NetworkManager.conf: NetworkManager Reference Manual

Description

NetworkManager.conf is the configuration file for NetworkManager. It is used to set up various aspects of NetworkManager's behavior. The location of the main file and configuration directories may be changed through use of the --config, --config-dir, --system-config-dir, and --intern-config argument for NetworkManager, respectively.

If a default NetworkManager.conf is provided by your distribution's packages, you should not modify it, since your changes may get overwritten by package updates. Instead, you can add additional .conf files to the /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d directory. These will be read in order, with later files overriding earlier ones. Packages might install further configuration snippets to /usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d. This directory is parsed first, even before NetworkManager.conf. The loading of a file /usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d/name.conf can be prevented by adding a file /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/name.conf. In this case, the file from the etc configuration shadows the file from the system configuration directory.

NetworkManager can overwrite certain user configuration options via D-Bus or other internal operations. In this case it writes those changes to /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager-intern.conf. This file is not intended to be modified by the user, but it is read last and can shadow user configuration from NetworkManager.conf.

Certain settings from the configuration can be reloaded at runtime either by sending SIGHUP signal or via D-Bus' Reload call.

File Format

The configuration file format is so-called key file (sort of ini-style format). It consists of sections (groups) of key-value pairs. Lines beginning with a '#' and blank lines are considered comments. Sections are started by a header line containing the section enclosed in '[' and ']', and ended implicitly by the start of the next section or the end of the file. Each key-value pair must be contained in a section.

For keys that take a list of devices as their value, you can specify devices by their MAC addresses or interface names, or "*" to specify all devices. See the section called “Device List Format” below.

Minimal system settings configuration file looks like this:

[main]
plugins=keyfile

As an extension to the normal keyfile format, you can also append a value to a previously-set list-valued key by doing:

