Linux intranet networking

Question

I want to set up a private network not connected to the Internet. I have a computer running Ubuntu Server 13.10 which I would like to function as a web server accessible from the other computers on the network, all of which are running Ubuntu Desktop 13.10. How should I go about setting up the networking? (I.e. /etc/network/interfaces on the server and the GUI config for the clients.) I need the computers to all be able to communicate.

I can deal with setting up static IP's (not using DHCP). All of the computers are connected with a switch.

Answer 1

The job is already done - with a normal setup you can already contact the other machines connected to the same switch by simply knowing their IP address. To find this, simply open a shell and type ip addr. This will show a listing with lots of information, of which the address to the current machine is four numbers separated by dots, typically starting with either 10.0 or 192.168. To verify that you're able to connect to another machine, simply run ping 192.168.x.y (replacing the address with the real one) to check that it's reachable.

Once you've set up a web server on one of the machines, you can simply go to http://192.168.x.y to see the web site.

With regard to security, most home routers will be configured by default to not allow any connections originating from the Internet into your house. You should verify this in the router configuration.