53 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
53 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
NetworkManager is a set of co-operative tools that make networking simple and
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straightforward. Whether WiFi, wired, 3G, or Bluetooth, NetworkManager allows
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you to quickly move from one network to another.
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It has two components:
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1. a system level service which manages connections and reports network changes
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2. a graphical desktop applet which allows the user to manipulate network
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connections. The nmcli tool provides similar functionality on the command
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line.
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system connections and security
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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In NetworkManager version 0.9, network connections are stored as keyfiles in
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the /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/ directory.
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When creating new wireless or wired connections, they are by default
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system-owned (i.e. available to everyone) and the secrets (e.g WPA-PSK or WEP
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key) are stored as plain text in the corresponding connection configuration
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file. The advantage of system connections is, that they can be active before a
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user has logged in and they are active across user sessions.
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Modifying or creating such system-owned connections requires admin privileges.
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To avoid prompts for the root/admin password, NetworkManager ships a PolicyKit
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configuration file which grants everyone in group "netdev" or "sudo" the
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privilege to modify a system connection without prior authentication. Adding a
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user to group sudo grants him root-like privileges though. If that is not
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wanted, you can choose to add him to group netdev instead.
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If the user should not have the privilege to add and modify system connections
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don't add him to either groups.
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In that case, the user clients (like nm-applet) will default to creating
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user-owned connections where the secrets are stored in the user keyring.
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VPN and 3G type connections are by default also user-owned.
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For more information see NetworkManager.conf(5) or
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http://live.gnome.org/NetworkManager/SystemSettings
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The keyfile specification is available at
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https://developer.gnome.org/NetworkManager/0.9/ref-settings.html
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unmanaged devices and /etc/network/interfaces
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Network devices which are configured in /etc/network/interfaces will typically
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be managed by ifupdown. NetworkManager respects such a configuration and will
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ignore those devices and mark them as "unmanaged".
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If you want to have a network interface managed by NetworkManager it is thus
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recommended to manually remove any configuration for that interface from
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/etc/network/interfaces. You need to restart NetworkManager afterwards via
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"service network-manager restart".
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