Is networking enabled by default?

["Alabbad, Saleh A" <alabbasa aramco com sa>]

Hi everybody:

I have installed Redhat 5.1 recently. Since that time I did not think to
connect my box to the network, so I ignored the question from
installation software when it asked me if I would like to connect to the
network. Now I decided to add network capabilities to my box. My
question is : Do I have to recompile the kernel to activate networking ?
or is it network-ready by default.?

Thank you in advance for your help.