Most servers have static IP addresses. You can either set a reservation in your DHCP scope (this could spell disaster if the DHCP server is unavailable or there is a networking related issue) or you can manually set a static IP address in Linux configuration files.
This guide will help in manually setting a static IP address through editing of Linux configuration files.
The things you will need before starting:
- An understating of basic network configurations
- Access to a Debian-based Linux Desktop or Server
- Access to the root account or an account with sudo access.
- Basic knowledge of text editing software such as Vi, Vim, Nano, Pico, Gedit, etc.
Steps:
- Log in as either root or a user with sudo access.
- Open a text editor (this may be completed while opening the document or before).
Example (note that if you are logged in as root you may omit the "sudo" command):
sudo nano
sudo pico
sudo gedit - The location of the configuration file is /etc/network/interfaces
I use vim the most frequently, so my command will look like this:
sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces - Once the file is open, the document will look similar to this:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp - We want to edit the configuration file to look more like this:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.16.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.16.1
network 192.168.16.0
broadcast 192.168.16.255
dns-nameservers 192.168.16.1 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 - Once the files have been edited, save, and restart the networking deamon
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
or reboot the desktop/server
sudo reboot
The desktop/server should now be available at the IP address you've set.