© National Instruments Corp. B-1 GPIB-ENET for Macintosh
Appendix BUtilities
This appendix contains information on the IPassign and Update utilities for the
GPIB-ENET.

IPassign Utility

If your network does not have RARP capabilities, you can use the IPassign utility
to configure the IP address for the GPIB-ENET. Before using this application, make sure
that you know the Ethernet address of the GPIB-ENET, which is listed on the bottom
panel of the box, and the IP address that has been selected for the box. The IP address
should be a unique IP address not yet used within your network or domain. If you do not
know the IP address, see your network administrator. Once you configure the IP address,
it is stored in nonvolatile memory in the GPIB-ENET.
You should run the IPassign utility only when the box is new or when you decide to
reconfigure your network in a way that changes the IP address of the GPIB-ENET.
Because of protocol limitations, this utility must be run from a Macintosh with an
Ethernet port. This utility does not work from LocalTalk.
To run IPassign, follow these steps after you have connected the GPIB-ENET to the
network and installed the NI-488.2 software.
1. Make sure that you configure the DIP switches properly. Switch 6 should be OFF,
indicating that you are going to configure a protocol address from the network.
Switch 5 should be ON, indicating that you are using IPassign to configure the
IP address. Switches 8, 7, and 4 through 1 should all be OFF.
2. Power on the GPIB-ENET.
3. Change to the folder that contains the NI-488.2 distribution files.
4. Execute the IPassign utility, which is located in the Ethernet folder.
a. Select an Ethernet interface to use by clicking on the appropriate dialog button.
b. Enter the IP address that has been selected for the box. Enter the IP address in
standard notation, which is four decimal numbers separated with periods.
c. Enter the physical Ethernet address for the GPIB-ENET. This is the address
shown on the identification label on the bottom panel of the GPIB-ENET. Enter
the Ethernet address in standard notation, which is six hexadecimal numbers
separated with colons.