How to set a fixed IP address

[Carlos Montemayor]

Hi,

 

I feel a bit ashamed as I am writing this, but sorry, I need the help.

 

I am setting my systems based on Debian Linux just because it is so stable. Once set up correctly, you can almost forget about it. I have learned to install Debian and snom ONE on top of it as a cooking recipe, and so far so good. Problem being when something in the environment is different, then I do not know how to adjust. The problem at hand has to do with a network fixed address as opposed to dhcp. In my last installation, there was no dhcp server and I had to set a fixed address for my box. I tried to do it but I got lost in the woods. How should I do it? Can I get an example on how to pass those instructions to the system?

 

Thanks in advance

[Vodia PBX]

Debian has good documentation, for example http://wiki.debian.org/NetworkConfiguration shows you how to configure it by editing config files.

[Carlos Montemayor]

Will do. Regards

[Pablo]

Ubuntu seems to attract a lot more of the newbies to the Linux world; so, I would often insert Ubuntu in the search terms when looking for answers to Debian questions--given that Ubuntu is based on Debian (eventually, I ended up simply using Ubuntu on all my systems--Ubuntu has some other fans in this forum, as well).

 

In any event, to set a static IP address in Debian/Ubuntu, you simply need to edit /etc/network/interfaces, like so:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback


# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
        dns-nameservers 127.0.0.1 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
        dns-domain xxx.com

[Carlos Montemayor]

Pablo,

 

I just followed your exact advice in an identical system that I have at home and it worked just fine. Hopefully, I will be able to do the same at the customer premise, however, over there, it is always possible to have a problem (the IT guy can assign the system a fix IP that is in conflict with another address, or what have you).

 

Thanks and regards

[Carlos Montemayor]

Well, Just to unveil the mystery. The problem was not the syntax of the interfaces instructions. The issue was the age of the operating system at the customer premise. It is so old, that neither Linux nor Mac equipment can get Internet Access from the LAN. So, I will have to base my system on windows if I want to serve this particular customer (there is no way to know when are they going to update their operating system).

 

Regards