Netplan Static IP – Configure static IP address on Ubuntu 18.04

Netplan, the new interface configuration utility in Ubuntu introduced in Ubuntu 17.10. For configuring static IP in Ubuntu 18.04 we will use Netplan. In the same vein, all the latest versions of Ubuntu Server and Desktop uses Netplan to manage and configure network settings.

Netplan reads network configuration from /etc/netplan/*.yaml. YAML is a commonly used human-readable programming language used for configuration files. Netplan currently works with NetworkManager and Systemd-networkd as supported renderers. NetworkManager commonly used for Desktop and Systemd-networkd used for Server. However, we can make a choice between them.

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Here at LinuxBots, we try to make your work as simple as we can. That’s why we do most of the work in simple and easy steps. So if you do not want to read the full article, here is the short how-to of configuring static IP address in Ubuntu 18.04 using the Netplan utility.

Prerequisite:

During this tutorial, Privileged access to Ubuntu 18.04 will be required.

List available network interfaces on Ubuntu

Above all, we have to find the available network interfaces on our system. You can list all the network interfaces by using the below command.

ip -a

As a result, we have two network interfaces available in our system. One is Ethernet and the other one is the loopback interface. We will configure static IP for the enp0s3 ethernet interface. However, it’s currently using DHCP for IP address.

Configure Netplan Static IP

The default configuration file was generated during installation which has DHCP as the default method for IP address. Look for a .yaml file in the /etc/netplan directory by the below command.

ls /etc/netplan/

Output:
        root@linuxbots:~# ls /etc/netplan/
        50-cloud-init.yaml

Important: If you did not find the YAML file in /etc/netplan than you can generate it by the below command.

sudo netplan generate

By default, you can find content like below in the configuration file.

root@linuxbots:~# cat /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml 
 This file is generated from information provided by
 the datasource.  Changes to it will not persist across an instance.
 To disable cloud-init's network configuration capabilities, write a file
 /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg with the following:
 network: {config: disabled}
 network:
     ethernets:
         enp0s3:
             addresses: []
             dhcp4: true
     version: 2

In the above output, the DHCP method is set for interface enp0s3. So now, for Setting up Static IP Address for interface enp0s3 edit the configuration file and put the details like below.

vim /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

enp0s3:				
      dhcp4: no
      dhcp6: no
      addresses: [172.16.8.220/24, ]
      gateway4:  172.16.0.1
      nameservers:
              addresses: [8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4]

Here:

• enp0s3 – Name of the network interface
• dhcp4 and dhcp6 – DHCP method selection for IPV4 and IPV6
• addresses: IP address which we want to configure for interface
• gateway4: IPV4 address for the default gateway
• nameservers: list of nameservers uses for DNS resolution

After that, your configuration file will look like the below image.

After that, Save the configuration file.

Apply the changes we made in the previous step by using the below command.

sudo netplan apply

After that, verify that the network interface is using static IP by list all network interfaces.

ip a

OUTPUT:
root@linuxbots:~# ip a
 1: lo:  mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
     link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
     inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
     inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
 2: enp0s3:  mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
     link/ether 08:00:27:3b:ae:03 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
     inet 172.16.8.220/24 brd 172.16.8.255 scope global enp0s3
        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
     inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fe3b:ae03/64 scope link 
        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Configure Netplan Dynamic IP

Similarly, to configure a Dynamic IP address for the same network interface simply use the below configuration.

enp0s3:
dhcp4: yes

Save the config and apply it by the below command.

sudo netplan apply

after that, verify the changes by listing all the interfaces by the below command.

ip -a

That’s it, now your system will get the IP by DHCP method.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, we have successfully configured static IP using Netplan in Ubuntu. We also covered how to configure dynamic IP using Netplan. You share your views in the comment section.

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