Fighting Absurdity With Absurdity:
THIS SITE AND ALL CONTENT THEREIN IS ENTIRELY PERSONAL IN NATURE; THEREFORE THE OPINIONS, COMMENTS, BELIEFS, ET CETERA THEREIN MAY NOT BE CONSTRUED AS BEING THAT OR ENDORSED BY ANY EMPLOYER OF MINE, PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE, THOR, MARS, THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER, OR THAT BUM WHO JUST BILKED YOU OUT OF A CIGARETTE. BY THE WAY, THAT DUDE MAKES MORE PANHANDLING THAN YOU DO AT YOUR OFFICE JOB.
Thankfully basic network configuration isn’t a black art on most distributions these days.
Quick and Dirty RHEL/CentOS Network Configuration
/etc/resolv.conf:
nameserver #.#.#.#
nameserver #.#.#.#
Naturally, replace #.#.#.# with the IP addresses of your nameservers.
/etc/sysconfig/network:
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=BOX
DOMAIN=DOMAIN.FOO
HOSTNAME is, of course, where you put the hostname of your box. This should not be a FQDN; the domain should end up in the DOMAIN variable.
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
IPADDR=172.16.42.142
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=172.16.42.0
BROADCAST=172.16.42.255
GATEWAY=172.16.42.1
ONBOOT=yes
This assumes the IP of your box is 172.16.42.142 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0. Network and broadcast will be set up in the same fashion, using .0 at the end of network and .255 for broadcast. Gateway may fluctuate depending on your own network setup – usually, gateways are located at .1, but your mileage may vary.
/etc/init.d/networking restart
…And yer off.
Note: Still working out comments/etc. theming. Please ignore the ugliness.