OpenPLi Wiki: How To set up your basic network details

How To set up your basic network details

LAN holding page for all set top boxes (E1 & E2)

DM7025/DM800 users see below

To get to this screen with your remote control all you have to do is press the following buttons. Press the MENU button and the select setup and press OK now select System Settings and press OK now select Networking and press OK If you did all of this you should see this screen.

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Lets go through and explain these options

Remember : google is your friend for full technical descriptions on these functions as they are generic to all Network devices, not just your DM box

Enable Network: Simply turn networking ON or turn networking OFF. When you highlight or select this option, press the OK button, you will either enable networking or disable networking (if it is enabled there is a X in the Enable Network box). If you want to use the basic network services on your DM box then you should always ensure this option is enabled so you can use the network functions of you DM box.

Some of these networking features are;

Access to the DM boxes Web Interface
Mounting LAN based Hard Disks to your DM box
Sharing
Download of other PLi® applications, plugins, skins to your DM box
Upgrading your PLi® image over the network
Flashing you DM box with a new PLi® Image
and so many more functions

DHCP : If you do not know your network details you can enable this option and it will try to automatically discover/find your network details. However a few words of caution when using this option. As soon as you find you network details disable this function and use the settings if they are indeed valid for your local area network (LAN). Why?

somethings on Windows boxes the DHCP lease is only for a few hours and if you are using any network function there maybe a big delay when updating the new lease (remember google is your friend).
If you are sharing this device i.e. hdd or using the Web Interface due to the nature of DHCP the IP address will change all the time

IP: this is the IP address of your DM box. The most common address are;

192.168.x.x
10.10.x.x
remember google is your friend

Netmask: in 90% of all cases it will be the class "c" netmask of 255.255.255.0

Type: leave as it is - LAN

Nameserver: Either what your ISP provides, the same as the gateway below or use the Open DNS settings of 208.67.222.222

Gateway: Normally that of your ADSL modem router, and will be the same address that the other devices (pc) use on your local area network (LAN)

Once you have set this up simply press the GREEN button to save the details.

How do I test if my set up is OK?

Once you have saved this screen with the GREEN button you can test if it is connected to the LAN by ping'ing it from your Windows, Mac or Linux computer. On any Microsoft windows box try this; press the WINDOWS Button + R and type CMD and press enter. Now simply type ping the IP address you assigned to your DM box like this example below - ping 192.168.1.22 <enter>

Ping my DM box

If you see a screen like the option above then it worked. Your DM box is alive and you can enjoy all the networking functions outlined above.

Tip: make sure the Domain Name Sever(DNS) and gateway are always the same number - regardless of what you think the DNS number should be. (Why well if your ISP changes the DNS address then your DM box is always locked to that address, however if you make your DNS the same address as the gateway it will always be updated every time your ADSL/ Dialup connects to your ISP) If you are having problems connecting to remote sites you can always use the Open DNS at 208.67.222.222 instead of your local/ISP DNS

Tip: If you select DHCP while this will find your DM box on the LAN, it may cause an issue if you are streaming, as it will change each time the DM box is rebooted.
Question: Does this work on Wifi? Yes perfectly if your LAN is correctly setup.
Question: Does this work on a small 10mb LAN? Yes perfectly if your LAN is correctly setup.
Question: Can the PLi® team help me setup my LAN as I do not have one? In short no, we can not, but you can ask in the PLi® Forums or your IT support person to help you

If your DM box is not alive then check the following things;

Did I assign the correct unique LAN address to my DM box?
Did I assign the correct Netmask details?
Did I assign the correct Nameserver details?
Did I assign the correct gateway address?
Is the LAN cable plugged into the DM box?
Is the DM box LAN cable connected to a HUB or modem router?
Are other devices on my LAN working?

Howto setup my local area network (LAN) connection On my DM7025, DM800, DM8000

you really want to do this even if you have no internet

This is where you set up your DM box on your Local Area Network (LAN) If you planning on using any of the mulit-media
tools like the VLC Movie player, the Media player or the world wide web interface, this must first be set up for
your network.

Customize your E2 box

On this screen we can configure the;

Adapter settings: Set up the IP address of the box, net mask of the box, the Gateway of the box
Nameserver settings: Set up the domain name sever (DNS) this box will use
Network test: Test our network and see it is working
Restart network: where we can restart our LAN
Network Wizard: Use the wizard screens to do all the above

Adapter settings:

Here we can set up;

Use Interface: Do you want to use the LAN adaptor on the previous menu? Yes or no - in 99% of all cases say yes
Use DHCP: for new user this option will discover the details below if your modem router has a DHCP server active in it. But to use most of the tools you will want to disable this option
the IP address of the box: this must be a unique address you assign to your DM box (unique = NO other device on the LAN has this address)
net mask of the box: On most networks this will be a C class address as shown by default 255.255.255.0
the Gateway of the box: (next page) the address of your modem router out to the internet (if you have a PC connected to your LAN check what it is using for a gateway as this should be the same address as the PC's gateway.

Customize your E2 box

Nameserver settings:

Here we can set up the domain name sever (DNS) this box will use. It is in most cases the same address of your modem router or gateway.
However you can also use the OPEN DNS settings (the global DNS) of 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220

Customize your E2 box

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