Bug 152102

Summary:	NetworkManager seems useful but very hard to drive
Product:	[openSUSE] SUSE Linux 10.1	Reporter:	Jon Nelson <jnelson-suse>
Component:	Network	Assignee:	Robert Love <rml>
Status:	RESOLVED INVALID	QA Contact:	E-mail List <qa-bugs>
Severity:	Enhancement
Priority:	P5 - None	CC:	lunar_raven, suse-beta
Version:	Beta 4
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	Other
OS:	Other
Whiteboard:
Found By:	Other	Services Priority:
Business Priority:		Blocker:	---
Marketing QA Status:	---	IT Deployment:	---

Description Jon Nelson 2006-02-19 16:59:43 UTC

Like most of the people I know with a laptop, sometimes it is used as a desktop replacement and other times it is used as a laptop. Specifically, there are times when it is plugged in to a wired network and there are other times when the wireless is used.

I found configuring NetworkManager to be very confusing - I've been doing networking for over 10 years and honestly I found it completely opaque - where are the configuration files stored if not under /etc/sysconfig/network?  If those are the configuration files, then why do they seem to be ignored?  Specifically, I require that eth0 (the wired interface) have a static IP and that, if 'ifplugd' is used that it should actually be started (this does not appear to be the case). I had to configure the interface with the "old" (but very reliable) interface, however that means that NetworkManager is turned off completely and using it for my wireless interface was not possible. So then I turned it back on but then ifplugd doesn't start and therefore it never knows when eth0 has been plugged in or not.  Futhermore, I found it very difficult to keep NetworkManager from using dhcpd - in only 1 of the 3 environments I use my laptop do they use dhcp - in the others I am assigned addresses and such. NetworkManger looks /really/ nice to use but it makes having non-dhcp interfaces very difficult. How is NetworkManager configured? The docs were not very much help. No mention of config files whatsoever.

Please find a way to make it easier to configure interfaces for use with NetworkManager such that some can have static addresses and others can use dhcp - this is much too hard and honestly I'm not even sure if it's deterministic.

Comment 1 Joe Crollard 2006-02-19 17:08:01 UTC

I agree, it is a bit confusing.  You can actually configure it with the old interface, and then turn on network manager.  However, that does make NetworkManager seem a little insignificant.

I'd like to see a 'configure network card' option when right clicking on the NetworkManager applet, or something.

Comment 2 Michael Gross 2006-02-20 11:09:56 UTC

AFAIK NetworkManager was mainly intended for the use of Wireless-devices. I'll redirect this to the maintainer for a comment.

Comment 3 JP Rosevear 2006-03-02 23:29:15 UTC

NetworkManager obeys the individual interface settings in /etc/sysconfig/network and several of the global settings.

The difficulty to setup was the result of yast bug.  It now allows you to configure whether you choose ifup or NM networking.

Comment 4 Robert Love 2006-03-03 00:03:59 UTC

As JP said, static IP configurations are configured under YaST.  In later builds this should be more intuitive.  If not, please file a _specific_ bug under the YaST component.

Second, NM does offer a lot of other configuration.  It is meant to "just work", although it does obey a handful of the settings under /etc/sysconfig/network.

Finally, NM does not use ifplugd.  It does its own carrier detection.  You need to just let NM do its thing -- if you want to tweak dhcp and ifplugd and such, you don't want NetworkManager.

Closing.