I would not delete network manager, it would be better if you stop it "service NetworkManager stop" and disable from booting "chkconfig NetworkManager off"....it can turn a useful tool for troubleshooting in the future. In a second note about the multi-NIC, i would focus in the actual card that have the connections....here at work we have system with 8 NIC for redundant links, but my main focus is in the actual ports that have connectivity. Take a look at /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts.....focus in the ifcfg-ethx that is actually working in your box. Don't forget that you can always use system-config-network-tui as an alternative to using the GUI, as long as you have it install "yum install system-config-network-tui -y".....I think you are in the right path, let us know how it turn out. In reference to the host name, take a look at the file /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg_ethx to assign host name information....I hope I didn't confuse you more....the Redhat documentation is rocksolid, take a glance at it. Best of luck to you.