data center’s communication to the Internet Service Providers. Fiber Optics are way faster than a normal twister pair cables. It transmit packet much faster and travel even further before the need to use Repeaters. Most importantly, it doesn’t being affected by electromagnetic interference and very hard to tap.

Currently most underwater cables are using fiber optics.

Please make sure before this installation, you will need 2 identical hard disk with same space connected to the server. But the truth is, you don’t need to same hard disk with the same space amount, but as long as you partitioned the space equally then it would be good as well. But for beginner, it is better to get a hard disk that got the same space quantity, less percentage that you would get yourself confused.

Below are the steps on how to setup the Software RAID on FreeBSD:
1) Follow the initial operating system installation here:

http://www.iprobot.net/linux-tutorial/how-to-install-unix-freebsd/

2) Before starting, we need to enable the additional debugging information, or you will end up unable to run the mirroring process by typing sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=17

3) Now we are going to start the process. The current hard disk is located in /dev/ad0 and the software RAID that we are going to create will be on /dev/mirror/gm0. So begin typing this to initiate the geom process gmirror label -vb round-robin gm0 /dev/ad0

4) You should see this message upon entering the code above:
Metadata value stored on /dev/da0.
Done.

5) Now we will initialize the geom by typing gmirror load When successful, the /dev/mirror directory will be created.

6) We need to make sure that the boot loader is installed to the new mirror. So type echo ‘geom_mirror_load=”YES”‘ >> /boot/loader.conf

7) Just in case, just make a backup copy of fstab by typing cp fstab fstab.bak Then we will start editing the fstab by typing vi fstab

8 ) Now change the current hard disk settings from /dev/ad0xxx to /dev/mirror/gm0xxx for example like the screenshot below:

Before

After

9) Once saved and done, reboot the server now by typing init 6

10) After the reboot is done, now we can add the 2nd hard disk into the mirror by typing gmirror insert gm0 /dev/ad1

11) Once added, you can always type gmirror status to view the synchronizing status:

12) When you see the message below, it means that the synchronizing process is complete:

13) You can check again the status by typing gmirror status

14) With this, your FreeBSD Software RAID setup has been done. You also can view the gmirror device list by typing gmirror list The result be be shown like below:

That is it. Your Software RAID now is ready for use. Happy Tryin

For a normal installation of Debian or Ubuntu, you can refer to the links below for initial steps until the hard disk partitioning:

http://www.iprobot.net/linux-tutorial/how-to-install-linux-debian

http://www.iprobot.net/linux-tutorial/how-to-install-linux-ubuntu

Please make sure before this installation, you will need 2 identical hard disk with same space connected to the server. But the truth is, you don’t need to same hard disk with the same space amount, but as long as you partitioned the space equally then it would be good as well. But for beginner, it is better to get a hard disk that got the same space quantity, less percentage that you would get yourself confused.

Below are the steps on how to configure the Software RAID:

1) Select the Manual for the Partitioning Method:

2) On this screen, it will show you the available hard disk for the installation. Make sure both hard disks are visible. Now select the first hard disk and hit Enter:

3) A message will warns you that you are about to create a new partition that will destroy any existing partition. Choose Yes to proceed:

4) You will noticed that it will create a new partition at the bottom of the hard disk. Choose the new partition and hit Enter:

5) Select the Create New Partition:

6) Since we are creating the partition for boot, just type 100 MB in the line:

7) Choose the Primary partition:

8 ) Choose to create new partition at the Beginning of the space:

9) On this screen, move you selector to Use As and hit Enter:

10) Please choose the Physical Volume For RAID option:

11) Please make sure that the Bootable Flag is tuned On:

12) Choose the Done Setting Up The Partition to save the new partition:

13) You will be taken back to the first screen. Next is to choose the next free space and hit Enter:

14) Select the Create A New Partition:

15) Now we are adding the new partition for the Swap. Please take note that always make sure that the Swap size is double the amount than your physical RAM. Since my physical RAM was only 384MB, so my swap size should be set as 768 MB in the box:

16) Select the Primary option:

17) Select the Beginning option:

