systemd
Daemonjournalctl
: Query the systemd
Journaludev
NetworkManager is the ideal solution for laptops and other portable computers. It supports state-of-the-art encryption types and standards for network connections, including connections to 802.1X protected networks. 802.1X is the “IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks—Port-Based Network Access Control”. With NetworkManager, you need not worry about configuring network interfaces and switching between wired or wireless networks when you are moving. NetworkManager can automatically connect to known wireless networks or manage several network connections in parallel—the fastest connection is then used as default. Furthermore, you can manually switch between available networks and manage your network connection using an applet in the system tray.
Instead of only one connection being active, multiple connections may be active at once. This enables you to unplug your laptop from an Ethernet and remain connected via a wireless connection.
NetworkManager provides a sophisticated and intuitive user interface, which enables users to easily switch their network environment. However, NetworkManager is not a suitable solution in the following cases:
Your computer provides network services for other computers in your network, for example, it is a DHCP or DNS server.
Your computer is a Xen server or your system is a virtual system inside Xen.
On laptop computers, NetworkManager is enabled by default. However, it can be at any time enabled or disabled in the YaST Network Settings module.
Run YaST and go to
› .The
dialog opens. Go to the tab.To configure and manage your network connections with NetworkManager:
In the
field, select .Click
and close YaST.Configure your network connections with NetworkManager as described in Section 28.3, “Configuring Network Connections”.
To deactivate NetworkManager and control the network with your own configuration
In the
field, choose .Click
.Set up your network card with YaST using automatic configuration via DHCP or a static IP address.
Find a detailed description of the network configuration with YaST in Section 13.4, “Configuring a Network Connection with YaST”.
After having enabled NetworkManager in YaST, configure your network connections with the NetworkManager front-end available in GNOME. It shows tabs for all types of network connections, such as wired, wireless, mobile broadband, DSL, and VPN connections.
To open the network configuration dialog in GNOME, open the settings menu via the status menu and click the
entry.
Depending on your system setup, you may not be allowed to configure
connections. In a secured environment, some options may be locked or
require root
permission. Ask your system administrator for details.
Open the NetworkManager configuration dialog.
To add a Connection:
Click the
icon in the lower left corner.Select your preferred connection type and follow the instructions.
When you are finished click
.After having confirmed your changes, the newly configured network connection appears in the list of available networks you get by opening the Status Menu.
To edit a connection:
Select the entry to edit.
Click the gear icon to open the
dialog.Insert your changes and click
to save them.To Make your connection available as system connection go to the Section 28.4.1, “User and System Connections”.
tab and set the check box . For more information about User and System Connections, seeIf your computer is connected to a wired network, use the NetworkManager applet to manage the connection.
Open the Status Menu and click
to change the connection details or to switch it off.To change the settings click
and then click the gear icon.To switch off all network connections, activate the
setting.Visible wireless networks are listed in the GNOME NetworkManager applet menu under
. The signal strength of each network is also shown in the menu. Encrypted wireless networks are marked with a shield icon.To connect to a visible wireless network, open the Status Menu and click
.Click
to enable it.Click
, select your Wi-Fi Network and click .If the network is encrypted, a configuration dialog opens. It shows the type of encryption the network uses and text boxes for entering the login credentials.
To connect to a network that does not broadcast its service set identifier (SSID or ESSID) and therefore cannot be detected automatically, open the Status Menu and click
.Click
to open the detailed settings menu.Make sure your Wi-Fi is enabled and click
.In the dialog that opens, enter the SSID or ESSID in
and set encryption parameters if necessary.A wireless network that has been chosen explicitly will remain connected as long as possible. If a network cable is plugged in during that time, any connections that have been set to
will be connected, while the wireless connection remains up.If your Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card supports access point mode, you can use NetworkManager for the configuration.
Open the Status Menu and click
.Click
to open the detailed settings menu.Click
and follow the instructions.Use the credentials shown in the resulting dialog to connect to the hotspot from a remote machine.
NetworkManager supports several Virtual Private Network (VPN) technologies. For each technology, openSUSE Leap comes with a base package providing the generic support for NetworkManager. In addition to that, you also need to install the respective desktop-specific package for your applet.
To use this VPN technology, install:
NetworkManager-openvpn
NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome
To use this VPN technology, install:
NetworkManager-vpnc
NetworkManager-vpnc-gnome
To use this VPN technology, install:
NetworkManager-pptp
NetworkManager-pptp-gnome
The following procedure describes how to set up your computer as an OpenVPN client using NetworkManager. Setting up other types of VPNs works analogously.
Before you begin, make sure that the package
NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome
is
installed and all dependencies have been resolved.
Open the application
by clicking the status icons at the right end of the panel and clicking the icon. In the window , choose .Click the
icon.Select
and then .Choose the
type. Depending on the setup of your OpenVPN server, choose or .Insert the necessary values into the respective text boxes. For our example configuration, these are:
|
The remote endpoint of the VPN server. |
|
The user (only available when you have selected ) |
|
The password for the user (only available when you have selected ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finish the configuration with
.To enable the connection, in the panel
of the application click the switch button. Alternatively, click the status icons at the right end of the panel, click the name of your VPN and then .NetworkManager distinguishes two types of wireless connections, trusted and untrusted. A trusted connection is any network that you explicitly selected in the past. All others are untrusted. Trusted connections are identified by the name and MAC address of the access point. Using the MAC address ensures that you cannot use a different access point with the name of your trusted connection.
