Web site designers - 82 CHAPTER 8 GETTING EVERYTHING UP AND
82 CHAPTER 8 GETTING EVERYTHING UP AND RUNNING Configuring a Network Card via DHCP Most computers that connect to a broadband router or an office network receive their configuration data via the Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP), which is to say that your computer receives its IP, gateway, subnet mask, and DNS addresses automatically. However, you will need to configure your network card to work via DHCP. You can do this configuration with the Network Settings applet, which can be found under the System . Administration menu. Because you re going to configure hardware settings, you ll need to enter your password to proceed. Follow these steps to configure your network card: 1. Select System . Administration . Networking to open the Network Settings dialog box. 2. You should find your Ethernet card at the top of the list. It will be identified as eth, followed by a number, such as eth0or eth1. Ubuntu should indicate that the card isn t configured. Click the entry for your Ethernet card, and then click Properties. Note Listed beneath the Ethernet card will be any other networking devices you might have, such as a dial-up modem. If you don t want to use these, you can leave them unconfigured. 3. In the Properties dialog box, put a check in the Enable This Connection check box, and make sure the Configuration drop-down list reads DHCP. Then click OK. 4. In the Network Settings dialog box, click Activate. Then click OK. 5. After a few seconds, your network card should be up and running. Test it by using the web browser to visit a site. From this point on, your network card should automatically activate each time you boot, so you should not need to return to the Network Settings applet. Configuring a Static IP Address On some networks, you might have been assigned an IP address, which you must enter manually, along with a few other networking addresses. This is referred to as a static IP address. You should speak to your system administrator or technical support person to determine these settings. Ask the administrator for your IP address, DNS server addresses (there are usually two or three of these), your subnet mask, and the router address (sometimes referred to as the gateway address). The settings you will get from your system administrator will usually be in the form of a series of four numbers separated by dots, something like 192.168.0.233. Once you know your settings, proceed as follows. 1. Select System . Administration . Networking to open the Network Settings dialog box. 2. Find your network card in the list (it should be referred to as eth0), click its entry, and then click Properties.