Re: Alternative way to set static ip for Ubuntu

[Uwe Geuder <networkmanagerList-ugeuder snkmail com>]

On 29 November 2012 13:03, Pavel Simerda psimerda redhat com wrote:

>> From: "footkeong Chien" <fkchien_gin hotmail com>
>> I would like to know whether there is any alternative way to set
>> static ip for Ubuntu using command lines without affecting the
>> etc/network/interfaces.
...
> Is this a NetworkManager question? 

I guess it is. Ubuntu uses NetworkManager and at least I would not try
to fiddle with a interface managed by NetworkManager with some basic
commands, because you never know what NetworkManager will override
(well "you" as in average user, not "you" as those on this list
who really know all NM internals)

Unfortunately the original poster did not write to what (working?)
approach he was looking for an alternative, why he wanted to use the
command line, does he want the static IP on eth0 or some other
interface, and does he want the assignment to survive a reboot.

Earlier this week I had the issue that I wanted to assign a permanent
static IP to my eth0 on a Kubuntu Lucid system. Intuitively I would
have done that by setting a static address on the "auto eth0"
connection in the KDE connections control module. However, that does
not work because at least in Kubuntu Lucid "auto eth0" is somehow
automagically hidden from the UI. I have the feeling that I might have
seen it in Ubuntu systems (using gnome connection manager), but I
cannot check at the moment. Yes, I also tried to create a new
connection, but that connected only manually on the first attempt and
caused a crash (in knetworkmanager I believe) in the second one, so I
did not pursue that approach any further.

On the net I found the same question many times, but no really good
answers, which seems to support the impression that people are
struggling with the issue. I found e.g. these instructions
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Knetworkmanager_static_ip_auto_eth0 too
complicated for my purpose.

So I just edited /etc/network/interfaces instead and defined eth0 as
auto and static. That leads to desired functionality. NetworkManager
regards the interface as unmanaged. However the knetworkmanager user
experience is non-intuitive in this case. It shows me a disconnected
Ethernet cable. Somewhat irritating at least the first week, but I can
live with it.

Still from the "naive" end user standpoint it is a bit weird that
NetworkManager cannot handle such simple use case. (Yes, technically
the limit might not be in NetworkManager proper but in KDE connection
editor. And static addresses is not the main reason why NetworkManager
exists.) But regardless of the reason, there is still a bit to go
until Linux Networking is made really easy... Or have things changed
completely since then? Lucid is of course 2.5 years old.


Regards,

Uwe