Network Set Up

Whether you're setting up for broadband Internet access at home, or for regular network use in a business environment, network setup gets done automatically when you install Ubuntu. By default, your computer will get set up to act as a DHCP client, which means that it will automatically be assigned an Internet Protocol address whenever you boot it up.

There may be times, though, that you'll want to set your computer up with a static IP address, instead. To begin, open the Network Tools utility.

The first screen you see will be the Devices tab.

Choose the network device that you want to configure. (Most of the time, you'll want to choose the "eth0" device.)

Now, click on the Configure button.

Here, you see the default settings.

Here are the choices for network configuration. (We'll explain the "Local Zeroconf" option in a moment.)

For now though, let's continue with setting a static configuration.

Select "Static IP address" from the drop-down menu. Fill in your desired IP address and default gateway address. The "Subnet mask" box will get filled in automatically when you fill in the IP address. You won't need to change the mask unless you've subnetted your network. (If you're a normal home user, you won't have need to subnet. If you're in an office environment, your IT folk will tell you if you need to enter a modified mask.)

The "Local Zeroconf. . . " option works just like the "Automatic configuration" option, except that it also allows you to immediately see and use any network-enabled resources on your local network. (This includes network-enabled printers, file servers, and media servers.)

With either the "Automatic configuration" option, or the "Local zeroconf" option, you can enable "Roaming Mode". This is useful for a wireless network. It allows your wireless network adapter to automatically discover wireless signals.