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NetworkManager

NetworkManager is composed of two parts:

1. A daemon running as root (network-manager).

2. A front-end (nmcli, nmtui, network-manager-gnome, plasma-nm).

NetworkManager will only handle interfaces not declared in /etc/network/interfaces (see README file).

Features

The features of NetworkManager are described on its homepage.

Documentation

Make sure you read the fine manual:

• /usr/share/doc/network-manager/README (online) and /usr/share/doc/network-manager/README.Debian (online)

• interfaces(5) man page

Wired Networks are Unmanaged

As of Debian 6.0 "Squeeze", NetworkManager does not manage any interface defined in /etc/network/interfaces by default.

Unmanaged devices means NetworkManager doesn't handle those network devices. This occurs when two conditions are met:

1. The file /etc/network/interfaces contains anything about the interface, even:

   allow-hotplug eth0
   iface eth0 inet dhcp

2. And /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf contains:

   [main]
   plugins=ifupdown,keyfile
   
   [ifupdown]
   managed=false

Enabling Interface Management

If you want NetworkManager to handle interfaces that are enabled in /etc/network/interfaces:

• Set managed=true in /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf.

• Restart NetworkManager:

  /etc/init.d/network-manager restart

"Auto Ethernet" and "Auto eth0"

• Auto Ethernet means "Select an Ethernet interface automatically"

• Auto eth0 means "autoconfigure the eth0 interface".

FAQ

Q. How do I configure a static IP address (for a server, etc) ?

A) Use nm-connection-editor or configure /etc/network/interfaces as described in NetworkConfiguration.

Q. How can I configure DNS for NetworkManager?

A) The short answer is to use nm-connection-editor. For the long answer see the corresponding entry in NetworkConfiguration.

Q. Why can't I see NetworkManager with my new user account ?

A) Make sure human users are in the netdev group (see /usr/share/doc/network-manager-gnome/README.Debian).

Q. How to setup a connection sharing ("hotspot") for a wired interface ?

First make sure to install dnsmasq-base (but not dnsmasq unless you disable the system daemon in /etc/default/dnsmasq). Then use nm-connection-editor and setup a new profile using "shared to other computer" as the method for IPv4 (not possible from Gnome3's gnome-control-center). This hides all the complexity (dnsmasq, iptables, sysctl). Finally, use that profile for the network interface connected to the shared network. For Wi-Fi interfaces, a hotspot functionality is provided which uses the same functionality besides setting up an ad-hoc WiFi network.

See Also

• PPP

• WiFi/HowToUse

External Links

• http://projects.gnome.org/NetworkManager/users/ - Project homepage and GNOME front-end (with some documentation);

  • http://live.gnome.org/NetworkManager - Various resources (FAQ, mailing list...)

• http://old-en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager - KDE front-end

• nmtui(1) - Interactive text client

• nmcli(1) - Command-line client

CategoryNetwork