Network settings

This chapter describes the network settings under TwinCAT/BSD and guides you through the necessary steps to configure your system. Topics such as IP address assignment, host name customization, and firewall activation with port sharing are covered here.

• Set IP address: This section tells you how to set a fixed IP address or obtain one dynamically via DHCP.
• Change host name: The host name identifies your system on the network. Here we explain how to customize the host name to enable unique identification.
• Firewall: In this section, you will learn how to enable and configure the firewall on your system. In addition, it shows how you can release specific ports to allow access to specific applications.
• WLAN: This section shows you how to connect to a WLAN network and configure your system as an access point. Furthermore, we will show you how to set up a DHCP server to enable automatic IP address assignment in your WLAN network.

DHCP client

Under TwinCAT/BSD the dhclient(8) was used as DHCP client so far. As of version 13.2.0.6 / 89449, dhcpcd(8) is shipped as the default DHCP client and replaces the older client. For the sake of completeness, we will continue to describe how to set a fixed IP address with the old DHCP client (see: Set IP address for systems with dhclient) and how to set a fixed IP address with dhcpcd (see: Set IP address (dhcpcd)) in comparison.

The new DHCP client offers the following advantages:

• Faster auto-IP assignment (169,254.x.x).
• Shortened boot times.
• Modern and fast daemon.
• Other features, including the management of multiple IP addresses on one network interface.

If you want to use the dhcpcd also under older TwinCAT/BSD versions, the package dhcpcd has to be post-installed manually and then configured under /etc/rc.conf (see: Post-install and activate dhcpcd). Notice Note that the older dhclient and dhcpcd must not be configured at the same time, as the two services interfere with each other.

DHCP is still preset for each network interface and the IP address is obtained automatically. To set a static IP address, ifconfig can still be used.