"network Manager vs. ifup" with OS 13.2, any updated thoughts?

English Network/Internet
1

I searched on this topic, as I have in the past, and only see hits from ‘the early days’ of Network Manager (2009-2011).

Having just successfully upgraded to 13.2/KDE, decided to check again.

No doubt Network Manager has matured over the years and runs very well on my laptop.

I have always used ifup for network interface management on my stationary machines, because way back when it was ‘preferred’.
Aside from legacy, is that still considered to be true?

Motivation:
I like to use NFS shares on my machines whenever possible, as some applications (in the past at least) did not properly interface to Samba shares when interfacing with the KDE file selector, and NFS always seems easier/faster (fewer navigation steps).
Network Manager is very tolerant of NFS shares that are not on line (silently does not mount them, quickly), whereas ifup will wait 5 minutes per share on boot-up, not very friendly.

I’ll probably just try it, but thought first I would ask about any updated philosophy on the topic.

Thanks

2

Strictly speaking, “ifup” is gone. It is replaced by “wicked”, and some folk are unhappy about that.

I’m using “wicked” on my desktop, and “NetworkManager” on my laptop.

For most uses, it won’t make a lot of difference. Using “NetworkManager” gives individual users the ability to connect/disconnect. With “wicked”, you need root access for that. So I guess a server should use “wicked”.

3

A “wicked” good answer, thanks.

I had not noticed the ifup to wicked change.
I just looked in YAST-Network Settings and confirm that the Wicked Service is now in charge.

4

Hmm, I just tried to make the switch on my 13.2/KDE desktop from wicked service to Network Manager.
It did switch to a Wired Connection 1", which appears to be DHCP, NM calls it Automatic.

But, the new Network Manager Connection editor is a lot different than 13.1, unclear how to create a static ipv4 setup.

Am I missing something?

5

I just switched one system back to NetworkManager, so that I could look around.

Yes, “Automatic” seems to imply DHCP.

It looks as if selecting “Manual” would allow you to set a static IP address. You would presumably have to also configure routes.

The only setting that I changed was for IPv6, where I set the privacy extensions (to “prefer private address”).

6

That’s what I thought/expected as well.
Alas, the only fields not available when selecting Manual are the desired IP address and the Subnet Mask (I am comparing the setup tabs between 13.2 and 13.1.)

Based on Google search, I see folks over at Arch asking the same questions

7

Right. But there is a separate button for routing. I did not try that, but I would guess that is where you set routes.

8

Wait a minute, now I see, You add the Address and Netwmask and Gateway to a table at bottom of tab.

Why would I want to have more than one address per connection…
I’ll have to think on that

9

We were typing at the same time.

There are two tables available - one of IP address to be assigned, another for Routes.

10

Maybe tonight I’ll upgrade my Laptop to 13.2
I already use Net Mgr there, set up with a lot of connections.

I’ll see how they get migrated.

11

It happens.

So I think you can do what you wanted. It’s just that the interface has changed.

12

Working fine so far with one IP address (plus mask and gateway) entry in the table.

Still have not figured a reason I would ever have more than one entry for a manual connection like this.

13

I sometimes apply more than one addy to an interface when configuring devices (connected to a common switch for example). Then I can reach them both concurrently while configuring. There’s probably other valid use cases, but for most probably not ever necessary.

14

Thanks, Deano.
The only time I might need something like that would be when setting up new routers, which usually come set with 192.168.1.1 by default.
I change them to 192.168.10.1, mostly to differentiate “stock” from my setup.
I did not realize an interface could have two (or more) unique addresses.
So now I understand the NM setup scheme.

15

Yes, it’s known as an IP alias. (You can assign as many as is needed.) If using ifup/wicked, it can be done via YaST (or by hand if preferred)

or on the fly

ifconfig ens1:0 10.16.190.5/28

ifconfig
ens1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1C:C4:CF:63:7A  
          inet addr:192.168.1.11  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:75868 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:45225 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:101371728 (96.6 Mb)  TX bytes:5585297 (5.3 Mb)
          Interrupt:18 

ens1:0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1C:C4:CF:63:7A  
          inet addr:10.16.190.5  Bcast:10.16.190.15  Mask:255.255.255.240
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          Interrupt:18 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:26368 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:26368 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0