Debian: Setup Static IP Address

NOTE: This works on Debian 13.4.

Here are notes and steps to assign a static IP address for a Debian host.

NOTE: If you are doing this for an Ubuntu host, see this page: Ubuntu: Setup Static IP Address

Net Tools (ipconfig)

Install net tools, so we can use commands like: ipconfig

sudo apt install net-tools

Static IP Address

Static addresses will be defined in a netplan file, configured below.

But, we need to do a few things, first:

• Get the Gateway IP
• Enable Adapters

Get the Gateway IP

You will need to know the gateway address that your host will use.

If the host is not on the desired network, you will need to determine the gateway IP, manually.
Or, you can join the host to the network, and do the following to determine it.

If the host is up, you can run this command to get the current default gateway assigned to it:

ip r | grep default

This command will return the default gateway address, like this:

Enable Adapters

If you added an adapter to the host, it may be in a down state.

To enable it, use this command to find the name:

sudo ip a | grep ^[[:digit:]]

The above will give a list, like this:

And, you can enable it with this:

sudo ifconfig eth1 up

NOTE: Be sure to use the name of the nic, from the previous call.

Network Interfaces

Open the interfaces file at: /etc/network/interfaces

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

auto ens192
iface ens192 inet static
    address 192.168.1.50/24
    gateway 192.168.1.1
    dns-nameservers 192.168.1.2 8.8.8.8

Replace:

• ens192 with your actual interface name (found above)
• 192.168.1.50 with your desired static IP
• 192.168.1.1 with your gateway/router
• Set the dns-nameservers you need with a space between each.

Save and close the interfaces file.

Restart Networking

With the config updated, we need to restart networking.

Do this:

sudo systemctl restart networking

Now, check the IP address with this:

sudo ifconfig

You'll see something like this: