NIC With Static IP Assigning Itself Dynamic IP

[Pleiades]

Hi,

My very recently built Debian Sarge box seems to be giving itself a dynamic IP from time to time. I'm using it as a webserver and a Squid proxy (although no-one is using it as a proxy just yet). I have set static IP's through /etc/networks/interfaces, so it should all be sweet. Can anyone point me in the direction of what might be causing my problem? It is eth0 (192.168.1.120) that is getting an IP from the dynamic range. eth1 seems unaffected. DHCP server is a Cisco 828 SHDSL Router.

The only thing that I can find out of the ordinary is these entries from /var/log/messages. I am the only person with access to the machine, so no-one has restarted the network.

May 28 05:38:17 localhost kernel: eth0: network connection down
May 28 05:38:18 localhost kernel: eth0: network connection up using port A
May 28 05:38:18 localhost kernel: speed: 100
May 28 05:38:18 localhost kernel: autonegotiation: yes
May 28 05:38:18 localhost kernel: duplex mode: half
May 28 05:38:18 localhost kernel: flowctrl: none
May 28 05:38:18 localhost kernel: irq moderation: disabled
May 28 05:38:18 localhost kernel: scatter-gather: enabled
May 28 05:38:28 localhost kernel: eth0: network connection down
May 28 05:38:29 localhost kernel: eth0: network connection up using port A
May 28 05:38:29 localhost kernel: speed: 100
May 28 05:38:29 localhost kernel: autonegotiation: yes
May 28 05:38:29 localhost kernel: duplex mode: half
May 28 05:38:29 localhost kernel: flowctrl: none
May 28 05:38:29 localhost kernel: irq moderation: disabled
May 28 05:38:29 localhost kernel: scatter-gather: enabled


This is what /etc/networks/interfaces looks like:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# This is the internet interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.120
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255

# This is the internal NIC
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 10.0.0.120
netmask 255.0.0.0
network 10.0.0.0
broadcast 10.0.0.255

[Compunuts]

I have set static IP's through /etc/networks/interfaces, so it should all be sweet.

Well, I'm hoping that it was just a typo. Interfaces file is in /etc/network folder, NOT /etc/networks folder (actually, the networks is a file and not even a folder).

Can anyone point me in the direction of what might be causing my problem? It is eth0 (192.168.1.120) that is getting an IP from the dynamic range.

Strange in deed. Check if any dhcp services are starting before your networking module in /etc/rcS.d and /etc/rc5.d folders. If so, kill it (change file name to K instead of S)

Other than that, I'm puzzled.

[Pleiades]

Well, I'm hoping that it was just a typo. Interfaces file is in /etc/network folder, NOT /etc/networks folder (actually, the networks is a file and not even a folder).

A typo, indeed

Check if any dhcp services are starting before your networking module in /etc/rcS.d and /etc/rc5.d folders. If so, kill it (change file name to K instead of S)

I saw a post at some Debian site that made mention of the fact that if you set up the machine with a NIC initially set to DHCP, dhcp-client will run and get an address, even if you have now set the NIC to static. I've uninstalled dhcp-client, will see how it goes.

Thanks.

[Compunuts]

Like I said, if you are not going to use DHCP, then just don't let it start. Go to /etc/rc*.d (* stands for 0 to 5 and S) and change file names from S**dhcp to K**dhcp and you should be good to go (S stands for Start, K stands for Kill).

[Pleiades]

Was still doing it after removing dhcp-client, but there was nothing in any of the rc*.d directories. There was still a process running named dhclient, was linked to eth0, this was obviously my problem, but it isn't now. I killed process and all seems fine.

[Compunuts]

So you setup with dhcp and then assign manual IP and did ifconfig up/down but without rebooting? No need to reboot but you also need to re-start networking module, "service networking stop/start/restart".

But if all is fine, then let it be.

[Pleiades]

So you setup with dhcp and then assign manual IP and did ifconfig up/down but without rebooting? No need to reboot but you also need to re-start networking module, "service networking stop/start/restart".

Didn't do ifconfig up/down. I built the machine with DHCP (to get packages from Debian site), then after packages were installed, edited /etc/network/interfaces to apply static IP's to eth0 and eth1. I then ran "/etc/init.d/networking restart", then ifconfig to check that the IP had set, which it had. It all looked fine until I couldn't see it from teh net. That's when I discovered that some DHCP action was still going on. eth1 wasn't plugged in during the build, hence not affected.

I only did the reboot to see if there was anything in startup that said do DHCP.

Looks fine now, so me no touchy.

Cheers.