Moved my work machine to openSUSE 11 this week, and I’ve noticed a couple of things. I am using a dell D820 laptop with wireless working, which is cool. However, when I am in the office I am hardwired with static IP address. When I go home I am using the laptop wirelessly. However, in the network configuration I see only 1 spot to enter in gateway and DNS information. Is there a way (like in windows) to specify different gateways and DNS server for wired and wireless connections?
Issue #2:
It appears that 3 times this week I’ve lost DNS information and my computer could not connect to our exchange server (for email) or get on the net via UNC, I could however ping some ip addresses. I had to go into Network Devices and check to make sure my DNS info was still entered, and it was, so not sure what was going on. Though when I saved then network settings, my net connection was terminated, then I was getting errors in network devices saying that opensuse could not update certain files from the internet. I am not sure why this was happening, but I had to abort that operation and reboot the system. After 2 reboots I was finally able to get access to our systems here.
Hmm, my solution for switching between wireless networks is to put as little information as possible in the yast network configuration. In other words, don’t specify a gateway, DNS, or IP (just set to DHCP), or access point, encryption, etc. Then, just use the Network Manager and specify all this information for the individual connections. You will then be able to switch easily. For example, at home I use a static IP address, and the connection profile has the IP address, gateway, and DNS specified, but when using a connection at a cafe, for example, I just let all of it get configured via DHCP, and generally, it just works.
In Yast, I set all my parameters to DHCP, this works on the wired, though I need a static IP address while I’m at work. When you say Networkmanager, do you mean the network icon on the panel? If so, when I right click and “Edit Connections”, I enter in the static information, then when I click “OK” to save the changes a warning box comes up saying I need to do this through Yast. So I am not sure how to set up my laptop the way you did.
strange, I Have a Fedora 9 box here and I just attempted what you were mentioning, and it works with Fedora 9 like a champ. I can’t get it to work with openSUSE at all.
Kevinpo: When you say that you have a static IP, do you mean that you have to configure your own machine, or that the dhcp server always gives you the same address? I’m assuming the former, but I wanted to ask…
Anyway, you do need to do it through Yast. NetworkManager is really for configuring different parameters for different networks on the same adapter; i.e. different wireless settings for home and work. You should not need it to set different settings for two different adapters (hard-wired and wireless), even though it may work.
I would open Yast, then Network Devices, and then edit each device. You can work with each device (wired and wireless) separately. You will need to turn off dhcp for your wired (obviously), and enter your route settings (which you can view with /sbin/route while everything is working), etc.
Am I understanding your question/dilemma correctly?
yes, you are correct, I have manually set my IP address, gateway and DNS setting for my wired. The weird thing is, when I set this up, and got both wired and wireless working at work, when I took my machine home, it would not connect to my wireless, even though I specified the correct SSID and etc. I had to go back into Yast, and remove my gateway and DNS information in order for me to connect at home.
then when I return to work, reset that information up. big PITA, unless I am missing something, which I’m sure I am. using wireless in linux is new to me.
Now, you say you go to Yast > Network Devices > Network Settings. That seems fine.
Once there, do you work with the tabs that come up right when you open that module? Or do you select one of your network devices, click “Edit”, and work from those tabs?
It seems like the former would describe what you’re going through and the latter should work. Sorry, but I’m having my own networking woes, and it only sort-of works as it is, otherwise I’d test out my own suggestion.
Under Global, I am using Network Manager, IPv6 is disabled, Request Broadcast Response is unchecked, and it is sending AUTO as the hostname, and change default route via DHCP is checked.
Under Hostname/DNS I have DNS updated via DHCP, and have listed a host and domain name, with writing to /etc/hosts checked.
Routing has no default gateway set, and no routing table.
My wireless card has the following options:
It is using DHCP, operating mode is Managed, no ESSID set, no encryption for Authentication Mode.
My ethernet card is set for DHCP as well.
With all that set up that way, I can set different network configurations with encryption or without, DHCP or static, different DNS schemes, wired/wireless all from within Network Manager.
