Chapter 18. Network
Configuration
To communicate with other computers, computers must have a
network connection. This is accomplished by having the operating
system recognize an interface card (such as Ethernet, ISDN modem,
or token ring) and configuring the interface to connect to the
network.
The Network Administration Tool can
be used to configure the following types of network interfaces:
-
Ethernet
-
ISDN
-
modem
-
xDSL
-
token ring
-
CIPE
-
wireless devices
It can also be used to configure IPsec connections, manage DNS
settings, and manage the /etc/hosts file
used to store additional hostnames and IP address combinations.
To use the Network Administration
Tool, you must have root privileges. To start the application,
go to the (on the Panel)
=> => , or type the command system-config-network at a shell prompt (for
example, in an XTerm or a GNOME terminal). If you type the command, the
graphical version is displayed if X is running; otherwise, the
text-based version is displayed.
To use the command line version, execute the command system-config-network-cmd --help as root to view all
of the options.
If you prefer modifying the configuration files directly, refer
to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Reference
Guide for information on their locations and contents.
To configure a network connection with the Network Administration Tool, perform the
following steps:
-
Add a network device associated with the physical hardware
device.
-
Add the physical hardware device to the hardware list, if it
does not already exist.
-
Configure the hostname and DNS settings.
-
Configure any hosts that cannot be looked up through DNS.
This chapter discusses each of these steps for each type of
network connection.
