Just recently change /etc/network/interfaces to static IP, apt-get not working. How to check for errors?

I recently just updated my /etc/network/interfaces file to set a static IP address. Seems other computers can access the computer using the network IP address but I may have broken something - now apt-get update and apt-get install ... give me the following:

Err ...//jp.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving 'jp.archive.ubuntu.com'
Err http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'
Err ...//jp.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving 'jp.archive.ubuntu.com'
Err ...//jp.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving 'jp.archive.ubuntu.com'
Reading package lists... Done
W: Failed to fetch ...//jp.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving 'jp.archive.ubuntu.com'

W: Failed to fetch ...//jp.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-updates/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving 'jp.archive.ubuntu.com'

W: Failed to fetch ...//jp.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-backports/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving 'jp.archive.ubuntu.com'

W: Failed to fetch ...//security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-security/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'

W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

As another simple test I tried `ping www.yahoo.com` and it told me host not found (but works fine on another computer on the same router).

Does anyone know what I may have entered wrongly in /etc/network/interfaces? (I'm assuming it's there, not sure how to check though)

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
 address ...
 netmask ...
 network ...
 broadcast ...
 gateway ...

# This is an autoconfigured IPv6 interface
iface eth0 inet6 auto

(... I've set addresses)

Or another way to check what I may have set wrongly (as mentioned, I set to static IP for eth0 - setting address, gateway, subnet etc). Thanks

UPDATE:

I've added the following to my /etc/networking/interfaces file:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet auto static
 .
 .
 .
 dns-nameservers 192.168.24.1

Btw, this is DNS I get when I do nm-tool. It seems like an internal IP address, is this the right IP address for my DNS settings here?

..anyway when I then try to /etc/init.d/networking restart I get the following errors:

/etc/init.d/networking restart
 * Running /etc/init.d/networking restart is deprecated because it may not enable again some interfaces
 * Reconfiguring network interfaces...                                                                                   ifdown: failed to open lockfile /run/network/.ifstate.lock: Permission denied
ifup: failed to open lockfile /run/network/.ifstate.lock: Permission denied

Also I'm unable to do ping or nslookup too (maybe that's obvious though to a non-beginner unlike myself :)

Martyn

Posted 2014-04-15T12:59:30.237

Reputation: 135

what does your interfaces file look like? – None – 2014-04-15T13:00:58.487

I've updated my post – Martyn – 2014-04-15T13:02:55.293

Are you running /etc/init.d/networking restart as root? – mtak – 2014-04-16T08:56:31.380

Ah! Thank you. Sorry, I'm very new to stuff like this (although I should have noticed that). That's it all working now, I was able to run apt-get update no problem. – Martyn – 2014-04-16T09:04:25.807

Just recently change /etc/network/interfaces to static IP, apt-get not working. How to check for errors?

Answers