Learning Debian GNU/Linux

Network Administration

The Debian GNU/Linux install program lets you specify a network configuration that’s used when your system is first booted. If your network configuration changes, you can re-install Linux. However, you can spare yourself much inconvenience by learning how Linux stores its network configuration. As you’ll see, by using a text editor to revise some files, you can alter your system’s network configuration without going through the pain of re-installing Linux.

Network Hardware Configuration

If you replace your network adapter card with a different model card, you must run the modconf program, which lets you specify the driver that operates your card. To do so, simply login as root and type the command:

modconf

You’re already familiar with the modconf program. It’s the same program you used to specify drivers when you originally installed Linux. If you have difficulty using modconf, refer to the section titled Section 3.1.2.13 in Chapter 3. You must reboot your system before changes made by modconf take effect.

Basic Host Information

When you installed Linux, you specified a hostname for your system. If you want to change the hostname associated with your system, you can edit the file /etc/hostname by using ae or another editor of your choosing. Because the file—like most configuration files—has restrictive permissions, you must login as root in order to modify it.

The format of the /etc/hostname file is simple. The file contains a single line, which contains the ...