%general-entities; ]> network configuring This section only applies if a network card is to be configured. If a network card will not be used, there is likely no need to create any configuration files relating to network cards. If that is the case, remove the network symlinks from all run-level directories (/etc/rc.d/rc*.d). Instructions in this section are optional if you have only one network card. With Udev and modular network drivers, the network interface numbering is not persistent across reboots by default, because the drivers are loaded in parallel and, thus, in random order. For example, on a computer having two network cards made by Intel and Realtek, the network card manufactured by Intel may become eth0 and the Realtek card becomes eth1. In some cases, after a reboot the cards get renumbered the other way around. To avoid this, create Udev rules that assign stable names to network cards based on their MAC addresses. First, find out the MAC addresses of your network cards: grep -H . /sys/class/net/*/address For each network card (but not for the loopback interface), invent a descriptive name, such as realtek, and create Udev rules similar to the following: cat > /etc/udev/rules.d/26-network.rules << "EOF" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="net", SYSFS{address}=="52:54:00:12:34:56", NAME="realtek" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="net", SYSFS{address}=="00:a0:c9:78:9a:bc", NAME="intel" EOF These rules will always rename the network cards to realtek and intel, independently of the original numbering provided by the kernel. Use these names instead of eth0 in the network interface configuration files created below. Persistent names must be different from the default network interface names assigned by the kernel. Which interfaces are brought up and down by the network script depends on the files and directories in the /etc/sysconfig/network-devices hierarchy. This directory should contain a sub-directory for each interface to be configured, such as ifconfig.xyz, where xyz is a network interface name. Inside this directory would be files defining the attributes to this interface, such as its IP address(es), subnet masks, and so forth. The following command creates a sample ipv4 file for the eth0 device: cd /etc/sysconfig/network-devices && mkdir -v ifconfig.eth0 && cat > ifconfig.eth0/ipv4 << "EOF" ONBOOT=yes SERVICE=ipv4-static IP=192.168.1.1 GATEWAY=192.168.1.2 PREFIX=24 BROADCAST=192.168.1.255 EOF The values of these variables must be changed in every file to match the proper setup. If the ONBOOT variable is set to yes the network script will bring up the Network Interface Card (NIC) during booting of the system. If set to anything but yes the NIC will be ignored by the network script and not be brought up. The SERVICE variable defines the method used for obtaining the IP address. The LFS-Bootscripts package has a modular IP assignment format, and creating additional files in the /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/services directory allows other IP assignment methods. This is commonly used for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), which is addressed in the BLFS book. The GATEWAY variable should contain the default gateway IP address, if one is present. If not, then comment out the variable entirely. The PREFIX variable needs to contain the number of bits used in the subnet. Each octet in an IP address is 8 bits. If the subnet's netmask is 255.255.255.0, then it is using the first three octets (24 bits) to specify the network number. If the netmask is 255.255.255.240, it would be using the first 28 bits. Prefixes longer than 24 bits are commonly used by DSL and cable-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs). In this example (PREFIX=24), the netmask is 255.255.255.0. Adjust the PREFIX variable according to your specific subnet. /etc/resolv.conf If the system is going to be connected to the Internet, it will need some means of Domain Name Service (DNS) name resolution to resolve Internet domain names to IP addresses, and vice versa. This is best achieved by placing the IP address of the DNS server, available from the ISP or network administrator, into /etc/resolv.conf. Create the file by running the following: cat > /etc/resolv.conf << "EOF" # Begin /etc/resolv.conf domain {<Your Domain Name>} nameserver <IP address of your primary nameserver> nameserver <IP address of your secondary nameserver> # End /etc/resolv.conf EOF Replace <IP address of the nameserver> with the IP address of the DNS most appropriate for the setup. There will often be more than one entry (requirements demand secondary servers for fallback capability). If you only need or want one DNS server, remove the second nameserver line from the file. The IP address may also be a router on the local network.