18 ) On the next screen, move your selector to the Use As and hit Enter:

19) Select the Physical Volume For RAID option:

20) After that, just straight away select the Done Setting Up The Partition to complete:

21) Back to the original screen, select the another free partition again and hit Enter:

22) Select the Create A New Partition option:

23) Now we are creating the partition for root. So just use all the leftover hard disk space:

24) Select the Primary option:

25) Move the selector to Use As and hit Enter:

26) Select the Physical Volume For RAID and hit Enter:

27) After that, just straight away choose the Done Setting Up The Partition:

28 ) Now moving on to the second hard disk for the partitioning. Hit Enter and please follow the Step 3 – 27 to do the same partitioning with the 2nd hard disk:

29) After the 2nd hard disk has been partitioned, the overall partition configuration will look exactly like the bottom. Each space in each partition will reflect to each other in the 2nd hard disk. So now move the selector to Configure Software RAID and hit Enter:

30) Select Yes to accept the new partition changes:

31) Now we will group the RAID hard disk. Select the Create MD Device option:

32) Choose your preferred RAID method. For now, we are going to choose RAID1:

33) Just leave the default number 2 for the number of RAID devices. This option may varies depending on which RAID type you selected:

34) Just leave it zero if you don’t put up any spare hard disk for your RAID:

35) Now select the SDA1 and SDB1 as we are creating the RAID for /boot:

36) When it has been done, choose the Finish to save the new RAID partition:

37) Now we are proceeding with the 2nd RAID partition. Choose the Configure Software RAID and hit Enter:

38 ) Select Yes to proceed with the RAID configuration:

39) Choose the Create MD Device option:

40) Choose the RAID1 option:

41) Just leave the default value of 2 RAID active devices and proceed:

42) Leave the default value of zero for the RAID spare array unless you know what you are doing:

43) Now select the SDA2 and SDB2 for the Swap partition purposes:

44) Select the Finish to complete the setting for the Swap partition:

45) Now we proceed with the /root partition setup. Choose the Configure Software RAID and hit Enter:

46) Select Yes to proceed with the RAID partition setup:

47) Choose the Create MD Device option:

48) Choose the RAID1 setup:

49) Just leave the default value of 2 for the active RAID devices:

50) Leave the default value of zero for the spare RAID devices:

51) Now select the remaining partition for /root space which are SDA3 and SDB3:

52) Soon after, just choose the Finish to complete the setup:

53) Now the initial software RAID is completed like the below picture, what’s left is to assign each RAID partition its role. Now select the RAID partition Device #0 for /boot setup:

54) Choose the Use As and hit Enter:

55) Choose the EXT3 Journaling File System (or EXT4 for Ubuntu) and hit Enter:

56) Now move the selector to the Mount Point and hit Enter:

57) Now select the /boot and hit Enter:

58) Select the Done Setting Up The Partition to complete the /boot partition setup:

59) At the first screen again, now select the RAID Device #1 and hit Enter:

60) Move the selector to the Use As and hit Enter:

61) This time we are going to create a Swap partition for the operating system. So select the Swap Area and hit Enter:

62) Just straight away select the Done Setting Up The Partition soon done:

63) Now is to edit the last partition of the RAID which is meant for /root. Select the RAID Device #2 and hit Enter:

64) Move the selector to the Use As and hit Enter:

65) Select the EXT3 Journaling File System and hit Enter:

66) Now move the selector to the Mount Point and hit Enter:

67) Select the / – The Root File System and hit the Enter:

68) Finally select the Done Setting Up the Partition to complete the procedure:

69) The final outlook of the partition should be like below. Once confirmed, move the selector to the most bottom of the screen to select the Finish Partitioning And Write Changes To Disk and hit enter:

70) Just press Yes if you confirmed the partitions:

71) Then just follow the normal installation procedure. Once the server has been rebooted, log in as root and type cat /proc/mdstat to view the RAID status:

72) By default, the GRUB boot loader only were installed in one of the hard disk only. If you forgot this step, your second hard disk can’t boot by itself. You need to copy the GRUB from the SDA to SDB. Just type grub and follow like below, line by line:

device (hd0) /dev/sda
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
device (hd1) /dev/sdb
root (hd1,0)
setup (hd1)
 

73) For Ubuntu users version 9.10 and above, the system will install the boot loader in both partition during setup as long as you enabled the Boot from Degraded Disk option.

