Ubuntu server keeps dropping fixed ip and gets dhcp address

I am currently adressing your issue, I need to know what type of networking hardware you are useing, such as router, modem, etc. I am curently in az in the field with the army, so email my bberry at <email address hidden>, thanks-ludz

Server Specs:
HP Netserver LP1000r with
     CPU: Dual P3 1.26GHz
     Memory: 3371856k total
     Nic: onboard (unknown)

Router Specs:
     Type: Linksys WRT54G2
     Firmware Version: 1.0.01 build 003, Mar. 26, 2008
     This router is what dishes out the dhcp addresses in my area.

Server is connected through an unmanaged 5 port switch to the router the router connects to the dsl modem directly.

You could try disabling Networkmanager and Avahi daemon:

sudo /etc/init.d/NetworkManager stop
sudo /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon stop

Then do a "/etc/init.d/networking restart" and let us know if the problem persists.

Guillermo,
I tried the following as you suggested but they are not installed on my system.

$ sudo /etc/init.d/NetworkManager stop
[sudo] password for administrator:
sudo: /etc/init.d/NetworkManager: command not found
$ sudo /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon stop
sudo: /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon: command not found

Thanks for the suggestion though.

I just looked at the /var/log/daemon.log file and found something interesting that I don't understand. (VirtualHost is the name of my server/computer)

$ cat daemon.log
:
lots of lines here that are very similar
:
Jan 7 14:50:00 VirtualHost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.101 on eth0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
Jan 7 14:50:01 VirtualHost console-kit-daemon[12318]: CRITICAL: cannot initialize libpolkit
Jan 7 14:50:19 VirtualHost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.101 on eth0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
Jan 7 14:50:49 VirtualHost last message repeated 3 times
Jan 7 14:51:56 VirtualHost last message repeated 4 times
Jan 7 14:52:55 VirtualHost last message repeated 4 times
Jan 7 14:53:52 VirtualHost last message repeated 4 times
Jan 7 14:54:50 VirtualHost last message repeated 3 times
Jan 7 14:55:50 VirtualHost last message repeated 4 times
Jan 7 14:55:59 VirtualHost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.101 on eth0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
Jan 7 14:55:59 VirtualHost console-kit-daemon[12398]: CRITICAL: cannot initialize libpolkit
Jan 7 14:56:08 VirtualHost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.101 on eth0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
Jan 7 14:56:43 VirtualHost last message repeated 2 times
Jan 7 14:57:44 VirtualHost last message repeated 4 times
Jan 7 14:58:57 VirtualHost last message repeated 5 times
Jan 7 14:59:35 VirtualHost last message repeated 3 times
Jan 7 14:59:52 VirtualHost console-kit-daemon[12486]: CRITICAL: cannot initialize libpolkit
Jan 7 14:59:52 VirtualHost console-kit-daemon[12486]: WARNING: Error waiting for native console 25 activation: Bad file descriptor
Jan 7 14:59:54 VirtualHost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.101 on eth0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
Jan 7 15:00:01 VirtualHost console-kit-daemon[12576]: CRITICAL: cannot initialize libpolkit
Jan 7 15:00:14 VirtualHost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.101 on eth0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
Jan 7 15:00:56 VirtualHost last message repeated 3 times
Jan 7 15:01:55 VirtualHost last message repeated 4 times
Jan 7 15:02:55 VirtualHost last message repeated 4 times
$

Oh yes, the server version does not install those...

Well, you can take a look at the "dmesg" and also check the logs in /var/log, maybe you find what program/process is changing the network configuration.

I ran the dmesg command and it seems it is related to the vmware server somehow.
     vmmon
     vmnet
     vmnet-bridge
     libglib-2.0.so.0.1800.2 (seems to have a segfault often)

