I've recently installed dreamlinux on two machines and connected them to a router which is also connected to a windows box. The router connects to a cable modem which connects to the internet.

With linux installation A, the network was active and the internet came online without any extra configuration.

The second box (B) had a bad onboard nic. I bought a pci nic and have installed it. The lights on the nic and the router indicate connectivity. I can ping box A and the router from this box.

However, Box B does not seem to be able to receive data from the network. I cannot ping it or get web pages. I cannot ping the internet.

While trying to troubleshoot this (I am a newb) I discovered using ifconfig that box A and box B have the same IP assigned. I used ifconfig to change the IP on B, verify the change, and then invoked ifdown and ifup to restart the ethernet device. When I bring it back up the IP change has been reversed and again I have two machines with the same IP.

I have used ifconfig to change the IP on box B and then manually add the IP to the router. I can then ping this machine from the router and box A, but I still cannot get web pages from the internet.

Also, my router cannot ping box A, which seems to have no problem getting webpages. I don't understand this.

My questions are:

1. Why does ifup change the ip to an ip that is assigned to another host? I note that the same thing happens at reboot. I think there might be a script or file in /etc?

Dreamlinux does not have the directory /etc/sys-config

2. Why, when I manually change the configurations of the network to allow connections to host B from other machines on the network ,does it still not see the internet? I cannot ping 8.8.8.8 "connect: Network is not reachable".

3. Am I on the right path to getting box B on the network?

4. Why does box A demonstrate network connectivity, but is not pingable from the router?


Thank you for reading this and any help you might offer.

-Aaron

I should note that the dreamlinux distro is debian based. I'm reviewing the debian networking docs.

question 1 is solved.

I edited /etc/network/interfaces and the assigned IP works.

It does not change after reboot.
I can ping box B from the router and from box A.

I still cannot connect to the WAN from box B.

What is broken?

Sounds like you may have an incorrect default gateway address.

What is the output of the route command on Box A and Box B? Do they both show the same default route?

If not, then you need to change the default route. Us a command similar to this: ip route add default via <IP of gateway>

If Box B already has a default route, you might want to use: ip route replace default via <IP of gateway> (I've never used this before, but you don't want to add a second route if there is already a wrong one there).

Thank you cospengle! That was exactly it. I used route add default gw IP and immediately the WAN is connected.

I really appreciate your help. I was adrift at sea.

Cheers!
-Aaron