Hi, my office has a linux machine currently used as a WinCVs server only. It will be moved to an other building and the IP address has to be changed. The trouble with this machine is that the monitor is fixed on the computer (uniterchangeable) and has already broken. We can not see anything on the screen.

We want keep all the content on this computer, what can we do?

The computer will be turned off during move. Can it boot without link to network? and then how can we change the IP address when we have a new one?

many thanks.

It should be easy enough to modify the network settings via ssh.

What distro is on the computer? That affects what file(s) in /etc might need to be modified.

In the long run, it might be a good idea to plan to change out this computer or repair the monitor because, eventually, something will break that requires a direct interface with display capabilities to be fixed.

Thank you.

Could you please advise me the procedures to change the address using ssh? I am new the linux.

I am also new to the office. I have suggested a new computer. Hopefully, we will get one in weeks.

Before you do anything you should see if you can access by some method. Not needed but may be helpful.

Knowing the type or distro of the linux may help us too.

Access it via a lan by knowing some part of the system. Knowing the mac address or IP address would help. Tools to access remotely include ssh, telnet, vnc or other remote like NX. Even access by tftp or nc may provide ways to control it.

Knowing user names and passwords is also helpful.

It may be that you have to remove the hard drive to access it in a different system. May have to boot to a special live cd to access it remotely.

Can you or anyone access it now by any method and any user passwords known?

Thank you.

The machine is working with the current IP and we can access it even if we cannot see anything on the screen. The computer will be turned off and moved to a new building where the current IP WILL NOT work and we will be given a new IP.

So my trouble is:

Once in the new building we turn on the computer, how can we access the machine and change the IP address?

What Linux distro is it running?

Different Linux distros put the ip address information in different files. The files are always in the /etc directory. However, the exact name of the file can vary. Also, some distros put that file directly in /etc, others put it in a subdirectory, as in /etc/[some directory name]/[file name].

Accordingly, if you can tell us what Linux distro (Fedora, Debian, Slackware, CentOS, and so on) is being used, it will be easier for us to suggest which file must be modified.

If it is static then simply use any computer and make an arp static assignment to the old ip. I'd do that on a very simple two computer setup so as to not goof up anything else. Arp can force any ip to a mac address so that you can access it.

If dynamic, then arp may still work but I never tried it. I'd use wireshark to view request to the mac address then access it.

I suspect it is static.

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[Thread drift warning]

Jefro:

One of the Linux Link Tech Show guys in this week's podcast did a rant on how to get a Linux job (he admins 100s of Linux servers and had just been hiring; apparently one too many persons answered "Use the GUI tool" to a question). He said, among other things, that knowing about basic system tools such as pwd and clusterssh was important.

I bet he would have included arp as one of those commands.

Thanks for showing me something else to learn.

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