Static IP won't function

[bearqst]

I just got Knoppix 4.0.2 and I have to admit this is my first time with Knoppix.

DHCP isn't an option for me on my system and the static net-config I'm using should work.

What I have:

Host system is a Gateway 2000 M640 Laptop, running WinXP (I know, I know, but it's what I got).
Pentium M
2.13 GHz
1 GIG Ram
100 GIG HD, 70 GIG free

NIC = Broadcom Nextreme Gigabite Ethernet Card

Static IP info

IP = 172.17.65.38
Mask = 255.255.255.192
GW = 172.17.65.1
DNS = servers as provided by ISP

This is a small private network with anywhere from 4 to 7 systems attached to it. DHCP is down since my wife let the grandson play some games on the server :<(.. I haven't gotten back to fixing it, the server that is. So I static IP'd all the systems. I need static IP on my system anyway, for admin purposes to my hdw firewalls/routers both here at home and work.

I also have VMWare installed on this system and it DCHP's within the system to get virtual NIC set ups and runs great with FC 3 and 4. I deleted the virtual Linux OS's to mke sure they weren't interferring

System aslo has a Intel Pro WiFi 2200bg NIC and PCMCIA adapter that I have used with a NIC.

Any ideas as to why the static IP won't work ?

What is really strange was when I set the broadcast to 172.17.65.1 rather than 172.17.65.255. As soon as I set .1 for bc, I could ping the inside interface of the firewall, but if I set it to .255 (as it should be) the system can't see it. I have checked the FW settings, problem is I'm not even able to get to the inside interface on FW using bc .255 and can't get any network access at all.

[Harry Kuhman]

DHCP isn't an option for me on my system and the static net-config I'm using should work.

NIC = Broadcom Nextreme Gigabite Ethernet Card

Static IP info

IP = 172.17.65.38
Mask = 255.255.255.192
GW = 172.17.65.1
DNS = servers as provided by ISP

This is a small private network with anywhere from 4 to 7 systems attached to it. DHCP is down since my wife let the grandson play some games on the server :<(.. I haven't gotten back to fixing it, the server that is. So I static IP'd all the systems. I need static IP on my system anyway, for admin purposes to my hdw firewalls/routers both here at home and work.

I also have VMWare installed on this system and it DCHP's within the system to get virtual NIC set ups and runs great with FC 3 and 4. I deleted the virtual Linux OS's to mke sure they weren't interferring

System aslo has a Intel Pro WiFi 2200bg NIC and PCMCIA adapter that I have used with a NIC.

Any ideas as to why the static IP won't work ?

What is really strange was when I set the broadcast to 172.17.65.1 rather than 172.17.65.255. As soon as I set .1 for bc, I could ping the inside interface of the firewall, but if I set it to .255 (as it should be) the system can't see it. I have checked the FW settings, problem is I'm not even able to get to the inside interface on FW using bc .255 and can't get any network access at all.

You seem to be getting the Broadcom Gigabite Card working, that's an acomplishment that many people don't manage.

Your IP addresses don't make much sense to me. If your mask is 255.255.255.192 then 172.17.65.255 wouldn't be a valid broadcast address for a network that included 172.17.65.38 (of course, neither would 172.17.65.1, but that's a different issue). The broadcast address is always the highest adress of the address range as defined by the mask, and a mask of 255.255.255.192 wouldn't let you include the address 172.17.65.255. You would need a mask of 255.255.255.0 for that. Note that I an NOT telling you to use the above mask, since you seem to be using real routable IP addresses on your network. You want to use real accurate numbers that reflect the IP range that you have been issued, and broadcasting woth a mask of 255.255.255.0 might reach systems that are not yours.. So it would help greatly if we knew the nature of this network and who was assigning you these addresses. You may wish to check with your service provider about your mask and broadcast address.

By the way, is there any reason that you want to use these addresses and expose everything to the hackers and vandals on the Internet rather than operate behind a relatively safe NAT firewall offered by a very inexpensive router?

[bearqst]

well duh is me,

Your right, the broadcast should be 172.17.65.63, giving me 62 usable host addresses, I'll try it.

172.17.x.x is also a non internet routable private ip subnet range, per IANA these are

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255

Although most systems and hardware default configs use the 192.168.x.x subnet. I like to change mine so their non-standard from the default.

My inside network is NAT'd and does sit behind a firewall (FW).

Thanks

[bearqst]

Just a follow up.

I did correct the broadcast ip and still could not connect with a static IP assignment.

So I changed my network to a full class C config

172.17.65.0/24

Mask 255.255.255.0

BC 172.17.65.255

I still couldn't get a static IP to function.

So I spent a couple hours and modified my network to use one of my boxes to run DHCP (needed to be done anyway).

After I set the DHCP Services, rebooted, allowed the NIC to get a dynamic IP from the DHCP box, everything worked.

