Entries in /etc/network/interfaces

Akhran · 08-19-2005, 08:48 PM

Originally, I have 192.168.1.12 as my DNS, as shown below:

In the file /etc/network/interfaces,

Code:

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.10
# dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
dns-nameservers 192.168.1.12

In the file /etc/resolv.conf, there is a line

Code:

 nameserver 192.168.1.12

If there is a change in the IP address of the DNS, what are the files I need to update? /etc/resolv.conf and(or) /etc/network/interfaces ?

Assuming the new IP address of the DNS is 192.168.1.100, I notice that if I update the new IP address in /etc/network/interfaces only, it doesn't work. However, if I update the new IP address in /etc/resolv.conf but I don't update the /etc/network/interfaces file, it still work. Does the dns-nameservers statement in /etc/network/interfaces serve any function and does it need to be updated if there is any change in the IP address of the DNS?

Thanks.

Dead Parrot · 08-19-2005, 09:50 PM

Is there a problem?

I think you've got all the important config files pretty much OK. In addition to /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/resolv.conf there are, at least, /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts that need to be set right. But you've got the most important files all right.

The manual configuration would probably include something like this:

$ su
# /sbin/ifconfig lo down
# /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down
# /sbin/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
# /sbin/ifconfig eth0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 255.255.255.xxx
# /sbin/route add default gw xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx eth0

(Replace the x's with the correct numbers.

)

If you do this, it means that you'll have to do it every time you open debian. If you want it done automatically every time you start debian, you'll need to write these settings to a config file.

Or do it the easy way and do "apt-get install etherconf", and then do (as root) "etherconf".

I don't know, I'd probably choose the easy way.

You can add to /etc/hosts something according to this syntax:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
your_ip_address your_hostname.your_domainname your_hostname

The most often used troubleshooting command is "ifconfig". (You need to do it as root.)