Static IP address

scotty2024 · 10-10-2010, 07:14 PM

Hi, I am trying to open some ports for port forwarding. I believe I need a static IP address for this. Something like 192.168.1.x. How can I see if I currently have one or not. If not, how do I set it?

I have read that /etc/network/interfaces needs to be edited. Not sure what needs to be changed though. Here is my current file.

Code:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

Thanks.

ionrivera · 10-10-2010, 07:59 PM

In your case, your network interface is set for dhcp. To acquire a static IP address... follow this example:

On debian based system:
# vi /etc/network/interfaces

Code:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.10
network 192.168.1.0
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

AlucardZero · 10-10-2010, 08:00 PM

http://www.techiecorner.com/486/how-...-ip-in-debian/

scotty2024 · 10-10-2010, 08:07 PM

So then, using the example above, I would use 192.168.0.42 as the address to forward the port to? Do I have to do anything with the network, netmask, broadcast, or gateway?

ionrivera · 10-10-2010, 08:24 PM

are you trying to setup port forwarding on a router?

scotty2024 · 10-13-2010, 11:21 PM

Yes I am trying to set up port forwarding on a router. I am trying to do it on my debian machine and don't know the equivalent command for "ipconfig". How do I find my debian's ip address? Do I have to set the static ip address? 192.168.1.???

I am confused because I want other computers from outside my network to connect to it. So I thought I had to use my public ip. But I now believe that I use the debian's IP address and the outside computers connect using the public ip and then the router directs them to the debian machine. Is that right?

catkin · 10-14-2010, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty2024

Yes I am trying to set up port forwarding on a router. I am trying to do it on my debian machine and don't know the equivalent command for "ipconfig". How do I find my debian's ip address? Do I have to set the static ip address? 192.168.1.???

I am confused because I want other computers from outside my network to connect to it. So I thought I had to use my public ip. But I now believe that I use the debian's IP address and the outside computers connect using the public ip and then the router directs them to the debian machine. Is that right?

ifconfig

Yes, you have to set a static IP (unless you have a sophisticated router that accepts DNS name requests from DHCP clients and can do port forwarding by DNS name -- but let's keep this simple).

ionrivera has given the file name and sample contents to set a static IP. You need to use an editor to, er, edit it. vi is popular but nano is simpler; there are others. The file should be editable only by root.

Only your public IP is visible from the Internet so, yes, you must use port forwarding on the router to route incoming packets to the debian machine on your LAN. It is more secure to forward only the ports that need forwarding such as 80 for HTTP.