I'm trying to get my IP static in debian but nothing seems to work. I edit my /etc/network/interfaces to the following:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# This entry was created during the Debian installation
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1

I tried adding the broadcast line 'broadcast 192.168.1.255' but nothing works. Using DHCP all is fine but I need static. Another client is running win which was so easy to configure using static IP (TCP/IP) 192.168.1.3.
I tried ifdown eth0 & ifup eth0 even tried rebooting a few times but nothing helps. What am I doing wrong? In win I specified a DNS, no need for that in Debian?

Regards

The internal network is working fine btw. I can open shares on the win box from debian without any problem.....seems just an internet problem.

I'm afraid that you need to specify DNS also in Debian. You can put it into /etc/resolv.conf using the following format: If the /etc/resolv.conf doesn't exist, you can just create one.

Brilliant! The file exists but tells me that I shouldn't edit since changes get overwritten. Well ,tried it anyway and got internet back! Warnig is true though, rebooting and the file gets overwritten to the former state (no nameserver) How to make this permanent (which file to edit)

Regards

It appears that Debconf controls your network settings. There's probably a way to change them permanently via Debconf if you can locate the package that initially set up your net connection, but it may be easier just to install the "etherconf" utility and use it to configure your network. Etherconf plays nicely together with Debconf, so reboots don't change the configuration made via etherconf.

Thanx, I installed the etherconf utility and made a new config. Could this have anything to do with the fact that even though I use static IP, forward the ports to my client (192.168.1.2) but still get no connection in Azureus (BitTorrent) It keeps stating a NAT-error. I guess this is off-topic but this is the reason I started to set static IP in the first place. Same on low ID's in MlDonkey.....Not sure what to check anymore.
Internet is fine now btw!

Regards

I don't use BitTorrent, so cannot help you there. Maybe you have too strict firewall rules? I suggest that you make a Google search ("bittorrent nat error", or something like that) to see if other people have encountered similar problems.

Weird, I guess I was happy a bit too soon. After reboot internet is still not working and I have to do a dpkg-reconfigure etherconf to get internet access. Any clues on what packages might be srewing my settings? I'd like to get rid of it and use the settings made by etherconf.

Regards

I've earlier had the kind of problem you describe when I installed Debian from LiveCDs (Morphix & Knoppix) but using Debian's own installer this problem disappeared. In my laptop I've had somewhat similar problem because my PCMCIA netcard was started too late. Moving pcmcia service to start earlier in /etc/rc{2-5}.d/ solved this problem.

I'd suggest that you keep an eye on boot messages -- they might tell why your net connection fails to start. It might be also worth checking dmesg and /var/log/syslog for network and eth0 related error messages.

Hmm, no errors on boot, nothing weird happening. I'm afraid I'm stuk with dpkg-reconfigure etherconf.....
No more clues...anyone?

Regards

Well I got it! After reading a lot of google post I finally found some Debian article. I had to enter the line dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1 to /etc/network/interfaces.
I read a lot of tries entering just nameserver 192.xxx.x.x. but those din't work. Anyway: solved!

Well, I'm glad to hear that you worked out a solution.

One question, though: Did you need to install "resolvconf" package or was it enough just to add the dns-nameservers line to /etc/network/interfaces?

I still have the resolvconf package installed, not sure if it would work without. I de-installed etherconf package.

"Resolvconf is a framework for keeping track of the system's information about currently available nameservers. It sets itself up as the intermediary between programs that supply nameserver information and programs that use nameserver information. Examples of programs that supply nameserver information are: ifupdown, DHCP clients, the PPP daemon and local nameservers. Examples of programs that use this information are: DNS caches, resolver libraries and the programs that use them."
http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/resolvconf

Sounds like a useful program. I try to keep it in mind so I can recommend it to other people who keep losing their DNS between reboots like you did.