plugins+=another-plugin
plugins-=remove-me

`main` section

`plugins`	Lists system settings plugin names separated by ','. These plugins are used to read and write system-wide connections. When multiple plugins are specified, the connections are read from all listed plugins. When writing connections, the plugins will be asked to save the connection in the order listed here; if the first plugin cannot write out that connection type (or can't write out any connections) the next plugin is tried, etc. If none of the plugins can save the connection, an error is returned to the user. If NetworkManager defines a distro-specific network-configuration plugin for your system, then that will normally be listed here. (See below for the available plugins.) Note that the `keyfile` plugin is always appended to the end of this list (if it doesn't already appear earlier in the list), so if there is no distro-specific plugin for your system then you can leave this key unset and NetworkManager will fall back to using `keyfile`.
`monitor-connection-files`	Whether the configured settings plugin(s) should set up file monitors and immediately pick up changes made to connection files while NetworkManager is running. This is disabled by default; NetworkManager will only read the connection files at startup, and when explicitly requested via the ReloadConnections D-Bus call. If this key is set to '`true`', then NetworkManager will reload connection files any time they changed. Automatic reloading is not advised because there are race conditions involved and it depends on the way how the editor updates the file. In some situations, NetworkManager might first delete and add the connection anew, instead of updating the existing one. Also, NetworkManager might pick up incomplete settings while the user is still editing the files.
`auth-polkit`	Whether the system uses PolicyKit for authorization. If `false`, all requests will be allowed. If `true`, non-root requests are authorized using PolicyKit. The default value is `true`.
`dhcp`	This key sets up what DHCP client NetworkManager will use. Allowed values are `dhclient`, `dhcpcd`, and `internal`. The `dhclient` and `dhcpcd` options require the indicated clients to be installed. The `internal` option uses a built-in DHCP client which is not currently as featureful as the external clients. If this key is missing, available DHCP clients are looked for in this order: `dhclient`, `dhcpcd`, `internal`.
`no-auto-default`	Specify devices for which NetworkManager shouldn't create default wired connection (Auto eth0). By default, NetworkManager creates a temporary wired connection for any Ethernet device that is managed and doesn't have a connection configured. List a device in this option to inhibit creating the default connection for the device. May have the special value `` to apply to all devices. When the default wired connection is deleted or saved to a new persistent connection by a plugin, the device is added to a list in the file `/var/run/NetworkManager/no-auto-default.state` to prevent creating the default connection for that device again. See the section called “Device List Format” for the syntax how to specify a device. Example: no-auto-default=00:22:68:5c:5d:c4,00:1e:65:ff:aa:ee no-auto-default=eth0,eth1 no-auto-default=
`ignore-carrier`	This setting is deprecated for the per-device setting `ignore-carrier` which overwrites this setting if specified (See ???). Otherwise, it is a list of matches to specify for which device carrier should be ignored. See the section called “Device List Format” for the syntax how to specify a device.
`assume-ipv6ll-only`	Specify devices for which NetworkManager will try to generate a connection based on initial configuration when the device only has an IPv6 link-local address. See the section called “Device List Format” for the syntax how to specify a device.
`configure-and-quit`	When set to '`true`', NetworkManager quits after performing initial network configuration but spawns small helpers to preserve DHCP leases and IPv6 addresses. This is useful in environments where network setup is more or less static or it is desirable to save process time but still handle some dynamic configurations. When this option is `true`, network configuration for WiFi, WWAN, Bluetooth, ADSL, and PPPoE interfaces cannot be preserved due to their use of external services, and these devices will be deconfigured when NetworkManager quits even though other interface's configuration may be preserved. Also, to preserve DHCP addresses the '`dhcp`' option must be set to '`internal`'. The default value of the '`configure-and-quit`' option is '`false`', meaning that NetworkManager will continue running after initial network configuration and continue responding to system and hardware events, D-Bus requests, and user commands.
`dns`	Set the DNS (`resolv.conf`) processing mode. `default`: The default if the key is not specified. NetworkManager will update `resolv.conf` to reflect the nameservers provided by currently active connections. `dnsmasq`: NetworkManager will run dnsmasq as a local caching nameserver, using a "split DNS" configuration if you are connected to a VPN, and then update `resolv.conf` to point to the local nameserver. `unbound`: NetworkManager will talk to unbound and dnssec-triggerd, providing a "split DNS" configuration with DNSSEC support. The `/etc/resolv.conf` will be managed by dnssec-trigger daemon. `none`: NetworkManager will not modify resolv.conf. This implies `rc-manager` `unmanaged`
`rc-manager`	Set the `resolv.conf` management mode. The default value depends on NetworkManager build options, and this version of NetworkManager was build with a default of "`symlink`". Regardless of this setting, NetworkManager will always write resolv.conf to its runtime state directory. `symlink`: NetworkManager will symlink `/etc/resolv.conf` to its private resolv.conf file in the runtime state directory. If `/etc/resolv.conf` already is a symlink pointing to a different location, the file will not be modified. This allows the user to disable managing by pointing the link `/etc/resolv.conf` to somewhere else. `file`: NetworkManager will write `/etc/resolv.conf` as file. If it finds a symlink, it will follow the symlink and update the target instead. `resolvconf`: NetworkManager will run resolvconf to update the DNS configuration. `netconfig`: NetworkManager will run netconfig to update the DNS configuration. `unmanaged`: don't touch `/etc/resolv.conf`. `none`: deprecated alias for `symlink`.
`debug`	Comma separated list of options to aid debugging. This value will be combined with the environment variable `NM_DEBUG`. Currently the following values are supported: `RLIMIT_CORE`: set ulimit -c unlimited to write out core dumps. Beware, that a core dump can contain sensitive information such as passwords or configuration settings. `fatal-warnings`: set g_log_set_always_fatal() to core dump on warning messages from glib. This is equivalent to the --g-fatal-warnings command line option.

`keyfile` section

This section contains keyfile-plugin-specific options, and is normally only used when you are not using any other distro-specific plugin.

hostname

This key is deprecated and has no effect since the hostname is now stored in /etc/hostname or other system configuration files according to build options.

path

The location where keyfiles are read and stored. This defaults to "/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d".

unmanaged-devices

Set devices that should be ignored by NetworkManager.

See the section called “Device List Format” for the syntax how to specify a device.

Example:

unmanaged-devices=interface-name:em4
unmanaged-devices=mac:00:22:68:1c:59:b1;mac:00:1E:65:30:D1:C4;interface-name:eth2

`ifupdown` section

This section contains ifupdown-specific options and thus only has effect when using the ifupdown plugin.

managed

If set to true, then interfaces listed in /etc/network/interfaces are managed by NetworkManager. If set to false, then any interface listed in /etc/network/interfaces will be ignored by NetworkManager. Remember that NetworkManager controls the default route, so because the interface is ignored, NetworkManager may assign the default route to some other interface.

The default value is false.

`logging` section

This section controls NetworkManager's logging. Any settings here are overridden by the --log-level and --log-domains command-line options.

