Debian perfect setup network problem

[reddogg]

Hi,

I have read many many thread on this site multiple times (and read lots of other web pages) and have never been able to understand what I have to do.

I would like to say thankyou to everyone on here and for the Perfect setup how to's for such a great source of information.

I am new to linux and I am having problems with my network setup on my Debian perfect setup. If I setup my server with a static IP I cannot connect to the internet.

I have tried the exact configuration that is shown in the How To's but have never been able to get it to work. I have been able to install the whole server (including ISPconfig) but have left the network settings as DHCP instead of static so I dont loose my network connection.

Currently I have this network setup.

Internet -> Speedtouch 530 ADSL modem (Dynamic IP) -> 8 Port switch -> windows box *2, mac mini, Perfect setup Webserver.

- I am unsure as to what hostname I should use (I own many domain names through my business and I sure there are some spare to use as a test until I get a real one, if this is what I need).
- I am unsure how to setup both my modem and my server with the static IP.
- When I had setup my server I was only ever getting the directory structure of my server and not the apache default page nor could I access the ISPConfig page even though I have forwarded all ports to my server.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Reddogg