74) Please take note that the software RAID will be running under MDADM. This is a software that being developed to handle the RAID procedure inside the server. You can type mdadm –help for further information

The server’s software RAID should be running fine now. Happy trying

You can follow the whole normal installation process of CentOS that I have wrote earlier here:

http://www.iprobot.net/linux-tutorial/how-to-install-linux-centos-2

Please make sure before this installation, you will need 2 identical hard disk with same space connected to the server. But the truth is, you don’t need to same hard disk with the same space amount, but as long as you partitioned the space equally then it would be good as well. But for beginner, it is better to get a hard disk that got the same space quantity, less percentage that you would get yourself confused.

But for this tutorial, the only difference will be during the hard disk review and partitioning instruction.  Below are the steps on how to do the software RAID continuing from the hard disk partitioning section:

1) Upon entering the partitioning review, it should looks like this:

2) Next is to delete every partition and left with only free space for both hard disk. It should looks like this:

3) So click the New button (or the F2 button) to start creating new partition. Straight away change the File System Type into Software RAID. In the Allowable Drives, please select SDA first, somehow CentOS won’t work if we select both hard disk at the same time. Put 100 for the Size as we want to create the space for boot first. Click the Ok button after finished:

4) Just do exactly the same like Step 3, but this time choose the SDB instead. Press Ok when done:

5) Next is the swap partition for the RAID. Click the New button and choose the File System Type to Software RAID. Choose SDA first for the Allowable Drives. Then please enter the Size for your swap. Remember, the swap size is always double from your total psychical RAM. Since mine was running under 512MB, then I’ll put 1024MB as my swap size. Click the Ok button to proceed:

6) Do follow Step 5 but select SDB for the Allowable Drives. Click Ok to continue:

7) Next is to create the partition for root. Select the Software RAID from the File System Type. Then select SDA first for the Allowable Drives. But this time, choose the Fill All Available Space option and click the Ok button:

8 ) Just follow the same step just like Step 7, but this time choose the SDB instead. Click the Ok button to complete the partitioning:

9) Upon finishing the last partitioning, the hard disk layout should looks like below. Click on the RAID button to proceed:

10) Now we will start creating the RAID device. Type /boot in the Mount Point. Select RAID1 for the RAID Level. Inside the RAID Members, please make sure you selected the right partition for the boot. From the list, just select the SDA1 and SDB1. Click Ok to create the boot partition:

11) Next is to create the RAID device for swap. Select the File System Type to Swap. Then the RAID Level is set to RAID1. Don’t forget to select the right RAID Members for the swap, which are SDA2 and SBD2. Click Ok button to save:

12) After that, now to set up the RAID device for root. Type / inside the Mount Point to indicate the root. Make sure to select the RAID Level to RAID1. By this time, the RAID Members should only left with SDA3 and SDB3, so just select both. Click Ok to complete the partitioning:

13) Below is the final screen of the partitions should looks like. If everything is correct, then press the Ok button to proceed with the installation:

14) When the CentOS installation has been completed and the server is rebooting for the first time, log into the server using the root. You can check the RAID status and progress by typing cat /proc/mdstat

15) By default, the GRUB boot loader only were installed in one of the hard disk only. If you forgot this step, your second hard disk can’t boot by itself. You need to copy the GRUB from the SDA to SDB. Just type grub and follow like below, line by line:

device (hd0) /dev/sda
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
device (hd1) /dev/sdb
root (hd1,0)
setup (hd1)

 

16) Please take note that the software RAID will be running under MDADM. This is a software that being developed to handle the RAID procedure inside the server. You can type mdadm –help for further information

By the time you finished the Step 15, your software RAID is ready to go. Happy trying

You may type ifconfig to display your current network configuration:

