GNU Linux – network config madness – the (ever changing) basics – how to (try to) set fixed & dynamic ip & dns per interface

13.Oct.2021

Administration / Server, complicado, crazy stuff, Fail, networking

the most fundamental networking settings are ever changing

it used to be /etc/resolv.conf

where nameservers are set

systemd is doing it’s own thing

/etc/systemd/resolved.conf

and Ubuntu (based on Debian) is doing (again) it’s entirely own thing (netplan)

frankly: this sucks X-D

annoys and confuses users that just “want to set primary dns” in 3 sec not 30min to figure out what system is doing what how.

/etc/resolv.conf should stay what it is X-D (via #comment in first line it could be defined what program is in charge of the file and that’s it, not every system comes with it’s own network config file and it’s own syntax… just agree on one syntax (can also be written as #this config file uses this and that syntax in version x and leave it at /etc/resolv.conf)

the crazy shortcut (but it works)

vim /scripts/debian/dns/permanent_overwrite_resolv.conf.sh; # create new script

#!/bin/bash
# unfortunately the dns system is a mess (every distro doing it's thing, multiple network managers confuse even more who is handling what how)
# so simply overwrite /etc/resolv.conf every 3 seconds with
while true;
	do
	echo "nameserver 81.3.27.54" > /etc/resolv.conf ; # https://ipfire.org 's dns server (works pretty well :) good job!
	echo "nameserver 116.202.176.26" >> /etc/resolv.conf ; # https://libredns.gr 's nameserver
	cat /etc/resolv.conf;
	sleep 3;
	clear;
done

# how to run it
su - root
chmod +x /scripts/debian/dns/permanent_overwrite_resolv.conf.sh
/scripts/debian/dns/permanent_overwrite_resolv.conf.sh

to auto start this

re-activate rc.local (the file that used to be started on startup)

https://dwaves.de/2015/06/22/gnu-linux-rpm-fedora-centos-redhat-and-deb-debian-ubuntu-mint-lxde-openbox-how-to-autostart-startup-a-script-after-desktop-loaded/

and before

exit 0

put:

/scripts/debian/dns/permanent_overwrite_resolv.conf.sh &

voila!

after reboot check if it wirks:

cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 81.3.27.54
nameserver 116.202.176.26

the long and probably dysfunctional way

hostnamectl; # tested on
Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Kernel: Linux 4.19.0-17-amd64
Architecture: x86-64

su - root; # become root

# find the network manager of evil
dpkg -l|grep network
ii  network-manager                       1.14.6-2+deb10u1                             amd64        network management framework (daemon and userspace tools)
ii  network-manager-gnome                 1.8.20-1.1                                   amd64        network management framework (GNOME frontend)

# remove all network managers (except systemd, can not remove that X-D)
apt remove *network-manager*
apt remove *wicd*

# check what interface to configure (primary interface enp2s0)
ip -c a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp2s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000

# make a backup of the config file (just in case)

# backup the Debian primary network config file
mkdir -p /backup/etc/network
cp -rv /etc/network/interfaces /backup/etc/network/interfaces
# backup the systemd primary network config file
cp -rv /etc/systemd/resolved.conf /backup/etc/network/interfaces

# systemd based systems
vim /etc/systemd/resolved.conf
#  This file is part of systemd.
#
#  systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
#  under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
#  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
#  (at your option) any later version.
#
# Entries in this file show the compile time defaults.
# You can change settings by editing this file.
# Defaults can be restored by simply deleting this file.
#
# See resolved.conf(5) for details

[Resolve]
DNS=116.202.176.26
FallbackDNS=127.0.0.1 ::1
#Domains=
#LLMNR=yes
#MulticastDNS=yes
#DNSSEC=allow-downgrade
DNSOverTLS=yes
#Cache=yes
#DNSStubListener=yes
#ReadEtcHosts=yes

# how it used to be
vim /etc/network/interfaces

# in Debians prior to systemd (so guess all the dns-nameserver settings here will be ignored? X-D)
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# === enp2s0:config primary network interface with dhcp ===
allow-hotplug enp2s0
iface enp2s0 inet dhcp
# + custom primary (!) dns server
dns-nameservers 81.3.27.54
# + CloudFlare DNS as fallback
dns-nameservers 1.1.1.1

# === enp2s0:0 ===
# add another fixed ip (virtual interface:0) address to this interface for easier lan networking 

auto enp2s0:0
allow-hotplug enp2s0:0
iface enp2s0:0 inet static
address 192.168.3.222
netmask 255.255.255.0
# gateway 192.168.3.1

auto enp2s0:1
allow-hotplug enp2s0:1
iface enp2s0:1 inet static
address 192.168.4.222
netmask 255.255.255.0
# gateway 192.168.4.1

auto enp2s0:2
allow-hotplug enp2s0:2
iface enp2s0:2 inet static
address 192.168.5.222
netmask 255.255.255.0
# gateway 192.168.5.1

:wq 

# test the settings
service networking restart

# check if it worked
ip -c a


# check if systemd updated resolv.conf
cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
nameserver 81.3.27.54

# test if routing is working
ping 1.1.1.1

# test if dns is working
host yahoo.com
yahoo.com has address 98.137.11.163
yahoo.com has address 98.137.11.164
yahoo.com has address 74.6.143.25
yahoo.com has address 74.6.143.26
yahoo.com has address 74.6.231.20
yahoo.com has address 74.6.231.21
yahoo.com has IPv6 address 2001:4998:24:120d::1:0
yahoo.com has IPv6 address 2001:4998:24:120d::1:1
yahoo.com has IPv6 address 2001:4998:124:1507::f001
yahoo.com has IPv6 address 2001:4998:44:3507::8001
yahoo.com has IPv6 address 2001:4998:44:3507::8000
yahoo.com has IPv6 address 2001:4998:124:1507::f000
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta5.am0.yahoodns.net.
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta7.am0.yahoodns.net.
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta6.am0.yahoodns.net.