NM−SETTINGS−IFCFG

NAME
DESCRIPTION
FILE FORMAT
DIFFERENCES AGAINST INITSCRIPTS
DETAILS
AUTHOR
FILES
SEE ALSO

NAME

nm-settings-ifcfg-rh − Description of ifcfg−rh settings plugin

DESCRIPTION

NetworkManager is based on the concept of connection profiles that contain network configuration (see nm-settings(5) for details). The profiles can be stored in various formats. NetworkManager uses plugins for reading and writing the data. The plugins can be configured in NetworkManager.conf(5).

The ifcfg−rh plugin is used on the Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions to read/write configuration from/to the standard /etc/sysconfig/network−scripts/ifcfg−* files. Each NetworkManager connection maps to one ifcfg−* file, with possible usage of keys−* for passwords, route−* for static IPv4 routes and route6−* for static IPv6 routes. The plugin currently supports reading and writing Ethernet, Wi−Fi, InfiniBand, VLAN, Bond, Bridge, and Team connections. Unsupported connection types (such as WWAN, PPPoE, VPN, or ADSL are handled by keyfile plugin (nm-settings-keyfile(5)). The main reason for using ifcfg−rh plugin is the compatibility with legacy configurations for ifup and ifdown (initscripts).

FILE FORMAT

The ifcfg−rh config format is a simple text file containing VARIABLE="value" lines. The format is described in sysconfig.txt of initscripts package. Note that the configuration files may be sourced by initscripts, so they must be valid shell scripts. That means, for instance, that # character can be used for comments, strings with spaces must be quoted, special characters must be escaped, etc.

Users can create or modify the ifcfg−rh connection files manually, even if that is not the recommended way of managing the profiles. However, if they choose to do that, they must inform NetworkManager about their changes (see monitor−connection−file in nm-settings(5), and nmcli con (re)load).

Some ifcfg-rh configuration examples:.

Simple DHCP ethernet configuration:
NAME=ethernet
UUID=1c4ddf70−01bf−46d6−b04f−47e842bd98da
TYPE=Ethernet
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
DEFROUTE=yes
PEERDNS=yes
PEERROUTES=yes
IPV4_FAILURE_FATAL=no
ONBOOT=yes

Simple ethernet configuration with static IP:
TYPE=Ethernet
BOOTPROTO=none
IPADDR=10.1.0.25
PREFIX=24
GATEWAY=10.1.0.1
DEFROUTE=yes
IPV4_FAILURE_FATAL=no
IPV6INIT=yes
IPV6_AUTOCONF=yes
IPV6_DEFROUTE=yes
IPV6_PEERDNS=yes
IPV6_PEERROUTES=yes
IPV6_FAILURE_FATAL=no
NAME=ethernet−em2
UUID=51bb3904−c0fc−4dfe−83b2−0a71e7928c13
DEVICE=em2
ONBOOT=yes

WPA2 Enterprise WLAN (TTLS with inner MSCHAPV2 authentication):
ESSID="CompanyWLAN"
MODE=Managed
KEY_MGMT=WPA−EAP
TYPE=Wireless
IEEE_8021X_EAP_METHODS=TTLS
IEEE_8021X_IDENTITY=joe
IEEE_8021X_PASSWORD_FLAGS=ask
IEEE_8021X_INNER_AUTH_METHODS=MSCHAPV2
IEEE_8021X_CA_CERT=/home/joe/.cert/company.crt
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
DEFROUTE=yes
PEERDNS=yes
PEERROUTES=yes
IPV4_FAILURE_FATAL=no
IPV6INIT=no
NAME=MyCompany
UUID=f79848ff−11a6−4810−9e1a−99039dea84c4
ONBOOT=yes

Bridge and bridge port configuration:
ifcfg−bridge: ifcfg−bridge−port:
NAME=bridge NAME=bridge007−port−eth0
UUID=4be99ce0−c5b2−4764−8b77−ec226e440125 UUID=3ad56c4a−47e1−419b−b0d4−8ad86eb967a3
DEVICE=bridge007 DEVICE=eth0
STP=yes ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Bridge TYPE=Ethernet
BRIDGING_OPTS=priority=32768 BRIDGE=bridge007
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

Bonding configuration:
ifcfg−BOND: ifcfg−BOND−slave:
NAME=BOND NAME=BOND−slave
UUID=b41888aa−924c−450c−b0f8−85a4f0a51b4a UUID=9bb048e4−286a−4cc3−b104−007dbd20decb
DEVICE=bond100 DEVICE=eth0
BONDING_OPTS="mode=balance−rr miimon=100" ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Bond TYPE=Ethernet
BONDING_MASTER=yes MASTER=bond100
ONBOOT=yes SLAVE=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