I guess I am needing to dig into why vmware is not playing nice. (hopefully that is the correct guess)

here is a sample output of dmesg you suggested. (last number of lines returned)
$dmesg
:
tons of line here
:
[1580450.883757] bridge-eth0: up
[1580450.883765] bridge-eth0: attached
[1580450.883774] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
[1580450.883783] bridge-eth0: enabled promiscuous mode
[1580452.432522] /dev/vmmon[0]: HostIF_ReadUptime: detected settimeofday: fixed uptimeBase old 18445514362372291718 new 18445514362369870053 attempts 1
[1580461.192515] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
[1580627.452553] CIFS VFS: server not responding
[1580627.452592] CIFS VFS: No response for cmd 50 mid 26633
[1595001.161515] console-kit-dae[19096]: segfault at 7463657e ip b7e7458c sp b7b01320 error 4 in libglib-2.0.so.0.1800.2[b7e48000+b5000]
[1644800.961791] console-kit-dae[26855]: segfault at 34 ip b7ec558c sp b7a64320 error 4 in libglib-2.0.so.0.1800.2[b7e99000+b5000]
[1666427.452546] CIFS VFS: server not responding
[1666427.452578] CIFS VFS: No response for cmd 50 mid 27067
[1737007.591573] bridge-eth0: disabling the bridge
[1737007.591600] device eth0 left promiscuous mode
[1737007.591605] bridge-eth0: disabled promiscuous mode
[1737007.610152] bridge-eth0: down
[1737007.610226] bridge-eth0: detached
[1737007.670805] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[1737007.680282] e100: eth0: e100_watchdog: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex
[1737007.680834] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[1737007.681228] /dev/vmnet: open called by PID 3820 (vmnet-bridge)
[1737007.681267] /dev/vmnet: port on hub 0 successfully opened
[1737007.681297] bridge-eth0: up
[1737007.681309] bridge-eth0: attached
[1737007.681321] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
[1737007.681334] bridge-eth0: enabled promiscuous mode
[1737008.770126] /dev/vmmon[15071]: HostIF_ReadUptime: detected settimeofday: fixed uptimeBase old 18445514362369870053 new 18445514362363295197 attempts 1
[1737018.520046] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
[1737212.452539] CIFS VFS: server not responding
[1737212.452572] CIFS VFS: No response for cmd 50 mid 27426
[1740902.962185] device eth0 left promiscuous mode
[1740902.962227] bridge-eth0: disabled promiscuous mode
[1740903.444706] vmmon: Had to deallocate locked 49771 pages from vm driver ed8d8200
[1740903.449486] vmmon: Had to deallocate AWE 5518 pages from vm driver ed8d8200
[1756385.621917] console-kit-dae[12512]: segfault at 6c6f737a ip b7ebb58c sp b79ee320 error 4 in libglib-2.0.so.0.1800.2[b7e8f000+b5000]

Indeed, seems like VMware is the culprit, as it is causes the network interface to lose the link and then the link goes up again. What version of VMware are you using? Maybe there's a patch or update that addresses this odd behaviour.

VMware Infrastructure Web Access
Version 2.0.0
Build 122589

VMware Server
Version 2.0.0
Build 122956

That's the latest VMware Server version, and this is not a known issue.

Maybe it is a bug in VMware, but it could be a bug in the network controller module (or other part of the kernel) too.

You could try using a custom kernel, or wait until a newer version (patch) of VMware Server is released.

No, go back to the router

I have the same problem and no vmware server installed.

I use the desktop GUI to set a fixed IP address. When I reboot the network configuration is reset to use DHCP and the fixed IP address has been erased. There appears to be no option to retain the fixed IP address.

I do not have VMWARE installed.

I have the same issue. No VMware. Using a single interface, eth0.

Sun X2100, ubuntu 9.04

Network will not last anything longer than 48 hours without dropping and needing to be restarted. The logs are suspiciously clean, there are only 7 lines in my kern log and and 132 in messages in 48 hours.

There is just a web server running mediawiki / mysql.

Has anyone had any luck correcting this silliness? I've had bad luck with forcedeth drivers in RHEL on x4200's, maybe this is similar.

I believe this issue went away for me after I completely rebooted the server... not sure why. goliathlibrary... please try that and answer back on this thread if it worked or not.

Hey thanks for the reply NC. I just rebooted the server, I'll let you know how things fair out. I should know by this time on Friday.

It's been fine the last 4 days, guess it just needed a reboot. Weird tho as I definitely rebooted after patching. Thanks for the help.

I am glad it worked for you as well... It seems as if you need to reboot AFTER changing the network settings from dhcp to a fixed IP address. Maybe twice... not sure why..

Again.. glad it worked well for you.