Networking

This page covers day-2 networking changes — how to swap an appliance between DHCP and a fixed IP, what the static-IP fields mean, and how the apply / revert flow protects you from locking yourself out. The screen described here is Network Configuration in the operator TUI.

The networking mode is also chosen during installation, but on a running appliance you change it from this screen rather than reinstalling.

DHCP vs static — which to pick

The Network Configuration screen offers two modes at the top: DHCP (automatic) and Static IP. The screen always starts in whatever mode the appliance is currently using; move the highlight up or down to switch.

• DHCP is the default and is the right choice when the network already hands out addresses automatically. Most office LANs and many plant networks fit this pattern. You do not need to type anything else — DHCP mode has no extra fields.
• Static IP is for environments without a DHCP server, or when the appliance needs a fixed address. Two situations make static unavoidable: the mobile pairing flow stores the appliance's address in each phone, so a DHCP lease that changes silently breaks every paired device; and any external monitoring or reverse proxy that points at the appliance needs an address that does not move.

Switching modes is non-destructive — the previous configuration is snapshotted before anything is written, so you can flip from DHCP to static (or back) and revert if the new setting does not work. See Apply, revert, and backups.

The three static-IP fields

When Static IP is selected, three fields appear below the mode picker. Use tab (or the arrow keys) to move between them.

• IP Address — the appliance's address, written in CIDR notation: address plus subnet-mask length, separated by a slash. Example: 192.168.1.100/24. The /24 part is required — without a prefix length the appliance has no way to know which other hosts are on its subnet.
• Gateway — the IP address of the router that forwards traffic off the local subnet. Without this, the appliance can talk to other hosts on the same LAN but cannot reach the internet or any other network. Ask your LAN team for the gateway address if you do not already have it; it is usually the first or last usable address in the subnet (for example 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254).
• DNS Server — the IP address of the resolver the appliance should use to translate hostnames into IP addresses. Internal DNS at the customer site is usually preferred when one exists, because it can resolve site-local names (file servers, plant systems) that public resolvers cannot. A public resolver like 8.8.8.8 works as a fallback when no internal resolver is available.

The TUI refuses obviously malformed input: an IP without a prefix length, or a gateway or DNS server that is not a valid IPv4 address (hostnames like dns.example.com are not accepted — use the resolver's IP). The error appears in red below the fields and the change is not applied — fix the value and press apply again.

Apply, revert, and backups

The bottom of the screen shows the available keystrokes:

tab navigate • ctrl+s apply • ctrl+r revert • esc back

Ctrl-S applies the change. Before writing the new configuration, the appliance takes a snapshot of the previous one. If everything looks good — gateway pings, DNS resolves, the web UI still loads — you are done. A short confirmation (Network configuration applied) appears under the form on success.

Ctrl-R reverts to the previous configuration. This is the safety net for the case where you locked yourself out. A typical scenario: an operator switches to static IP, types the wrong gateway, and the appliance is no longer reachable from the workstation. The console TUI is still available locally — log in there, open Network Configuration, press Ctrl-R, and the previous (working) settings come back. The screen confirms the rollback with Reverted to previous network configuration.

Below the message area the screen prints how many previous configurations are kept for rollback (for example 2 previous config(s) available for rollback). The count climbs each time you apply a change, so a quick test of "did my change actually do anything" is to apply, see the count tick up, and confirm.

Press Esc to leave the screen without applying. Edits in the input fields are discarded — nothing is written until Ctrl-S is pressed.

A safe sequence for a static-IP change

When you do not have physical console access and are working over SSH, the revert path is the difference between a five-minute change and a site visit. The sequence we recommend:

1. Make sure you have a way to reach the console — either physically at the appliance, or via remote KVM/iLO/iDRAC if the hardware supports it. The TUI on the console always works regardless of the network configuration.
2. Note the current settings on a piece of paper before you start, so you know what "working" looked like.
3. Switch to static, fill in the three fields, and press Ctrl-S.
4. From a second workstation (not the one you are SSH'd in from), confirm the appliance is reachable on the new IP — pinging it, loading the web UI, or both.
5. If anything looks wrong, log in on the console and press Ctrl-R. The previous configuration is restored and the appliance is reachable again.

Where the configuration lives

Managed by the TUI — do not edit by hand

The networking settings are persisted in /var/pulse/site.env. Treat that file as TUI-managed: every change should go through the Network Configuration screen so the backup snapshot is taken and the dependent services (networkd, the web UI base URL) are reloaded in the right order. Editing the file directly bypasses both, and the next apply from the TUI will overwrite your changes anyway.

If you suspect the file is corrupt or out of sync, the safest recovery is the same revert path described above — Ctrl-R rolls back to the previous good snapshot rather than asking you to hand-edit the file.

Related screens

The Network Configuration screen handles IP-level settings only. Two adjacent concerns live elsewhere in the TUI:

• NTP Configuration — sets the time-synchronization server. Time and IP are independent: changing the network mode does not change the NTP setting, and vice versa.
• TLS Certificates — manages the certificate the web UI presents. The certificate's Subject Alternative Names (SANs) include the appliance's IP, so after a static-IP change you may want to regenerate or reinstall the certificate to match the new address.

See the TUI Reference for the full list of menu entries and the Installation page for the equivalent network step during first-boot setup.