Amahi Forums

Hi guys,

I am having some issues here. I am using Amahi 6.3 with Ubuntu 12.04. I would like to change my network scheme (VPN reasons) and I would also like to change the DNS name for my setup. While perusing the wiki I came across this entry:

https://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Change_IP_Address

I thought it looked simple enough, but I was in for a surprise. The site specifically says that it works to change the third octet, but I tried something else anyway. First things first, my current network scheme is a 192.168.1.0/24 and I wanted to change it to a 10.37.42.0/24. So I tried it. I cannot remember in which order I actually did it (meaning, did I run the command on the HDA first and then change the router settings, or vice versa), but it absolutely did not work.

Sidenote, the command seems to call "service network stop"(?) which doesn't work as in ubuntu "network" is a nonexistant service. "Networking", however, is.

So this is where things got crazy. Because that didn't work I went in to my router and changed it instead to a 192.168.64.0/24 network and again ran the command on the HDA. Again, it did not work. The HDA continued to take the IP it currently has. I tried rebooting the HDA completely after each process as well, but still nothing.

Then I realized that in my router I had setup a DHCP reservation (since the router is not handling DHCP at all I don't know if it even matters, but what the hell), so I cleared that and still nothing. The HDA would not change its IP address. No. Matter. What. At this point my network was completely broken. I could not get online, I could not connect to the router, nothing.

To get it all working again I cleared the NVRAM of the router and reset the router settings back to the stock 192.168.1.0/24 network scheme and re-configured everything. Then I killed the DHCP server on the router and powered the HDA back up.

Things are back in working order now, but I am still stuck with the 192.168.1.0/24 scheme. I need to change this scheme.

So my first question is, how can I change the scheme without completely breaking my network again?

My second question is, I noticed that there was also a "hda-change-dns" script and I would like to know if that would allow me to change my home domain. It looks like in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2414&start=10

the topic of changing the home domain came up and there was talk of writing a script, but the thread just sort of ended. I presume that the "hda-change-dns" script is the script in question, but I don't want to run it and break everything again.

So, my second question is, how can I change my home domain?

I'm afraid you will have to do a new install to achieve a different IP address and change the home domain. These items are located in several places within the Amahi platform and it's difficult to find/change them all.

Also understand that the IP and domain are also linked in amahi.org, so you will need to create a new profile with the desired address/domain.

This is uncommon for most users so you probably won't find much help in the wiki or forums.

I'm afraid you will have to do a new install to achieve a different IP address and change the home domain. These items are located in several places within the Amahi platform and it's difficult to find/change them all.

Also understand that the IP and domain are also linked in amahi.org, so you will need to create a new profile with the desired address/domain.

This is uncommon for most users so you probably won't find much help in the wiki or forums.

While this may be uncommon, completely reinstalling the OS just to accomplish this seems a bit excessive.

Why do the scripts and their wiki entries even exist if they don't work? It sounds like you are saying even if I wanted to change my network scheme from 192.168.1.0/24 to 192.168.42.0/24 I can't do it. Isn't that exactly what the hda-change-gw script is there for? Again, if it doesn't work, why is there a wiki entry and why is the script included with the HDA installation?

While this may be uncommon, completely reinstalling the OS just to accomplish this seems a bit excessive.

Why do the scripts and their wiki entries even exist if they don't work? It sounds like you are saying even if I wanted to change my network scheme from 192.168.1.0/24 to 192.168.42.0/24 I can't do it. Isn't that exactly what the hda-change-gw script is there for? Again, if it doesn't work, why is there a wiki entry and why is the script included with the HDA installation?

Sorry for the panic, I may not have read your correctly or maybe my response was not worded very well. Changing the network scheme should work fine with the script. It was changing the home domain that I meant would require a reinstall.

It would need to be done on the router first I believe. I did it a few times, but it's been a while. The other script you referred to (hda-change-dns) has nothing to do with the home domain. It allows you to change the DNS from OpenDNS servers to Google servers or your ISP if you choose.

While this may be uncommon, completely reinstalling the OS just to accomplish this seems a bit excessive.

Why do the scripts and their wiki entries even exist if they don't work? It sounds like you are saying even if I wanted to change my network scheme from 192.168.1.0/24 to 192.168.42.0/24 I can't do it. Isn't that exactly what the hda-change-gw script is there for? Again, if it doesn't work, why is there a wiki entry and why is the script included with the HDA installation?

Sorry for the panic, I may not have read your correctly or maybe my response was not worded very well. Changing the network scheme should work fine with the script. It was changing the home domain that I meant would require a reinstall.

It would need to be done on the router first I believe. I did it a few times, but it's been a while. The other script you referred to (hda-change-dns) has nothing to do with the home domain. It allows you to change the DNS from OpenDNS servers to Google servers or your ISP if you choose.

Thanks for the follow up bigfoot. My question to you would then be, why did it not work in my scenario? Does the script only allow for changing the third octet, or does it allow for changing the entire scheme?

I believe when I did do it last night I changed it on my router first then ran the script, but the server would not change its IP. I tried restarting the server and running the script again numerous times to no avail. please advise.

It only allows for changing the 3rd octet. The fourth cannot be changed without reinstall if you need it to match amahi.org. You might be able to change it and things work fine, just not match amahi.org.

Every scenario works different for each user.

It only allows for changing the 3rd octet. The fourth cannot be changed without reinstall if you need it to match amahi.org. You might be able to change it and things work fine, just not match amahi.org.

Every scenario works different for each user.

Fair enough. I can try it again tonight (changing from a 192.168.1.0/24 to a 192.168.x.0/24, x being different than 1), but I have a strong feeling that it won't work. Should it not work what information do you need me to gather?

Tell us any error messages you receive. Also do an ipconfig to see what it reports.

Tell us any error messages you receive. Also do an ipconfig to see what it reports.

I just tried again, and AGAIN it failed. Here is what I did.

1) Change router GW address from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.21.1
2) Open a terminal on server. issue sudo su command and enter password.
3) issued hda-change-gw command
4) rebooted my laptop
5) laptop had pulled an IP address because DHCP had re-activated itself on router.
6) killed DHCP on router.
7) reboot router
8) reboot server
9) reboot laptop
10) Checked associated clients in router, saw that only my laptop was associated
11) ran ifconfig on server, found that it STILL had its old IP address.
12) frustration.

When issuing the hda-change-gw command, as I had indicated in the first post of this thread, there is only one "error" and that is this:

"network: unrecognized service"

To give you the exact breakdown of what the server said after issuing the command, this is what I got:

Network settings were successfully applied
Your HDA services have been restarted
network: unrecognized service
Your HDA services have been restarted
It is strongly recommended that you reboot all systems on your network at this point.

Again, like I said at the beginning of the thread, for ubuntu the service is not called 'network' it is called 'networking'. I manually restarted the service a few times throughout the process just to see if it would have any effect at all. and it had NONE.

It looks like the script thinks it is completing without error, but in reality it isn't.

I would really like some guidance here because there is no reason that I can think of that this shouldn't be working. What additional information would you like me to provide you with?

Did you make any manual configuration changes? If you did, it can cause issues with Amahi. I don't see any reason why the script is not working. I presume your HDA is on eth0, correct?

Also does your settings match the amahi.org profile before the change?