I had a chance to configure a Moxa NPort device server appliance on my client's network, it was very easy to do so, done in just 2 minutes.

Here's what I did:-

1. The Moxa device server had a preset IP address of 192.168.127.254 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0 - http://www.moxa.com/doc/manual/nport/5400/NPort_5400_Series_Users_Manual_v4.pdf

2. Moxa provides a Windows software which I used to "scan" for the device server. It worked like magic! The software returns a list of device servers found. Each device server is identified by MAC address, and by selecting the device server using the software, I can reset the default IP address and subnet mask of that device server!

In comparison, during an earlier project, I spent 2 hours trying to get KVM to work for a Windows 7 embedded appliance I'm trying to install in my client's network - http://superuser.com/questions/380305/how-to-configure-windows-7-professional-appliance-pc-on-my-clients-network-usin

Prior to that, I have already tried pre-configuring the IP address and subnet mask to the one which my client provided, yet the appliance still can't connect to the client's network! I've also tried cross cable, didn't work either. After KVM worked, I discovered that the network settings were "lost" after I plug the machine into the client's network.

Now my question is what can I do to setup my Windows 7 embedded appliance so that it can connect to any network like that the Moxa device server?

I tried experimenting this on my network using a Windows machine configured to an IP address of 192.168.127.254 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0, but it doesn't connect to my network that uses 192.168.0.*. :(

EDIT:

I would like to point out that the Moxa Windows configuration software seems to be able to connect to any Moxa device connected to the network even if it is on a different subnet, as long as the network adapter shows "connected". This is important because the Moxa device has no VGSM port or interface to configure the IP address.