I setup a static ip through the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file which I've appended below. The big issue I'm having is in significant delays in resolving names and connecting via ssh or http.

---begin ifcfg-eth0---
TYPE=Ethernet
DEVICE=eth0
HWADDR=00:e0:4d:a9:b7:9f
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=192.168.1.142
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
DNS1=192.168.1.1
---end ifcfg-eth0---

As I recall linksys routers have their own dns and I can indeed resolve urls. However a ping of google.com results in a 40-70% packet loss and I'm experiencing surprising delays when trying to connect to my http or ssh servers (ssh never seems to connect). For the record, I have disabled the NetworkManager and enabled the /etc/init.d/network for the necessary run time levels. Also this happens even if I hard code DNS ip's into the configuration file.

Thanks in advance for serious replies!

SOLVED! SEE THIRD POST. SOLUTION LIKELY APPLIES TO ALL DISTROS OF LINUX.

You might want to check the interface:

ethtool eth0

This should show you at which speed and duplex it is running.

(or mii-tool -v eth0 for older NICs).

If you see speed less than 100 or duplex at half it might be causing your issues. Using ethtool -s with appropriate options might help although some Linksys routers want it to be set to autonegotiate.

Found out that it was only SSH that was slow. Since I changed to a static-ip, ssh was searching DNS for the domain name and DNS wasn't responding to a public ip range. I had to add the following line:

UseDNS no

to the file

/etc/ssh/sshd_config

and restart the ssh daemon. Problem solved.