From the above picture, you can see that:
1)      eth0 – is your first network interface card inside your server
2)      lo – the loopback interface to access your local services such as proxy or webserver http://127.0.0.1

The network card settings can be found edit here:
vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

SETUP STATIC IP

You may type like below inside your interface configuration file:
DEVICE=eth0
HWADDR=*
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=none
IPADDR=192.168.1.20
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
TYPE=Ethernet

*Note: Please leave your HWADDR as it is. Don’t delete or change from the original configuration

SETUP DHCP

In order to setup DHCP for the network interface card, just type like below inside the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file:
DEVICE=eth0
HWADDR=*
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

*Note: Please leave your HWADDR as it is. Don’t delete or change from the original configuration

CONFIGURE DNS

Next is to configure the DNS in order for it to resolve your domain name request into IP for the server to understand it. To configure, type:
vi /etc/resolv.conf

Then you may add any DNS you want inside the file:
nameserver 202.75.34.1
nameserver 8.8.8.8

RESTART THE NETWORK SERVICE

After finished editing any of the network setting, you need to restart the network service in order for new changes to take effect. To restart, type:
/etc/init.d/network restart

You may type ifconfig to see your new network settings:

You also may test ping a domain name to see whether your network settings is working or not by typing:
ping google.com

If you got the reply, this means your setup was successful.

ASSIGN MULTIPLE IP IN NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

CentOS will have a slight difference from others in term of creating multiple IP usage. First, you need to copy the ifcfg-eth0 to the same location but with a slight name change:
cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
cp ifcfg-eth0 ifcfg-eth0:1
vi ifcfg-eth0:1

Then you may edit the file like below:
DEVICE=eth0:1
HWADDR=*
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=none
IPADDR=192.168.1.40
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
TYPE=Ethernet

Don’t forget to change the DEVICE to according the file you rename.

*Note: Please leave your HWADDR as it is. Don’t delete or change from the original configuration

After saving and restarting the network, you can check your new setting by typing ifconfig

You may type ifconfig to display your current network configuration:

From the above picture, you can see that:
1) em0 – is your first network interface card inside your server
2) lo0 – the loopback interface to access your local services such as proxy or webserver http://127.0.0.1

Please take note that your network interface card might be vary depending on the manufacturer’s name.

The network card settings can be found edit here:
vi /etc/rc.conf

SETUP STATIC IP

You may type like below inside your interface configuration file:
hostname=”test.domain.com”
ifconfig_em0=”inet 192.168.1.24 netmask 255.255.255.0”
defaultrouter=”192.168.1.1”

Please take note that FreeBSD text control command line will be slightly different especially to delete words/characters. Press “dd” to delete the whole line or “x” to delete the character at the active cursor.

SETUP DHCP

In order to setup DHCP for the network interface card, just type like below inside the /etc/rc.conf file:
hostname=”test.domain.com”
ifconfig_em0=”DHCP”

CONFIGURE DNS

Next is to configure the DNS in order for it to resolve your domain name request into IP for the server to understand it. To configure, type:
vi /etc/resolv.conf

Then you may add any DNS you want inside the file:
nameserver 202.75.34.2
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 202.188.245.3

RESTART THE NETWORK SERVICE

After finished editing any of the network setting, you need to restart the network service in order for new changes to take effect. To restart, type:
/etc/rc.d/netif restart

You may type ifconfig to see your new network settings:

You also may test ping a domain name to see whether your network settings is working or not by typing:
ping google.com

If you got the reply, this means your setup was successful.

ASSIGN MULTIPLE IP IN NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

The procedure would be the same like adding normal IP address to the network interface card. Just open up the network interface card settings by typing:
vi /etc/rc.conf

Then add these following lines (depending on how much additional IP you want to add):
hostname=”test.domain.com”
ifconfig_em0=”inet 192.168.1.24 netmask 255.255.255.0”
ifconfig_em0_alias0=”inet 192.168.1.54 netmask 255.255.255.0”
ifconfig_em0_alias1=”inet 192.168.1.55 netmask 255.255.255.0”
defaultrouter=”192.168.1.1”

After saving and restarting the network, you can check your new setting by typing ifconfig

You may type ifconfig to display your current network configuration:

From the above picture, you can see that:
1)      eth0 – is your first network interface card inside your server
2)      lo – the loopback interface to access your local services such as proxy or webserver http://127.0.0.1

The network card settings can be found edit here:
sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

SETUP STATIC IP

You may type like below inside your interface configuration file:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.38
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255

Please take note that only address and netmask is required to be inserted into the configuration. The gateway, network, and broadcast are optional. You may enter it or Ubuntu will automatically calculate the other three based on your address and netmask.

