How to Configure Static Networking in a Linux VM

May 20, 2020 1-minute read

linux

virtual machines • Docker • OVM • unix/linux

I originally had this requirement after creating a new persistent linux virtual machine in OVM that needed static addressing. This is just standard linux setup, though, and can be adapted to both virtual and physical machines.

Turn on Networking

# sudo vi /etc/sysconfig/network

Make sure networking is enabled and configure the hostname.

NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=myhost.mycompany.local

Configure the Network Interface

# sudo vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Here is a sample config for static IPs.

HWADDR=00:30:48:56:A6:2E
TYPE=Ethernet
BOOTPROTO=none
IPADDR=192.168.1.10
GATEWAY=192.168.1.0
PREFIX=24
DEFROUTE=yes
IPV4_FAILURE_FATAL=no
IPV6INIT=no
NAME=eth0
DEVICE=eth0
ONBOOT=yes

The HWADDR value is just the MAC address of the VM, which I got from the OVM console. The PREFIX value relates to the network mask; eg. a value of 24 equates to a mask of 255.255.255.0. Disabling IPV6 is optional.

Configure DNS Servers

I also edit /etc/resolv.conf and setup DNS servers there. TBH, I’m not sure if this is necessary or redundant with ipcgf-eth0

# sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf

Configure similar to the following:

search yourcompany.com
nameserver 192.168.1.254
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4

Finally, Restart Networking

# sudo systemctl network restart

You can verify that networking is working properly with the following commands

# ifconfig eth0
# ip a s eth0
# ip r
# route -n
# ping 192.168.1.254
# ping google.com