`level`	The default logging verbosity level. One of `OFF`, `ERR`, `WARN`, `INFO`, `DEBUG`, `TRACE`. The ERR level logs only critical errors. WARN logs warnings that may reflect operation. INFO logs various informational messages that are useful for tracking state and operations. DEBUG enables verbose logging for debugging purposes. TRACE enables even more verbose logging then DEBUG level. Subsequent levels also log all messages from earlier levels; thus setting the log level to INFO also logs error and warning messages.
`domains`	The following log domains are available: PLATFORM, RFKILL, ETHER, WIFI, BT, MB, DHCP4, DHCP6, PPP, WIFI_SCAN, IP4, IP6, AUTOIP4, DNS, VPN, SHARING, SUPPLICANT, AGENTS, SETTINGS, SUSPEND, CORE, DEVICE, OLPC, WIMAX, INFINIBAND, FIREWALL, ADSL, BOND, VLAN, BRIDGE, DBUS_PROPS, TEAM, CONCHECK, DCB, DISPATCH, AUDIT, SYSTEMD, VPN_PLUGIN. In addition, these special domains can be used: NONE, ALL, DEFAULT, DHCP, IP. You can specify per-domain log level overrides by adding a colon and a log level to any domain. E.g., "`WIFI:DEBUG,WIFI_SCAN:OFF`".

`backend`	The logging backend. Supported values are "`debug`", "`syslog`", "`journal`". "`debug`" uses syslog and logs to standard error. If NetworkManager is started in debug mode (`--debug`) this option is ignored and "`debug`" is always used. Otherwise, the default is "`journal`".
`audit`	Whether the audit records are delivered to auditd, the audit daemon. If `false`, audit records will be sent only to the NetworkManager logging system. If set to `true`, they will be also sent to auditd. The default value is `false`.

`connection` section

Specify default values for connections.

Example:

[connection]
ipv6.ip6-privacy=0

Supported Properties

Not all properties can be overwritten, only the following properties are supported to have their default values configured (see nm-settings(5) for details). A default value is only consulted if the corresponding per-connection value explicitly allows for that.

`connection.autoconnect-slaves`
`connection.lldp`
`ethernet.cloned-mac-address`	If left unspecified, it defaults to "permanent".
`ethernet.generate-mac-address-mask`
`ethernet.wake-on-lan`
`ipv4.dad-timeout`
`ipv4.dhcp-timeout`	If left unspecified, the default value for the interface type is used.
`ipv4.route-metric`
`ipv6.ip6-privacy`	If `ipv6.ip6-privacy` is unset, use the content of "/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/default/use_tempaddr" as last fallback.
`ipv6.route-metric`
`vpn.timeout`	If left unspecified, default value of 60 seconds is used.
`wifi.cloned-mac-address`	If left unspecified, it defaults to "permanent".
`wifi.generate-mac-address-mask`
`wifi.mac-address-randomization`	If left unspecified, MAC address randomization is disabled. This setting is deprecated for `wifi.cloned-mac-address`.
`wifi.powersave`	If left unspecified, the default value "`ignore`" will be used.

Sections

You can configure multiple connection sections, by having different sections with a name that all start with "connection". Example:

[connection]
ipv6.ip6-privacy=0
connection.autoconnect-slaves=1
vpn.timeout=120

[connection-wifi-wlan0]
match-device=interface-name:wlan0
ipv4.route-metric=50

[connection-wifi-other]
match-device=type:wifi
ipv4.route-metric=55
ipv6.ip6-privacy=1

The sections within one file are considered in order of appearance, with the exception that the [connection] section is always considered last. In the example above, this order is [connection-wifi-wlan0], [connection-wlan-other], and [connection]. When checking for a default configuration value, the sections are searched until the requested value is found. In the example above, "ipv4.route-metric" for wlan0 interface is set to 50, and for all other Wi-Fi typed interfaces to 55. Also, Wi-Fi devices would have IPv6 private addresses enabled by default, but other devices would have it disabled. Note that also "wlan0" gets "ipv6.ip6-privacy=1", because although the section "[connection-wifi-wlan0]" matches the device, it does not contain that property and the search continues.

When having different sections in multiple files, sections from files that are read later have higher priority. So within one file the priority of the sections is top-to-bottom. Across multiple files later definitions take precedence.

The following properties further control how a connection section applies.

match-device

An optional device spec that restricts when the section applies. See the section called “Device List Format” for the possible values.

stop-match

An optional boolean value which defaults to no. If the section matches (based on match-device), further sections will not be considered even if the property in question is not present. In the example above, if [connection-wifi-wlan0] would have stop-match set to yes, the device wlan0 would have ipv6.ip6-privacy property unspecified. That is, the search for the property would not continue in the connection sections [connection-wifi-other] or [connection].

