Hi,

I am currently looking over the Ubuntu server guide* and it talks about configuring a static IP address assignment.

Making the following changes in the /etc/network/interfaces file (changing the address details):



Is this necessary and if so why would you want to do this?

*https://help.ubuntu.com/11.04/serverguide/C/network-configuration.html

I believe it is needed if you want to use a local LAN IP as well as the public IP. You have a single interface in your linode so supporting multiple IP's comes by defining virtual interfaces.

Ya know, I noticed this in the Linode static IP config article. But it seems it's totally possible to keep your external IP using DHCP, and use a static IP for your internal; something like:

/etc/network/interfaces:

# The primary network interface
auto eth0 eth0:0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

iface eth0:0 inet static
address 10.0.0.2
netmask 255.255.255.0

Is there anything wrong with doing it this way? I'm wondering if there's a specific reason behind the way the linode article is written.