Some n00b networking help pls
 

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad Laptop running Fed17 that I want to connect via ethernet to two other boxes (HP Proliant MicroServers) through a small Netgear Switch.

I don't care about any wider connection, just want to establish this little network of three computers together. Unfortunately I have no idea how to make them see eachother, what IP address to assign, should I use Fed17 IPv4 network settings to "Link-Local Only", "Shared to other computers" or "Manual"?

Down the line I would like the Fed17 box (or even a RH virtual machine running within it) not only to act as DNS server on this little network, but also as LDAP server. The objective is to have the two boxes working as hypervisors in this little network but never mind that for now, as I'm comfortable setting up RHEV-Manager and RHEV-Hypervisors themselves. Well, provided the networking bit is done properly... that's the bit I have trouble with.

I hope this makes sense, I'd appreciate any light anyone can caste on how to proceed. Networking has never been my strong-point. :(

With just three hosts, using the network address of 192.168.0.0/24 will work fine. You could use the addresses 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3 for the three hosts. Set the netmask of each to 255.255.255.0. Since you don't have a router, and no Internet, you don't have a gateway, and hence, no gateway address. Make sure you don't have an IP address ending in 0 or 255. The first is the network address. The second the broadcast address.

Thanks for assistance jschiwal.