Kali Linux.Using the Graphical User Interface to Configure Network Interfaces

Configuring the network cards, also called network adapters, in Linux was once a process that could only be completed through the command line. This has changed in recent years, and Kali Linux is no different in fact Kali Linux has a robust graphical user interface (GUI ) that allows many of the common se ings to be configured through the use of simple dialog boxes. The network configurations dialog box is easily accessible by selecting A pplications in the top right of the user interface (Figure 4.4) and then selecting System Tools, Preferences, and Network connections.
FIGURE 4.4 Graphical network configuration.

By clicking network connections, the network connections dialog box will be displayed, the wired tab is selected by default (Figure 4.5).  A lternatively, right clicking on the two computers on the top right of the screen, as in Figure 4.6, and selecting edit connections will result in accessing the same dialog box. I n most cases, computers will have only one network card that will need to be configured, in cases where multiple N I Cs are installed, ensure you are configuring the correct card. This example will configure Wired connection 1, a name that can be changed if you like to something more meaningful, the only physical network card in the computer. The configuration dialog box is displayed after selecting the connection to be modified and clicking the Edit bu on. This will bring up the Editing box for the connection, with the Wired tab selected by default. This tab displays the devices media access control (MA C) address, an address that is designed to
remain the same for the life of the device, see the note on MA C addresses for more information on MA C addresses. The devices identifier is also displayed in parenthesis after the MA C address. I n this case, the device identifier is eth0, where eth is short forEthernet and 0 is the first card in the computer. The numbering sequence for network cards starts at 0 and not 1 so the second card in the computer would be eth1.tab.

FIGURE 4.5 Graphical wired network configuration.

FIGURE 4.6 Alternate graphical wired network configuration.

Wired Ethernet configurations can be made by selecting the 802.1x S ecurity tab, theI Pv4 S e ings, or the I Pv6 S e ings tab. This book will focus on configuring the I P version 4 (I Pv4) se ings so that tab will be selected. O nce selected the configurations for the computers I P address (192.168.1.66), S ubnet Mask or N etmask (255.255.255.0), Gateway (192.168.1.1), and D N S servers (192.168.1.1). Multiple D N S servers can be used by separating each with a comma. The configuration can be saved and made active by selecting the Save button.