How to Configure a Static IP Address and IPv6 Address on Ubuntu Server

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If you have a new installation of Ubuntu Server, you may want to configure a static IP address on it instead of relying on DHCP for a server. It’s not as simple as some platforms, but here’s the quick and dirty instructions on setting static IPs in Ubuntu Server:

1. Login with the admin user you created during the install.

2. Check out the contents of the /etc/network/interfaces file:

[email protected]:~$ more /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
# This is an autoconfigured IPv6 interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet6 auto
[email protected]:~$

As you can see, it’s setup for IPv6 auto config by default in my case.

3. Before you change it, lets create a backup of the interfaces file in case it gets messed up while editing (never hurts to have a back out plan):

[email protected]:~$ sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/network/interfaces.backup
[sudo] password for penguin:

4. Now that you have a backup, lets edit the original, specifically the stuff after “iface eth0”

[email protected]:~$ sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
# This is an autoconfigured IPv6 interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 10.11.100.80
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 10.11.100.1
dns-nameservers 10.76.76.101 10.76.76.102

### BEGIN IPV6 Config
iface eth0 inet6 static
pre-up modprobe ipv6
address 2001:DB8:0:100::80
netmask 64
gateway 2001:DB8:0:100::1
dns-nameservers 2001:DB8:0:76::101 2001:DB8:0:76::102
### END IPV6 Config

Exit vi with :wq to write the changes to the file and quit.

5.  All that’s left is to restart the network interface to have the changes take effect:

[email protected]:~$ sudo ifdown eth0
[email protected]:~$ sudo ifup eth0
Waiting for DAD... Done!
[email protected]:~$ 

This should be all you need to configure a static IP address on your Ubuntu server. Now you can start configuring services and securing your box!

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