[NCLUG] Permanent -vs- Temporary Changes to Network Settings

[Rich Young]

Hi, all-
I have two machines here.  One or the other is always acting as a
production web server, the other is development/testing/repair/etc.
When I switch their roles, I change hostname, IP address and sometimes
gateway settings with the hostname, ifconfig, and route commands because
the production server always needs to have a certain IP address &
hostname, whichever machine it is.  

The problem I'm having is that if either machine is rebooted, it returns
to the network settings specified when it was installed.  If the machine
was installed with the network settings for test, and it's supposed to
be the current production machine, it will come back up with the test IP
& hostname, and the website no longer has a server answering its
address. Similarly, if the machine was installed with the network
settings for production, and it's supposed to be the current test
machine, it comes back up with the production IP and hostname, and the
resulting network conflict takes the web site down.  The latter problem
is more common, but either is pretty frustrating.

So I need to know how to make persistent changes to network settings,
ones that will last beyond a reboot.  Anyone have any pointers?  Both
machines are running recent KRUD/Fedora installations, though they're
not on the same month's release.  

--Rich