The Debian Reference Guide, Chapter 5 presents a lot of information about networking in Debian, but it does not address the OP's question, i.e. what controls the network in Debian when installed without DE software?
I would vote for bobhwasatch's answer, above. I.e.,
(1) /etc/network/interfaces
- identifies
(A) workstation's Ip address if you want it to be static, or chose to use DHCP to set an IP address (DHCP typically runs on the LAN's gateway/modem)
(B) gateway/modem's IP address
(2) /etc/resolv.conf
- identifies DNS server(s)
I would vote for bobhwasatch's answer, above. I.e.,
Also notable is that a no-DE install sets up a Systemd service called networking.service. It's just a service that runs the ifup program during system startup and it runs the ifdown program during system shutdown. The only config files used areA default install with no desktop environment (server/headless) uses ifupdown for networking.
(1) /etc/network/interfaces
- identifies
(A) workstation's Ip address if you want it to be static, or chose to use DHCP to set an IP address (DHCP typically runs on the LAN's gateway/modem)
(B) gateway/modem's IP address
(2) /etc/resolv.conf
- identifies DNS server(s)
Statistics: Posted by tynman — 2026-01-01 18:38