`device` section

Contains per-device persistent configuration.

Example:

[device]
match-device=interface-name:eth3
unmanaged=1

Supported Properties

The following properties can be configured per-device.

ignore-carrier

Specify devices for which NetworkManager will (partially) ignore the carrier state. Normally, for device types that support carrier-detect, such as Ethernet and InfiniBand, NetworkManager will only allow a connection to be activated on the device if carrier is present (ie, a cable is plugged in), and it will deactivate the device if carrier drops for more than a few seconds.

A device with carrier ignored will allow activating connections on that device even when it does not have carrier, provided that the connection uses only statically-configured IP addresses. Additionally, it will allow any active connection (whether static or dynamic) to remain active on the device when carrier is lost.

Note that the "carrier" property of NMDevices and device D-Bus interfaces will still reflect the actual device state; it's just that NetworkManager will not make use of that information.

This setting overwrites the deprecated main.ignore-carrier setting above.

wifi.scan-rand-mac-address

Configures MAC address randomization of a Wi-Fi device during scanning. This defaults to yes in which case a random, locally-administered MAC address will be used. The setting wifi.scan-generate-mac-address-mask allows to influence the generated MAC address to use certain vendor OUIs. If disabled, the MAC address during scanning is left unchanged to whatever is configured. For the configured MAC address while the device is associated, see instead the per-connection setting wifi.cloned-mac-address.

wifi.scan-generate-mac-address-mask

Like the per-connection settings ethernet.generate-mac-address-mask and wifi.generate-mac-address-mask, this allows to configure the generated MAC addresses during scanning. See nm-settings(5) for details.

Sections

The [device] section works the same as the [connection] section. That is, multiple sections that all start with the prefix "device" can be specified. The settings "match-device" and "stop-match" are available to match a device section on a device. The order of multiple sections is also top-down within the file and later files overwrite previous settings. See the section called “Sections” for details.

`connectivity` section

This section controls NetworkManager's optional connectivity checking functionality. This allows NetworkManager to detect whether or not the system can actually access the internet or whether it is behind a captive portal.

`uri`	The URI of a web page to periodically request when connectivity is being checked. This page should return the header "X-NetworkManager-Status" with a value of "online". Alternatively, it's body content should be set to "NetworkManager is online". The body content check can be controlled by the `response` option. If this option is blank or missing, connectivity checking is disabled.
`interval`	Specified in seconds; controls how often connectivity is checked when a network connection exists. If set to 0 connectivity checking is disabled. If missing, the default is 300 seconds.
`response`	If set controls what body content NetworkManager checks for when requesting the URI for connectivity checking. If missing, defaults to "NetworkManager is online"

`global-dns` section

This section specifies global DNS settings that override connection-specific configuration.

`searches`	A list of search domains to be used during hostname lookup.
`options`	A list of of options to be passed to the hostname resolver.

`global-dns-domain` sections

Sections with a name starting with the "global-dns-domain-" prefix allow to define global DNS configuration for specific domains. The part of section name after "global-dns-domain-" specifies the domain name a section applies to. More specific domains have the precedence over less specific ones and the default domain is represented by the wildcard "*". A default domain section is mandatory.

`servers`	A list of addresses of DNS servers to be used for the given domain.
`options`	A list of domain-specific DNS options. Not used at the moment.

`.config` sections

This is a special section that contains options which apply to the configuration file that contains the option.

enable

Defaults to "true". If "false", the configuration file will be skipped during loading. Note that the main configuration file NetworkManager.conf cannot be disabled.

# always skip loading the config file
[.config]
enable=false

You can also match against the version of NetworkManager. For example the following are valid configurations:

# only load on version 1.0.6
[.config]
enable=nm-version:1.0.6

# load on all versions 1.0.x, but not 1.2.x
[.config]
enable=nm-version:1.0

# only load on versions >= 1.1.6. This does not match
# with version 1.2.0 or 1.4.4. Only the last digit is considered.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-min:1.1.6

# only load on versions >= 1.2. Contrary to the previous
# example, this also matches with 1.2.0, 1.2.10, 1.4.4, etc.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-min:1.2

# Match against the maximum allowed version. The example matches
# versions 1.2.0, 1.2.2, 1.2.4. Again, only the last version digit
# is allowed to be smaller. So this would not match match on 1.1.10.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-max:1.2.6

You can also match against the value of the environment variable NM_CONFIG_ENABLE_TAG, like:

# always skip loading the file when running NetworkManager with
# environment variable "NM_CONFIG_ENABLE_TAG=TAG1"
[.config]
enable=env:TAG1

More then one match can be specified. The configuration will be enabled if one of the predicates matches ("or"). The special prefix "except:" can be used to negate the match. Note that if one except-predicate matches, the entire configuration will be disabled. In other words, a except predicate always wins over other predicates.

