Rocky Linux 9.6 Complete Guide to Adding a Second Network Card and Configuring a Static IP

Scenario Description

Add a second network adapter (Network Adapter 2) for Rocky Linux 9.6 in a VMware virtual machine, and configure a static IP address.

Operation process

1. Check the current network status

First, check the existing network card configuration:

ll /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/

Output:

total 4
-rw--- 1 root root 277 Jul 21 10:19 ens32.nmconnection

View current network connections:

nmcli con show

Output:

NAME              UUID                                    TYPE      DEVICE
ens32             bf4982a2-6102-3e47-abb9-3670f1272538   ethernet  ens32
Wired connection 1 77bc6937-cee1-3f51-8076-62e6e4ceec6c  ethernet  ens34
lo                12212a3c-b694-4408-9544-0387a4b02997    loopback  lo

You can see that the system has already recognized the new network card.ens34, and automatically created a temporary connection "Wired connection 1".

2. Create a persistent connection for the new network card

Use nmcli Command to create a new connection configuration:

nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name ens34 ifname ens34

Output:

Connection 'ens34' (eee4a6d3-4264-4dbc-afb9-9671595ce0f4) successfully added.

At this point, view the configuration file directory:

ll /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/

Output:

total 8
-rw--- 1 root root 277 Jul 21 10:19 ens32.nmconnection
-rw--- 1 root root 182 Jul 21 14:31 ens34.nmconnection

3. Configure a static IP address

Edit the configuration file and set a static IP:

vim /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/ens34.nmconnection

Configuration content:

[connection]
id=ens34
uuid=eee4a6d3-4264-4dbc-afb9-9671595ce0f4
type=ethernet
interface-name=ens34

[ethernet]

[ipv4]
address1=172.16.28.221/16
gateway=172.17.0.1
method=manual

[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=auto

[proxy]

4. Delete temporary connection

Delete the temporary connections automatically created by the system to avoid conflicts:

nmcli connection delete "Wired connection 1"

Output:

Connection 'Wired connection 1' (77bc6937-cee1-3f51-8076-62e6e4ceec6c) successfully deleted.

5. Reload and activate the configuration

Reload NetworkManager configuration:

nmcli con reload

View connection status:

nmcli con show

Output:

NAME    UUID                                    TYPE      DEVICE
ens32   bf4982a2-6102-3e47-ab9b-3670f1272538   ethernet  ens32
ens34   eee4a6d3-4264-4dbc-afb9-9671595ce0f4   ethernet  ens34
lo      12212a3c-b694-4408-9544-0387a4b02997   loopback  lo

6. Verify configuration

View device status:

nmcli device status

Output:

DEVICE  TYPE      STATE         CONNECTION
ens32   ethernet  connected     ens32
ens34   ethernet  connected     ens34
lo      loopback  connected (externally) lo

View IP address configuration:

ip a

Output (key parts):

2: ens32: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:9e:31:9e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    altname enp2s0
    inet 172.16.4.221/16 brd 172.16.255.255 scope global noprefixroute ens32
    valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

3: ens34: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:9e:2a:d9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    altname enp2s2
    inet 172.16.28.221/16 brd 172.16.255.255 scope global noprefixroute ens34
    valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::80ea:f978:ffdf:954d/64 scope link noprefixroute
    valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Key considerations

1. Do not directly delete temporary connections

If the network card already has a temporary connection (such as "Wired connection 1"), you should:

• Create first New persistent connection

• Delete again Temporary connection

Or directly rename and modify the temporary connection:

nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" con-name ens34
nmcli connection modify ens34 ipv4.addresses 172.16.28.221/16
nmcli connection modify ens34 ipv4.gateway 172.17.0.1
nmcli connection modify ens34 ipv4.method manual
nmcli connection up ens34

2. Configuration file permissions

NetworkManager configuration file permissions must be 600:

chmod 600 /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/ens34.nmconnection

3. Network Planning

• The first network card ens32:172.16.4.221/16

• The second network card ens34:172.16.28.221/16

Two network cards are on different network segments, achieving network isolation.

Common Commands Quick Reference

Command	Explanation
nmcli con show	View all connections
nmcli device status	Check device status
nmcli con reload	Reload the configuration file
nmcli con up <连接名>	Activate Connection
nmcli con down <连接名>	Disable connection
nmcli con delete <连接名>	Delete connection
ip a	View IP address

Summary

Key steps to add a second network card and configure a static IP in Rocky Linux 9.6:

• Confirm that the network card is recognized:nmcli con show View device

• Create a persistent connection:nmcli connection add

• Configure a static IP: Edit configuration file settings method=manual

• Clean up temporary connections: Delete "Wired connection 1"

• Reload configuration:nmcli con reload

• Verify network connectivity:ip a and ping Test

Through the above steps, you can successfully configure static IPs for multiple NICs on a Rocky Linux 9.6 server to meet production environment requirements.