When integrating the C3-H2 in an existing network there are a few steps that need to be taken in order for the network to work correctly. The C3-H2 is a full fledge server capable of autonomously controlling a network, but by making certain configuration changes it can be integrated in an existing network.


C3-H2

You need to decide which king of use you want to provide to the C3-H2. The C3-H2 has two physical network ports and, optionally, a WiFi access point. We will expose some configuration options for the C3. The two physical network ports are labelled LAN and WAN.


C3-H2 as a pure content repository


You can achieve this scenario in two ways:

  1. Access the C3-H2 using the WAN port
  2. Access the C3-H2 using the LAN port with DHCP deactivated.


C3-H2 accessed through the WAN


In the option where the C3-H2 is accessed the WAN port, the following operations need to be performed:

  1. (optional but recommended) Go to "Internet Access" inside the C3 configuration page, set the Configuration Method to Manual and assign a Static IP Address to the C3 inside your network IP range
  2. Open the network ports on the C3 by going to the firewall configuration (Firewall button inside the Configuration Page). Open the following services:
    1. Web GUI
    2. Active Directory
  3. Use a computer connected to the same network and, using a browser, navigate to the assigned C3 IP address. You will see a security warning and you should accept the security certificate as valid. This warning is a consequence of using the C3 IP address instead of using the official hostname.


C3-H2 access through the LAN


In the option where the C3-H2 is accessed through the LAN port, the following operations need to be performed:

  1. Go to the C3 Configuration Page, and go to Local Area Network
  2. Assign to the C3 an IP address that is inside the range of the assigned subnet to your network
  3. Disable the C3 DHCP server if you already have a DHCP server running in your network.
  4. Make sure that the LAN port is connected to your LAN Switch.
  5. If your C3-H2 is equipped with a WiFi Access Point, it will start serving IP addresses to the devices that connect to it that are served from your DHCP server.


When accessing the C3-H2 though the LAN without an active DHCP server, you devices won't know how to resolve the C3 DNS, which is c3edu.online. There are thre  things you can do:

  1. In this option, you can use the C3 DHCP server and disable your network DHCP Server. The C3 DHCP server is more than capable of serving a very high number of IP addresses. This is the easiest one to configure. It will ensure that all the connect computers can reach the C3 by going to c3edu.online. It will also ensure that you can use your C3 as an Active Directory controller. 
  2. In this option, you configure your network DHCP server to use the C3 address as the main DNS server. Simply go to your DHCP Server configuration options and set the first DNS server to the same IP as the C3-H2.
  3. In this third option, you set your network DNS server to go to the C3-H2 address when the DNS name is *.c3edu.online. This might be a more complex configuration and you need to know how to configure your DNS server.


Identifying the connected network ports

The C3 Micro-Cloud has an interface that allows you to quickly make sure that the correct network ports are connected. By going to the C3 Dashboard (menu on the left) you can scroll down to find a section called "Network Interface". This section allows you to quickly find which interfaces are active.