So it appears that their is something in the static configurability option that has a problem. I should note that I tried this 3 different ways in regards to the host config (thinking this might be the problem); 1. setting NIC in host to same IP as I wanted to use in Knoppix; 2. setting NIC in host to use DHCP; and 3. setting NIC in host to different IP than the one I used in Knoppix config.Didn't make any difference.

I did notice that when I tried to do static IP using the Network Card Configuration in GUI, it would take the static IP, but them also ask me to input my WiFi config info. Not sure if this is relative or not, just an observation.

[Harry Kuhman]

I knew of the other private IP address, but just never use it and didn't recognize it when you mentioned it. All I ever see used is the 192.168.xxx.xxx range or the 10.xxx.xxx.xx range for private use.

As I said, I know I have used Netcardconfig to set up an IP address before. I certainly expect that I can do so again and I'll try an experiment later to confirm that things are still working as I expect with 4.0.2 (I may not have done this since 3.1). But unless I know your exact steps I may pass by whatever you and I do differently. So I expect I'll just tell you what did (or did not) work for me. I will be using the 192.168 range, as I don't wish to reconfigure my router. And your last mention of a wifi card concerns me. All bets are off if you are talking about wifi; I'm talking about connection through a normal wired NIC. Actually with wifi I expect to have to do some manual setup beyond DHCP, but what card you are using, what drivers there are for it and all of that may greatly affect things, particularly if you are using a "ndiswrapper" to force a windows driver to run. In wireless cases I don't question what it takes to get a card to work, I'm just happy when I can get one working at all.

[bearqst]

but what card you are using, what drivers there are for it and all of that may greatly affect things, particularly if you are using a "ndiswrapper" to force a windows driver to run. In wireless cases I don't question what it takes to get a card to work, I'm just happy when I can get one working at all.

Thanks Harry,

I'm not using ndiswrapper to force winows to run, nor is this for a WiFi, I was just trying to get a static IP on the Wired LAN NIC. But I agree on the WiFi connects , we have a number of AP's at work and there alright for free access, but a pain otherwise.

I can get it working with DHCP, but it hinders my ability to do any admin functions on my network as I have security set for inside access only with a specific inside IP ie. routers, firewalls, etc.

So I'd really like to get it to function with a static.

Here's what I've been doing.

Boot to DVD
ifconfig to check the MAC address assigned to each eth (just to make sure I have the correct NIC)
Go into Netcardconfig and set the IP, Subnet Mask, Gateway, Broadcast IP.

Then I usually try to ping the various interfaces, starting with the NIC i.e. 172.17.65.X, then the next hop up 172.17.65.1.

I get a good response from the NIC, but nothing upline from that (the gateway) and can't access the net, nor anything else on the network.

I am using a Broadcom Gigabite Card, which sounds like an achievement in itself from what I've read. So maybe it is the card not liking the OS interface and static. I have a good pcmcia card I could try, but its at work and I won't be able to get it till Wed.

I hate to admit it, but I'm sure this is do to my lack of knowledge with Knoppix and I really appreciate the help.

[Harry Kuhman]

I just ran a test and I was able to change my IP address manually just fine. Here's what I did:

• Booted the Knoppix 4.0.2 CD. Confirmed the network was working by putting a URL into the Konquror URL window.
  
  Started a shell (not even root).
  
  Ran netcardconfig. I had expected to need to reset the NIC first, but decided I would try it without the reset and see if perhaps that was what was failing for you. I had been assigned 192.168.0.100 by DHCP; I assigned the card 192.168.0.75 manually (not in the range that the router hands out). Made the mask 255.255.255.0, the broadcast address 192.168.0.255, and both the gateway and the name server 192.168.0.1 (didn't want to bother to look up my ISP assigned name server, but am certain I could have used it if I had it handy). Everything was accepted without complaint.
  
  Put another URL in Knoquror, it worked fine. Pinged 192.168.0.1, it worked fine. Switched to a different computer on my network, confirmed that 192.168.0.100 no longer responded to pings and that 192.168.0.75 responded as expected.

So I'm hard pressed to understand what is going wrong for you. Of course one difference is that I did get a sucessful DHCP setup first, but I've done this in the past when I couldn't get a DHCP setup. Since you now have a DHCP server up and working, have you tried to manually change your IP address after getting a sucessful DHCP setup, and if so what happened?

Is there anything else that you would like me to try?

[Harry Kuhman]

By the way, I got no questions about wireless setup after the normal netcardconfig questions. I have never seen netcardconfig say anything about wireless, even on systems where I was trying to set up a wireless card. I have no idea what you are doing that is triggering this, but it is very likely a clue as to what is going wrong for you.

[bearqst]

Reading through the other posts, I'd say your a busy man

I got a static to take by duplicating what you did i.e. boot to DHCP and then config the NIC to a static.

So I'm thinking it's something related to the network config at boot time. Not sure what though. I'll have to play with it some more, but at least for now I have access to the network and net.

Thanks for your time and help in trying to figure this one out.

I'll work on the WiFi when I get chance, not an issue, yet.... but curiousity will get to me