NetworkManager periodically scans for available wireless networks. If multiple trusted networks are found, the most recently used is automatically selected. NetworkManager waits for your selection in case that all networks are untrusted.
If the encryption setting changes but the name and MAC address remain the same, NetworkManager attempts to connect, but first you are asked to confirm the new encryption settings and provide any updates, such as a new key.
If you switch from using a wireless connection to offline mode, NetworkManager blanks the SSID or ESSID. This ensures that the card is disconnected.
NetworkManager knows two types of connections: user
and
system
connections. User connections are connections
that become available to NetworkManager when the first user logs in. Any required
credentials are asked from the user and when the user logs out, the
connections are disconnected and removed from NetworkManager. Connections that are
defined as system connection can be shared by all users and are made
available right after NetworkManager is started—before any users log in. In
case of system connections, all credentials must be provided at the time
the connection is created. Such system connections can be used to
automatically connect to networks that require authorization. For
information how to configure user or system connections with NetworkManager, refer to
Section 28.3, “Configuring Network Connections”.
If you do not want to re-enter your credentials each time you want to connect to an encrypted network, you can use the GNOME Keyring Manager to store your credentials encrypted on the disk, secured by a master password.
NetworkManager can also retrieve its certificates for secure connections (for example, encrypted wired, wireless or VPN connections) from the certificate store. For more information, refer to Book “Security Guide”, Chapter 12 “Certificate Store”.
In the following, find some frequently asked questions about configuring special network options with NetworkManager.
By default, connections in NetworkManager are device type-specific: they apply to all physical devices with the same type. If more than one physical device per connection type is available (for example, your machine is equipped with two Ethernet cards), you can tie a connection to a certain device.
To do so in GNOME, first look up the MAC address of your device (use
the nm-tool
or wicked show all
). Then start the dialog for
configuring network connections and choose the connection you want to
modify. On the or
tab, enter the of the device and confirm
your changes.
When multiple access points with different wireless bands (a/b/g/n) are available, the access point with the strongest signal is automatically chosen by default. To override this, use the
field when configuring wireless connections.The Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) uniquely identifies each Basic Service Set. In an infrastructure Basic Service Set, the BSSID is the MAC address of the wireless access point. In an independent (ad-hoc) Basic Service Set, the BSSID is a locally administered MAC address generated from a 46-bit random number.
Start the dialog for configuring network connections as described in Section 28.3, “Configuring Network Connections”. Choose the wireless connection you want to modify and click . On the tab, enter the BSSID.
The primary device (the device which is connected to the Internet) does not need any special configuration. However, you need to configure the device that is connected to the local hub or machine as follows:
Start the dialog for configuring network connections as described in Section 28.3, “Configuring Network Connections”. Choose the connection you want to modify and click . Switch to the tab and from the drop-down box, activate . That will enable IP traffic forwarding and run a DHCP server on the device. Confirm your changes in NetworkManager.
As the DCHP server uses port 67
, make sure that it
is not blocked by the firewall: On the machine sharing the connections,
start YaST and select › . Switch to
the category. If is not already shown as , select from
and click .
Confirm your changes in YaST.
In case a DHCP server provides invalid DNS information (and/or routes), you can override it. Start the dialog for configuring network connections as described in Section 28.3, “Configuring Network Connections”. Choose the connection you want to modify and click . Switch to the tab, and from the drop-down box, activate . Enter the DNS information in the and fields. To click and activate the respective check box. Confirm your changes.
Define a system connection
that can be used for such
purposes. For more information, refer to
Section 28.4.1, “User and System Connections”.
Connection problems can occur. Some common problems related to NetworkManager include the applet not starting or a missing VPN option. Methods for resolving and preventing these problems depend on the tool used.
The applets starts automatically if the network is set up for NetworkManager control. If the applet does not start, check if NetworkManager is enabled in YaST as described in Section 28.2, “Enabling or Disabling NetworkManager”. Then make sure that the NetworkManager-gnome package is also installed.
If the desktop applet is installed but is not running for some reason,
start it manually. If the desktop applet is installed but is not running
for some reason, start it manually with the command
nm-applet
.
Support for NetworkManager, applets, and VPN for NetworkManager is distributed in separate packages. If your NetworkManager applet does not include the VPN option, check if the packages with NetworkManager support for your VPN technology are installed. For more information, see Section 28.3.4, “NetworkManager and VPN”.
If you have configured your network connection correctly and all other
components for the network connection (router, etc.) are also up and
running, it sometimes helps to restart the network interfaces on your
computer. To do so, log in to a command line as root
and run
systemctl restart wickeds
.
More information about NetworkManager can be found on the following Web sites and directories:
Also check out the information in the following directories for the latest information about NetworkManager and the GNOME applet:
/usr/share/doc/packages/NetworkManager/
,
/usr/share/doc/packages/NetworkManager-gnome/
.