Problem setting up wired networking

[Steve Thompson]

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008, Jesse Keating wrote:

> For the cases where you need to do advanced configuration, and
> NetworkManager can't handle it, you can turn it off and use the old
> network service.  It's a lot easier for the class of folks that need
> this to do it, than for the class of folks who need easy to use casual
> networking to work easily for them to switch off 'network' and turn on
> 'NetworkManager'.

A problem is that for the very simplest of configurations (a system with 
one single hardwired interface that doesn't roam), NM does not work. At 
all. I have a humble collection of about 30 Fedora machines in my 
business; four of them are F9 and the rest are earlier versions. I have no 
Linux laptops at all; nearly all of the several hundred boxes that I have 
managed are of this simple configuration. NM does not work in this 
situation; the hostname never gets set. On the F9 systems, turning off 
NetworkManager and turning on network also does not work; the hostname is 
supplied by the DHCP server, but the hostname on the box gets set to the 
formatted IP address (eg '192.168.1.201'). If I have a small army of 
machines to configure, I need to have every image be installed via PXE and 
be identical, with no hostname/DNS configured on any box; I could do this 
with F6/F7/F8, but not F9. I am certainly willing to listen to any advice 
to help get this working, as I don't appear to be able to do it. I have to 
log in to every box after installation and set the hostname; doing it in a 
%post section should not be necessary. And I'm not sure that I like the 
sound of "the *old* network service". What happens when that goes away?

Steve