[rhn-users] Static IP Address Network Problem

[Hart, Douglas]

Recently, I had a Fedora machine configured with a static IP address.
At some point in time, I started receiving messages saying that the eth0
device could not be activated because some other host already uses the
static IP address.  I can connect the machine to the network using DHCP,
indicating to me that this is not a hardware problem.  In one of my
attempts to debug the problem I successfully put a Windows machine on
the network with my static IP address.  This seems to indicate that this
is not a problem with the network.  

In an attempt to resolve this problem I decided to upgrade the Fedora
installation to Red Hat AS4.  Unfortunately, I still have the same
problem.  The AS4 machine will successfully connect to the network using
DHCP, but attempting to use my static IP address results in an error
message saying that some other host already uses that address.  

Here is a summary of my problem and experiences.  The Fedora machine
successfully connected to the network, using the static IP address for
over a year.  Sometime around May 2005, it started to fail saying that
some other host already uses that address.  The Fedora machine can
connect to the network using DHCP.  After upgrading to AS4 the same
problem persists.  Windows machines can connect to the network using
either DHCP or the static IP address.

Any ideas about how I might resolve this problem or the steps that I
might take to resolve this problem would be appreciated.

Doug Hart