After default CentOS 6.x installation the OS tries to get the IP address via DHCP, so if you want to set a static IP for your machine you need to set it manually by editing the eth0.

Login to the OS and edit the eth0:

vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

It should be something like this:

DEVICE=”eth0″
BOOTPROTO=”dhcp”
HWADDR=”00:2C:X4:44:5C:EV”
NM_CONTROLLED=”yes”
ONBOOT=”no”
TYPE=”Ethernet”
UUID=”2cb817v1-2513-4cf7-9d56-44a0ef25d3b2″

Hit the “Insert” key to enable editing and change it like this:

DEVICE=”eth0″
BOOTPROTO=”static”
HWADDR=”00:2C:X4:44:5C:EV”
NM_CONTROLLED=”yes”
ONBOOT=”yes”
TYPE=”Ethernet”
UUID=”2cb817v1-2513-4cf7-9d56-44a0ef25d3b2″
IPADDR=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
NETMASK=255.255.255.xxx
GATEWAY=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Now to save these changes hit the “Escape” key and write:

:wq

You need to set the name server too, so enter the command:

vi /etc/resolv.conf

hit the “Insert” key and write these:

nameserver 4.2.2.4
nameserver 8.8.8.8

once again hit the “Escape” and :wq

You need to restart the networking as the last step:

service network restart

Your machine is connected to the Internet.

Note:

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx means your choosen Ip
4.2.2.4 and 8.8.8.8.8 are Google public DNS servers.
We have tested this method on  VMware machines for both 32 and 64 bit OS.