Setting a Static IP Address on a Linux Machine

In the world of Linux networking, there are times when you want your machine to have a stable, unchanging IP address. This is known as a static IP address.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to set up a static IP address on a Linux machine.

Steps:

Determine Your Network Interface
Edit Network Configuration
Configure the Static IP Address
Apply the Configuration
Verify the Configuration

Step 1: Determine Your Network Interface

Determine the network interface you want to configure

				
					#Run either of these commands to list the available network interfaces
ifconfig 
ip a

The primary one is often named something like eth0 (for Ethernet) or wlan0 (for Wi-Fi). You’ll need this information for the next steps.

Step 2: Edit Network Configuration

Now that you know your network interface, it’s time to open and edit the network configuration file for that interface. You’ll find these configuration files in the /etc/netplan/ directory. You can use a text editor like nano or vi to edit the file.

				
					sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml

Step 3: Configure the Static IP Address

Inside the configuration file, you’ll see YAML code defining your network settings. By default, it might look something like this:

				
					network:
 version: 2
 renderer: NetworkManager
 ethernets:
   eth0:
     dhcp4: yes

To set a static IP address, you’ll need to change the dhcp4: yes line. Here’s an example of what your configuration might look like for a static IP address:

				
					network:
 version: 2
 renderer: NetworkManager
 ethernets:
   eth0:
     addresses: [192.168.1.10/24]
     gateway4: 192.168.1.1
     nameservers:
       addresses: [8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4]

addresses: Set your desired static IP address and subnet mask.
gateway4: Set your router’s IP address as the default gateway.
nameservers: Set DNS servers.

Step 4: Apply the Configuration

Apply the changes you made to the network configuration using the following command:

				
					sudo netplan apply

Step 5: Verify the Configuration

To ensure that your Linux machine now has a static IP address, use the ip a or ifconfig command in the terminal. This will display the network configuration for your chosen interface, and you should see your newly configured static IP address.