Guidance please with network connections following recent re-build

English Network/Internet
1

I have just re-built my TW system and as recommended switched from wicked to Network Manager. The system is running but my network connections are not yet correctly configured and I have one connection repeatedly trying to connect and one remaining connected.

I have two network connections, one a built in nic and the second a usb dongle network device.

As a new build both are, I assume, using DHCP. Here are the address configurations:-

alastair@HP-Z640-1:~> ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eno1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 70:5a:0f:3a:fa:27 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    altname enp0s25
    inet6 fe80::bcf6:18b2:e2bf:712/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: enp0s20u4: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 7c:c2:c6:33:10:d0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.169.243/25 brd 192.168.169.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute enp0s20u4
       valid_lft 83365sec preferred_lft 83365sec
    inet6 fe80::f707:eb38:9f82:3a5d/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
alastair@HP-Z640-1:~>

At present eno1 is the built-in nic and is not completing a connection.
enp0s20u4 which is the USB dongle is connecting correctly.

My intention and what I had configured previously but using wicked was to have the built-in nic configured with a static ip (192.168.169.137) and to allow the dongle to continue to work with DHCP. Both are connected to a switch with ports on the same subnet. The second connection is intended to be used for virtual machines when I have set these up.

Am I going in the right direction and are there any specific issues I should consider?

2

Is this for security reasons? I ask because all of my VMs simply share the network card (connection) being used on the host TW.

… a curious question - did you “rebuild” (unclear what that means - reinstalled??) the TW simply to switch from Wicked to NetworkManager??

3

Some of the configuration options are simpler with a second network connection. At some point it might be changed to another subnet, again for simplicity and to facilitate local lan connections. Still learning on this. Networking is a big subject.

I rebuilt because I had in the recent past changed graphics adaptor, updated from Leap 15.4 to 15.5 and then TW and found my system could not then use X11 for my desktop but had been forced to use Plasma (Wayland).
After wasting much time I was advised just to do a fresh installation and thus remove the accumulated residual and unwanted stuff which might have been causing the DM problem. The NM issue is because wicked is now or likely to become deprecated.

The re-installation left me with a working system which enables me to switch DMs and they all work perfectly. Sadly I have a problem with NM but probably down to my ignorance.

4

As a footnote to the above my network connection is well broken now. I have a blue circular ring rotating around my NM icon in my task manager and the connection is very intermittent.

Unfortunately my fresh installation with NM selected means that I do not have the wicked fall back. I have installed wicked fro repo but I cannot enable it from Yast. Please could somebody help me with this.

I am using my laptop to keep communication open!!!

5

Appreciate all the follow-up details explaining the overall reinstall situation @Budgie2 !

My two desktops have always run Wicked with no hiccups, but my laptops run NM mostly to see how it works. I considered switching the desktops to NM, but I figured “why, they run fine”.

But your other additional problems did warrant a fresh install - sometimes it’s faster to install afresh than spend too much time troubleshooting.

Sorry you’re experiencing these new network issues with a fresh install. Unfortunately, I’m not NM savvy to provide suggestions.

6

OK and thanks for the interest. As a matter of course I usually use NM on laptops and wicked on desktops.
I have two possible underlying issues which might be the source of problems, a possible bug in the now ancient on-board Intel nic which, if I dual boot to Windows for any reason can sometimes require me to power off the computer ie. unplug, before booting back to TW. A fix has never been issued and time has moved on.

The second issue concerns my string of network switches between the firewall router and the workstation in question. I rely on a vpn for the management subnet for all our hardware and some switches do not handle dhcp well on subnets because the switches are very basic L2 not true L2 switches so I may have some elements configured due to my ignorance.
Time flies when you are having fun.