where is IP address set?

[stevenriz]

I was given a couple linux servers to administer and while I look around them, I see nothing in the hosts file. These servers do have iptables running, could that program possibly have the IP address set within the rules? I just don't want to spend a lot of time on it so I thought I would ask. Thanks!

 

[shadedecho]

Yeah, I was saying "reboot" only because you'd have to do some trickery with a cron job or sleep command to get the "ifup" to run shortly after you do "ifdown", because as soon as you do "ifdown" you'll loose your network interface, and therefore your SSH connection will die, meaning you'll not have any more control over the box at that point. You'll have to have some independent process on the box which will fire off a few seconds later to bring the interface back up with the new config.

You're right, this is not NT. But it's also not XP, where you can change your network settings inline without even the network dying... I've literally been connected to chat or email clients, and changed from one static IP to another, and not lost any connections (though I admit I did loose my SSH client connection to one of my servers, duh..)

 

[ericbrunson]

You can't change your source IP address on *any* device and maintain your network connection, but you can certainly restart your network to change interface aliases or other network settings besides the IP, I just did it remotely on my fileserver upstairs (to make sure I wasn't putting my foot in my mouth).

I think you'll find that those chat/IM/email clients just automatically re-established the broken network connection, or else don't maintain the connection between checks for email, etc.