ComXchange - Setting an additional network interface using an USB adapter

Usually ComXchange controllers possess two dedicated network interfaces, one for the LAN traffic, and another one for WAN traffic. 

There are some cases where there's the need to set up a dedicated network connection to connect to some PMS environments, since there is no routable path between the ComXchange and such devices. 

One simplified approach is to use an external USB network adapter, however command line access to the server will be required to set this adapter properly for the first time.

The following steps may be used:

1. Power down the ComXchange server, then plug in the USB dongle
2. Access the ComXchange server either via direct monitor and keyboard or using SSH
3. Check if the USB device has been recognized with command lsusb
   Similar text as below will be shown: 
1. lsusb
2. >> Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:8153 [REDACTED] Corp. RXLXXXX Gigabit Ethernet Adapter


4. Then, check the list of network adapters with the command ip a 
   
   1. ip a
   2. >> # OUTPUT
   3. >> eth2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
   4. >>    link/ether 00:05:1b:xx:xx:xx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
   5. >>    inet 172.16.10.11/24 brd 172.16.10.255 scope global noprefixroute eth2
   6. >>       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

   
   
5. Locate the new adapter name, it may be somthing like eth2 or ens192. This will be required for next steps
6. Now, create the new adapter config file with the command below
   (NOTE: if interface name on step above is different than eth2, be sure to change the last bit of this command to reflect the correct name):
   
   1. cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts && touch ifcfg-eth2
   
   
7. Then, edit the newly created file, in order to add the required configuration, with the command:
   

   1. nano /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth2

   
   
8. Add the following content to the file, remember, if network interface name was different than eth2, be sure to change the names accordingly.
   Important lines to pay attention to are: 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, and 18
   
   1. TYPE=Ethernet
   2. PROXY_METHOD=none
   3. BROWSER_ONLY=no
   4. BOOTPROTO=none
   5. DEFROUTE=no
   6. IPV4_FAILURE_FATAL=no
   7. IPV6INIT=no
   8. IPV6_AUTOCONF=no
   9. IPV6_DEFROUTE=no
   10. IPV6_FAILURE_FATAL=no
   11. IPV6_ADDR_GEN_MODE=stable-privacy
   12. NAME=eth2
   13. DEVICE=eth2
   14. ONBOOT=yes
   15. IPADDR=172.16.10.xx (IP ADDRESS PROVIDED BY IT PERSONEL)
   16. GATEWAY=
   17. PREFIX=24
   18. HWADDR=00:05:1b:xx:xx:xx (CHANGE MAC HERE)
   
   
9. Save the file pressing CONTROL + O on the keyboard.
   
   
10. You may restart networking with the following command
    

    1. service network restart

    
    
11. After these steps, the new network adapter should be visible on the ComXchange's web interface
    
12. Now you may edit the existing configuration using the ComXchange web GUI and it will be updated on the related files at OS level.