Linux networks are taking the industry by storm. Many big-name companies use Linux in their data centers, to the point where most people use Linux nowadays, whether they realize it or not (either directly or indirectly). The scalability of Linux in the data center lends itself very well to networking. This flexibility allows Linux to not only be useful for large server deployments, but also allows it to power routers and network services.
So far in this book, we've worked with a single Ubuntu Server instance. Here, we begin a two-part look at networking in Linux. In this chapter, we'll discuss connecting to other nodes and networks. We'll resume this exploration in Chapter 7, Managing Your Ubuntu Server Network, where we'll work on some foundational concepts that power much of the things we'll need to set up our Linux network. In this chapter, we'll take a look at:
Setting the hostname
Managing network interfaces
Assigning static IP addresses
Understanding Linux...