# enable the configuration either when the environment variable
# is present or the version is at least 1.2.0.
[.config]
enable=env:TAG2,nm-version-min:1.2

# enable the configuration for version >= 1.2.0, but disable
# it when the environment variable is set to "TAG3"
[.config]
enable=except:env:TAG3,nm-version-min:1.2

# enable the configuration on >= 1.3, >= 1.2.6, and >= 1.0.16.
# Useful if a certain feature is only present since those releases.
[.config]
enable=nm-version-min:1.3,nm-version-min:1.2.6,nm-version-min:1.0.16

Plugins

`keyfile`	The `keyfile` plugin is the generic plugin that supports all the connection types and capabilities that NetworkManager has. It writes files out in an .ini-style format in `/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections`. The stored connection file may contain passwords and private keys, so it will be made readable only to root, and the plugin will ignore files that are readable or writable by any user or group other than root. This plugin is always active, and will automatically be used to store any connections that aren't supported by any other active plugin.
`ifcfg-rh`	This plugin is used on the Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions to read and write configuration from the standard `/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*` files. It currently supports reading Ethernet, Wi-Fi, InfiniBand, VLAN, Bond, Bridge, and Team connections. Enabling `ifcfg-rh` implicitly enables `ibft` plugin, if it is available. This can be disabled by adding `no-ibft`.
`ifcfg-suse`	This plugin is deprecated and its selection has no effect. The `keyfile` plugin should be used instead.
`ifupdown`	This plugin is used on the Debian and Ubuntu distributions, and reads Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections from `/etc/network/interfaces`. This plugin is read-only; any connections (of any type) added from within NetworkManager when you are using this plugin will be saved using the `keyfile` plugin instead.
`ibft`, `no-ibft`	This plugin allows to read iBFT configuration (iSCSI Boot Firmware Table). The configuration is read using `/sbin/iscsiadm`. Users are expected to configure iBFT connections via the firmware interfaces. If ibft support is available, it is automatically enabled after `ifcfg-rh`. This can be disabled by `no-ibft`. You can also explicitly specify `ibft` to load the plugin without `ifcfg-rh` or to change the plugin order. Note that ibft plugin uses `/sbin/iscsiadm` and thus requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

Appendix

Device List Format

The configuration options main.no-auto-default, main.ignore-carrier, keyfile.unmanaged-devices, connection*.match-device and device*.match-device select devices based on a list of matchings. Devices can be specified using the following format:

*	Matches every device.
IFNAME	Case sensitive match of interface name of the device. Globbing is not supported.
HWADDR	Match the permanent MAC address of the device. Globbing is not supported
interface-name:IFNAME, interface-name:~IFNAME	Case sensitive match of interface name of the device. Simple globbing is supported with `*` and `?`. Ranges and escaping is not supported.
interface-name:=IFNAME	Case sensitive match of interface name of the device. Globbing is disabled and `IFNAME` is taken literally.
mac:HWADDR	Match the permanent MAC address of the device. Globbing is not supported
s390-subchannels:HWADDR	Match the device based on the subchannel address. Globbing is not supported
type:TYPE	Match the device type. Valid type names are as reported by "`nmcli -f GENERAL.TYPE device show`". Globbing is not supported.
except:SPEC	Negative match of a device. `SPEC` must be explicitly qualified with a prefix such as `interface-name:`. A negative match has higher priority then the positive matches above.
SPEC[,;]SPEC	Multiple specs can be concatenated with commas or semicolons. The order does not matter as matches are either inclusive or negative (`except:`), with negative matches having higher priority. Backslash is supported to escape the separators ';' and ',', and to express special characters such as newline ('\n'), tabulator ('\t'), whitespace ('\s') and backslash ('\\'). The globbing of interface names cannot be escaped. Whitespace is not a separator but will be trimmed between two specs (unless escaped as '\s').

Example:

interface-name:em4
mac:00:22:68:1c:59:b1;mac:00:1E:65:30:D1:C4;interface-name:eth2
interface-name:vboxnet*,except:interface-name:vboxnet2
*,except:mac:00:22:68:1c:59:b1