How do I assign a static ip address to my ubuntu server I"m setting up? I'm at the user as of now, and I can sudo to become the root. Can anyone help?

FYI, sudo is a program that allows you to run specific programs as a non-privileged user. su is the program that will 'upgrade' you to privileged level access.

To answer your question, read the man page for ifconfig by typing 'man ifconfig'. It will give you the knowledge to set your ip statically, along with a lot of other useful things, so it would behoove you to read it.

There are also methods in which to set your static ip on bootup so you dont have to do it manually every time your system boots. These are referred to as "init scripts". I'm not sure which ubuntu uses. I'm confident you can figure it out and configure it.

Here's a hint. If there are rc scripts (ie, rc.inet1), it is probably a bsd style init. If there are run levels, ie, a folder with a bunch of numbers (1,2,4, etc) with your startup scripts in it, it is SysV style init.

Even easier, what network equipment are you using? Some routers will allow reserved ip addresses for mac addresses, therefore your ubuntu server will still use dhcp but will always get assigned the same ip address.

ifconfig worked..awesome..linux knowledge growing..but it is painful initially..trying to setup a mail server...and it is kicking my butt. thanks guys

I take it back. Ifconfig didn't install a static ip address.

i did ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.20.. after i rebooted it grabbed an ip address fro m my windows dhcp server's scope. Also, I put the lan ip info in the etc/interfaces file and it still didn't give me my static ip address, what am I doign wrong. It shouldnt be this hard!!!!!!!!