Configure network on FC5 with no GUI

Dadoo · 07-14-2006, 01:39 PM

I have a machine on which I just installed FC5. It's fully up to date, as of yesterday. It is supposed to be a server, so I did not install anything GUI related. It has 3 Ethernet interfaces, all different brands: one Intel, one 3Com, and one D-Link.

I tried running "system-config-network", but...well... the text version *really* doesn't work. It only allows me to edit the configuration for "eth1" and, at one point, it even deleted that config, when I tried to make changes. I'd edit the configuration files manually, but every bit of documentation I've seen says not to do that.

Any ideas?

Thanks

gizza23 · 07-14-2006, 02:05 PM

Familiarize yourself with this command:

Code:

ifconfig

Reasearch these files: ifcfg-ethx (ex. ifcfg-eth0)
To manually configure the network cards go to /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ to find the above files.
Since this is a server all of your NICs will have static IPs.

Good Luck.

Dadoo · 07-14-2006, 02:40 PM

I know about all those files and the "ifconfig" command. If you're sure that, in spite of all the documentation I've seen that says "DON'T EDIT THESE FILES MANUALLY" (usually in upper case), it's actually okay in this case, I can handle the editing.

Thanks again

gizza23 · 07-14-2006, 02:49 PM

Well edit them manually!!!!!
You know what you are doing. These scripts run each time your computer starts to configure the NICs so they should be set accordingly. That said, those scripts are set to pull DHCP when you want to set them to some static address. According to the planned network layout that you hopefully have, you will need the server to have a static IP. You want to be as detailed as possible to avoid any problems in the future.

Code:

# Linnksys NC100 Network Everywhere Fast Ethernet 10/100
DEVICE=eth0
IPADDR=192.168.x.x
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
BROADCAST=192.168.x.x
NETWORK=192.168.x.x
BOOTPROTO=static
HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
ONBOOT=yes
GATEWAY=192.168.x.x

If you can enter all of this information then do so. Don't be afraid to break your machine. Linux isn't that fragile

I personally know that it's a good idea to edit those files as I have done it for my servers as well. I hope that it works out for you as well.

Dadoo · 07-14-2006, 04:57 PM

Wow, did I learn my lesson: never, EVER, use "system-config-network" on a text-mode system. It took me all this time to get my "ifcfg-*" files back to a usable state. First, I discovered my MAC addresses got screwed up, so I fixed that. Then I found that, for some reason, the names of my "eth1" and "eth2" interfaces were being swapped during the boot process. I finally got it working, but my "ifcfg-eth1" still says "DEVICE=eth2", while my "ifcfg-eth2" says "DEVICE=eth1".

Oh, well. At least it works.

Thanks