IP Interface Configuration in Linux


  • In Linux, Ethernet interfaces are classified as eth0, eth1, eth2, etc.
    • some network packages use different schemes
      • E.g., en0, en1, etc.
  • need to distinguish the running configuration and the persistent configuration
    • persistent configuration is applied after a reboot or after a network adapter is reinitialized
  • applying IP configuration is specific to each distribution
    • historically, persistent config was applied by:
      • editing the /etc/network/interfaces file
      • bringing interfaces up or down with ifup and ifdown scripts
    • Many distros now use NetworkManager package
      • can be operated using a GUI or nmcli tools
    • Or, network config can be managed using systemd-networkd configuration manager
    • recent distros of Ubuntu use netplan to abstract the complexity of configuration files written in YAML
      • YAML files are rendered by either systemd-networkd or NetworkManager