You may type this if you want to read more about the network settings help provided inside Ubuntu:
man interfaces

SETUP DHCP

In order to setup DHCP for the network interface card, just type like below inside the /etc/network/interfaces file:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

CONFIGURE DNS

Next is to configure the DNS in order for it to resolve your domain name request into IP for the server to understand it. To configure, type:
sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf

Then you may add any DNS you want inside the file:
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 202.188.245.2
nameserver 202.188.0.133

RESTART THE NETWORK SERVICE

After finished editing any of the network setting, you need to restart the network service in order for new changes to take effect. To restart, type:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

You may type ifconfig to see your new network settings:

You also may test ping a domain name to see whether your network settings is working or not by typing:
ping google.com

If you got the reply, this means your setup was successful.

ASSIGN MULTIPLE IP IN NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

The procedure would be the same like adding normal IP address to the network interface card. Just open up the network interface card settings by typing:
sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

Then add these following lines (depending on how much additional IP you want to add):
auto eth0 eth0:1 eth0:2
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.38
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
iface eth0:1 inet static
address 192.168.1.40
netmask 255.255.255.0
iface eth0:2 inet static
address 192.168.1.41
netmask 255.255.255.0

After saving and restarting the network, you can check your new setting by typing ifconfig

You may type ifconfig to display your current network configuration:

From the above picture, you can see that:
1)      eth0 – is your first network interface card inside your server
2)      lo – the loopback interface to access your local services such as proxy or webserver http://127.0.0.1

The network card settings can be found edit here:
vi /etc/network/interfaces

You may type this if you want to read more about the network settings help provided inside Debian:
man interfaces

SETUP STATIC IP

You may type like below inside your interface configuration file:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.90
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255

Please take note that only address and netmask is required to be inserted into the configuration. The gateway, network, and broadcast are optional. You may enter it or Debian will automatically calculate the other three based on your address and netmask.

SETUP DHCP

In order to setup DHCP for the network interface card, just type like below inside the /etc/network/interfaces file:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

CONFIGURE DNS

Next is to configure the DNS in order for it to resolve your domain name request into IP for the server to understand it. To configure, type:
vi /etc/resolv.conf

Then you may add any DNS you want inside the file:
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 202.75.34.2
nameserver 4.2.2.2

RESTART THE NETWORK SERVICE

After finished editing any of the network setting, you need to restart the network service in order for new changes to take effect. To restart, type:
/etc/init.d/networking restart

You may type ifconfig to see your new network settings:

You also may test ping a domain name to see whether your network settings is working or not by typing:
ping google.com

If you got the reply, this means your setup was successful.

ASSIGN MULTIPLE IP IN NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

The procedure would be the same like adding normal IP address to the network interface card. Just open up the network interface card settings by typing:
vi /etc/network/interfaces

Then add these following lines (depending on how much additional IP you want to add):
auto eth0 eth0:1 eth0:2
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.90
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
iface eth0:1 inet static
address 192.168.1.211
netmask 255.255.255.0
iface eth0:2 inet static
address 192.168.1.212
netmask 255.255.255.0

After saving and restarting the network, you can check your new setting by typing ifconfig

Definition:  A numerical value that been assigned to a device/computer/node in order for it to join/participate/communicate in a network. IP address only has a valid combination of number 0 – 255 (which consist of 256 digits as 0 is also counted)

IP address must be unique in each device/computer/node and cannot have a duplicate in the same network. IP address usually is represented in dotted-decimal notation for example 112.243.137.100

IP address is divided into 2 purposes; one is for external (normal use) and internal (private network, localhost). The internal IP is only usable within the Local Area Network (LAN). It will not pass through the modem/router and people from outside the network normally won’t be able to connect/enter to your device through the usage of private IP. But by using Virtual Private Network (VPN), you are able to connect in between different private networks.