Team and team port configuration:
ifcfg−my_team0:
DEVICE=team0
TEAM_CONFIG="{ \"device\": \"team0\", \"runner\": {\"name\": \"roundrobin\"}, \"ports\": {\"eth1\": {}, \"eth2\": {}} }"
DEVICETYPE=Team
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
NAME=team0−profile
UUID=1d3460a0−7b37−457f−a300−fe8d92da4807
ONBOOT=yes

ifcfg−my_team0_slave1:
NAME=team0−slave1
UUID=d5aed298−c567−4cc1−b808−6d38ecef9e64
DEVICE=eth1
ONBOOT=yes
TEAM_MASTER=team0
DEVICETYPE=TeamPort

ifcfg−my_team0_slave2:
NAME=team0−slave2
UUID=94e75f4e−e5ad−401c−8962−31e0ae5d2215
DEVICE=eth2
ONBOOT=yes
TEAM_MASTER=team0
DEVICETYPE=TeamPort

The UUID values in the config files must be unique. You can use uuidgen command line tool to generate such values. Alternatively, you can leave out UUID entirely. In that case NetworkManager will generate a UUID based on the file name.

DIFFERENCES AGAINST INITSCRIPTS

The main differences of NetworkManager ifcfg−rh plugin and traditional initscripts are:

NM_CONTROLLED=yes|no

NM_CONTROLLED is NetworkManager−specific variable used by NetworkManager for determining whether the device of the ifcfg file should be managed. NM_CONTROLLED=yes is supposed if the variable is not present in the file. Note that if you have more ifcfg files for a single device, NM_CONTROLLED=no in one of the files will cause the device not to be managed. The profile may not even be the active one.

New variables

NetworkManager has introduced some new variable, not present in initscripts, to be able to store data for its new features. The variables are marked as extensions in the tables bellows.

Semantic change of variables

NetworkManager had to slightly change the semantic for a few variables.

• PEERDNS − initscripts interpret PEERDNS=no to mean "never touch resolv.conf". NetworkManager interprets it to say "never add automatic (DHCP, PPP, VPN, etc.) nameservers to resolv.conf".

• ONBOOT − initscripts use ONBOOT=yes to mark the devices that are to be activated during boot. NetworkManager extents this to also mean that this profile can be used for auto−connecting at any time.

• BOOTPROTO − NetworkManager supports traditional values none (static), dhcp. But it also allows additional values to enable new addressing methods. They are autoip for IPv4 link−local addressing using Avahi daemon and shared for connection sharing. When shared is used, NetworkManager assigns the interface 10.42.0.1, or it uses the first static address, if configured.

See the next section for detailed mapping of NetworkManager properties and ifcfg−rh variables. Variable names, format and usage differences in NetworkManager and initscripts are documented in the tables bellow.

DETAILS

ifcfg−rh plugin variables marked with (+) are NetworkManager specific extensions not understood by traditional initscripts.

Table 1. 802-1x setting

Table 2. bond setting

Table 3. bridge-port setting
Table 4. bridge setting

Table 5. connection setting

Table 6. dcb setting

All DCB related configuration is a NetworkManager extention. DCB=yes must be used explicitly to enable DCB so that the rest of the DCB_* variables can apply.

Table 7. infiniband setting

Table 8. ipv4 setting

Table 9. ipv6 setting

Table 10. team-port setting

Table 11. team setting

Table 12. vlan setting

Table 13. 802-3-ethernet setting

Table 14. 802-11-wireless-security setting

Table 15. 802-11-wireless setting

The following settings are not supported by ifcfg−rh plugin:

adsl, bluetooth, ppp, pppoe, serial, generic, gsm, cdma, 802−11−olpc−mesh, wimax, vpn

Secret flags
Each secret property in a NetworkManager setting has an associated flags property that describes how to handle that secret. In the fcfg−rh plugin variables for secret flags have a _FLAGS suffix. The variables contain one or more of the folowing values (space separated). Missing (or empty) *_FLAGS variable means that the password is owned by NetworkManager.

• user − a user−session secret agent is responsible for providing and storing this secret; when it is required, agents will be asked to provide it.

• ask − the associated password is not saved but it will be requested from the user each time it is required.

• unused − in some situations it cannot be automatically determined that a secret is required or not. This flag hints that the secret is not required and should not be requested from the user.

AUTHOR

NetworkManager developers

FILES

/etc/sysconfig/network−scripts/ifcfg−*

/etc/sysconfig/network−scripts/keys−*

/etc/sysconfig/network−scripts/route−*

/etc/sysconfig/network−scripts/route6−*

/usr/share/doc/initscripts/sysconfig.txt