How to configure networking in CentOS 6 Desktop with command line

Last updated on January 31, 2013 by Dan Nanni

If you want to configure networking in CentOS 6 Desktop by using command line utilities, you should be aware that networking on CentOS Desktop is by default managed by a daemon with GUI interface, which is called Network Manager. This means that whenever you want to change network configuration, you are supposed to do so via Network Manager. Any change made otherwise will be lost or overwritten by NetworkManager later.

So the first step to configuring networking using command line on CentOS Desktop is to disable Network Manager, and enable network service.

To disable Network Manager permanently on CentOS 6, do the following.

$ sudo service NetworkManager stop
$ sudo chkconfig NetworkManager off

Then, activate network service instead.

$ sudo service network start
$ sudo chkconfig network on

Once Network Manager is disabled, you can now configure networking simply by editing files in /etc/sysconfig/network-script, as described in the post.

When you are done with configuring all existing interfaces, restart network service to activate the change.

$ sudo /etc/init.d/network restart

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