This has got to be one of the most disappointing bugs I have ever seen. Ubuntu 8.10 was shipped with the inability to be configured with a static IP address. As soon as you reboot, the configuration goes back to DHCP! This really blows my mind and has me thinking hard about picking a new distribution. In the meantime, you can work around this monumental snafu by following these directions.
vi the /etc/network/interfaces file.
sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces
delete anything talking about eth0 and in this in it’s place.
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Your IP)
netmask xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Your netmask)
gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Your default router or gateway)
Now edit /etc/resolv.conf
sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf
And add the following
nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (The IP of your DNS server)
search abc.def.com (your domain, ala cyborgworkshop.org)
This is the last part. we have to get rid of the network manager that runs at boot and is the cause of all of this embarrassment, so run the following.
sudo update-rc.d –f NetworkManager remove
Reboot and you should be good to go.