How to get a PandA on the network without DHCP

No configuration needed for DHCP — just plug in and boot.

The SD card inside a PandA contains a config.txt file that controls networking and other boot-time settings. Below is the default file with all options commented out:

# This file contains configuration settings.  In this file network and other
# settings can be adjusted.

# If ADDRESS and NETMASK are not both specified DHCP will be used instead.
# The ADDRESS field can be set to a four part dotted IP address followed by a
# network mask specification thus:
#
#   ADDRESS = 172.23.252.202
#   NETMASK = 255.255.240.0

# If the ADDRESS field has been set then the GATEWAY and DNS fields should be
# set:
#
#   GATEWAY = 172.23.240.254
#   DNS = 172.23.5.13 172.23.4.1 130.246.8.13

# Optionally the DNS search domain can be set:
#
#   DNS_SEARCH = diamond.ac.uk

# The NTP server or servers can be specified here:
#
#   NTP = 172.23.240.2 172.23.199.1

# The machine hostname can be specified here:
#
#   HOSTNAME = panda

# To skip loading any zpackages at startup, either for testing or as an
# override to recover from a faulty zpkg install:
#
#   NO_ZPKG

During startup the network is configured as follows:

If ADDRESS and NETMASK are both set, a static IP is assigned. Set GATEWAY and DNS too; NTP is optional.
Otherwise DHCP is attempted. On success it sets IP, gateway, DNS and may set hostname. If the DHCP server advertises NTP servers those take priority over the NTP key.
If DHCP fails, ZeroConf is attempted. If that also fails the PandA will not be reachable on the network.

In the default (all-commented) configuration the PandA contacts 0.pool.ntp.org and pool peers for time.

Override file¶

If a static IP needs to be set without opening the SD card, use the USB override mechanism:

Place a file named panda-config.txt on a USB drive and plug the drive into the PandA while it is booting. The PandA will read panda-config.txt from the USB drive instead of config.txt from the SD card.

The override file uses the same format as config.txt, for example:

ADDRESS = 192.168.0.2
NETMASK = 255.255.255.0
GATEWAY = 192.168.0.254
HOSTNAME = mypanda

To make the USB settings permanent, use the Show Network Configuration function in the Web Admin interface (described below), which writes the settings back to config.txt on the SD card.