The example of Private Network IP:

1)      10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255

2)      172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255

3)      192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255

Localhost is the standard hostname given to an IP address of a loopback network interface. For example by typing http://localhost, it will redirect to the http server located inside your own server (if applicable). The localhost IP is 127.0.0.0 – 127.255.255.255

There are current 2 types of IP address that being used:

1)      IPv4 – a 32 bit address which currently been widely used and nearing exhaustion

2)      IPv6 –  recently introduced to replace the IPv4 which uses 128 bit addresses

IP address has several different Class from A – E:

Class A = 0.0.0.0 – 127.255.255.255

Class B = 128.0.0.0 – 191.255.255.255

Class C = 192.0.0.0 – 223.255.255.255

Class D = 224.0.0.0 – 239.255.255.255*

Class E = 240.0.0.0 – 255.255.255.255*

*Please note that both Class D and E IP are not usable / not suitable for normal networking

SUBNETWORK

Definition: A logical form of division / segmentation of the IP address. It helps to determine the IP address location in a large network.

For performance and security reason, IP address usually is segmented / divided into various configurations which are called Subnet Mask.

Subnet Mask usually show how many IP range that attached to that particular configuration. It also acts as a validation for IP address whether it belongs to the network or not. Below is the most common subnet mask used for a normal full block of 256 IP address:

CLASSLESS INTER-DOMAIN ROUTING (CIDR)

Definition: A methodology to describe the allocation of the IP address in a network. It was created to replace the old Class A, B, and C routing scheme which helps to manage the IP exhaustion problem. It is also a conversion from the Subnet Mask.

GATEWAY

Definition:  A node stands in between for the IP address to pass through to another network. The IP address gateway functions exactly the same manner.

Gateway also can be use as a firewall or proxy to monitor and filter your incoming and outgoing packets.

Usually gateway will be the node to route your packet request to reach its destination. This will be involving a few gateways on each network depending on how far your destination is.

DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM (DNS)

Definition: Allows computer and routers to identify each other efficiently on the network.

It helps to route, convert and translate hostname into IP address. This is because human is prone to using domain name to get anywhere but in the meanwhile the computer only recognize the IP address.

So DNS helps to convert the domain name typed by the human into IP address for the computer to read. Then it will send the packets that contain the IP address throughout the gateway until it reach its destination.

MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL (MAC) ADDRESS

Definition: is a unique identifier inside the network interface card for identification purposes in a network.

It was originally set by the network interface card’s manufacturer for their manufacturing number hence MAC address is unique in every network card. MAC address is not being use to set a normal network connection. It is only will be used inside the OSI layer. An example of how a MAC address looks like 00:E0:81:BA:E6:4A

A SUBNET OF IP ADDRESS

If you got a block of IPs from the service provider, first you need to understand how the IPs is assigned inside the block (unless they have specified earlier for your convenience).

Each of the IP address subnet will contain Network ID (Identification purposes), Broadcast (broadcasting the IP throughout the network), and a Gateway. Below is an example of a 122.117.163.96/29 physical distribution:

In the table above, it will show that the only usable IP will be only starting from 122.117.163.98 – 102. The same configuration will apply no matter how big or small the IP subnet your are getting from the service provider.

ASSIGNING IP ADDRESS

When installing a new server, normally an IP address needs to be set in order for the server to be connected to the network. The most important information that needs to be prepared when getting the server connected to the network is:

1)      IP address – identify your server on the network

2)      Subnet mask – verify the IP address grouping

3)      IP gateway – provides the entry to the network

4)      DNS – resolves domain/host name to IP address

As been mentioned earlier, all these components have its own function and how they relate to each other to make the server connected to the network. Failure to provide or wrong set of configuration, the server won’t be able to connect to the network.