so you are setting up a server bazoukas

[Void Main]

Yeah, ifup/ifdown are just a couple of simple scripts that read the IP vars in your interface config files and then executes ifconfig based on those vars (IPADDR, NETMASK, BROADCAST, etc). They make life a little easier for people who can't remember the ifconfig syntax for assigning an IP address.

[shira]

I find that having to typing out things like ifconfig, route and other things has really increased my typing speed (dunno about the accuracy though)