Network Setup Tips

Accessing Network Configuration Files

To easily access the network configuration files, simply use the cdnet command:

[root@probe ~]# cdnet

[root@probe network-scripts]# 

[root@probe ~]# pwd

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
[root@probe network-scripts]# 

How To Add A Host Name Identifier To A DHCP Server

Some times it is desirable to add a host name identifier at the DHCP Client to be recognized by the DHCP Server. This will allow for local host names to be resolved by their respective name on the local LAN. This works well with a DD-WRT enabled LinkSys router and bind.

To do this, add the following line to your network configuration file (Example for: eth0 - We will use file: "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0" and request that the DHCP server set this system's host name to: "emachine".):

DHCP_HOSTNAME=<your desired host name for this NST DHCP client>

Both the "network" service and the NetworkManager service support this setting for DHCP.

Listing: "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0"

[root@probe-biostar network-scripts]# cat "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0"

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
DHCP_HOSTNAME=emachine

How To Permanently Set The Host Name Of Your System

To do this, add/change the following line to the system configuration file: "/etc/sysconfig/network"

HOSTNAME=<your desired host name for this NST system>

NetworkManager will be notified of this change and automatically set the system "hostname". The example below sets the system host name to: "emachine". Typically, if this system is a DHCP client, both the "DHCP_HOSTNAME" discussed above and the "HOSTNAME" entries are set identically.

Listing: "/etc/sysconfig/network"

[root@probe-biostar sysconfig]# cat "/etc/sysconfig/network"

NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=emachine
NOZEROCONF=yes

A system reboot can be done to verify all changes.

Note on Using DHCP to get an IP Address:

Configuring A Static IP Address

If the network your interface is connected to does not have a DHCP server, you will need to configure your system to use a static IP address. The following shows the contents of: "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0" which is used to assign a static IP address of 192.168.12.100 to eth0 (an Ethernet interface):

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
IPADDR=192.168.12.100
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=192.168.12.0
BROADCAST=192.168.12.255
GATEWAY=192.168.12.1
ONBOOT=yes

NOTE: The above assumes that the gateway machine for the network has an IP address of: "192.168.12.1".

Configuring A Stealth Network Interface

In order to configure a stealth (i.e., A network interface with a non-binding IP Address) network interface set the BOOTPROTO setting to: "none". Example: Make network interface: "eth1" at stealth interface using this minimal configuration:

DEVICE=eth1
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes

Restarting the Network Service

After editing any network configuration file, you should restart the network service as shown below:

Restarting the Network Service

[root@probe-biostar network-scripts]# service network restart

[root@tmobile network-scripts]# service network restart
Shutting down interface eth0:                              [  OK  ]
Shutting down loopback interface:                          [  OK  ]
Bringing up loopback interface:                            [  OK  ]
Bringing up interface eth0:                                [  OK  ]

[root@probe-biostar network-scripts]#

Display Routing Table

The following command can be used to display your network routing table (the -n option was included to prevent the route command from trying to resolve names):

Display Routing Table

[root@dhcp121 ~]# route -n

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth0
0.0.0.0         192.168.1.1     0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth0

[root@dhcp121 ~]#