<i>For NM everything in /etc/network/interfaces are just connection
configuration - which are not bound to a particular device ... unless
the names match devices NMis supposed to manage. So NM will consider
them for devices that don't have any other explicit configuration.</i>
This seems a very odd behaviour, as it's contrary to what
/etc/network/interfaces means.
Does NM do anything else surprising with /etc/network/interfaces, like
parse the comments, look for special keywords, or invent random numbers?
I'm just wondering, because taking a static IP configuration for one
interface and automatically applying it to a different interface seems
like would never be the right thing to do. Is there a rationale for
this behaviour - i.e. a situation where it makes sense?
(By the way, why does it use the unrelated interface configurations as
possible configs for eth0, but not for wlan0?)
If it makes no sense, I suggest removing it! But if there are scenarios
where it makes sense - it really could do with being a controllable
option.
I do still want to use NM, as it works quite well for wireless
interfaces when roaming. (When it handles Bluetooth 3g broadband, that
will be really nice.)
In Hardy it worked for wired ethernet too - if that was plugged in, it
used it, and if not, it looked for a wireless signal. (On Hardy, I
still had to kill and restart NM whenever I used 3g broadband or PPP,
but NM's wired/wireless behaviour is very useful).
If I follow your suggestion of putting eth0 in NM, that would prevent NM
from managing eth0 wouldn't it? But managing eth0 - like wireless - is
useful behaviour that worked in Hardy. The useful behaviour was
detecting when a cable is plugged in, and running DHCP.
In my situation, does NM also touch the tap0 / tap1 / tap2 / tun0 /
bnep0 / pan0 interfaces which are found on my laptop, or does it just
manage eth0 and wlan0?
>From reading /usr/share/doc/network-manager/README.Debian, I guess it
won't manage tap0 / tap1 / tap2 because those are mentioned in
/etc/network/interfaces - but it _will_ try to manage tun0 (which is
created by OpenVPN) and bnep0 (which is created by Bluez pand), and pan0
(which is created by something I don't know about, but connected with
Bluetooth somehow). Is that correct?
Your suggestion to try managed=true is... puzzling. README.Debian
explains that this causes NM to manage all the interfaces - but what I
(think I) need is for NM to manage eth0 and wlan0, but not any other
interfaces (whether mentioned in /etc/network/interfaces or not), and
not to read the configurations of unrelated interfaces from
/etc/network/interfaces as potential eth0 configurations.
Neither managed=false nor managed=true will achieve that according to my
reading of the docs.
But I'll try managed=true, since I'm curious what "managed all the
interfaces in /etc/network/interfaces and honours all the DHCP / static
settings" really means :-)
Ok, tried it. Restarted /etc/init.d/NetworkManager restart. The GUI
shows exactly the same as before: "ifupdown (tap0)" (+ tap1 and tap2)
under Wired Networks, and when a wire is plugged in I expect it to use a
faulty static config from tap1 as before. There is no visible change.
What is managed=true supposed to change?
Broadening this to a couple of constructive suggestions for the future:
1. What would be useful, I think, are options like:
manage_interfaces_wired=eth0
manage_interfaces_wireless=wlan0
2. Many of us with multiple interfaces would basically like NM to
manage the usual ones, and to not do anything with the rest - except
detecting they exist and are up for the ONLINE/OFFLINE purposes. But
not all up interfaces mean ONLINE - for example tun0 for VPN and tap0
for local VMs may not, depending on user's preferences (e.g. whether
Firefox should say it's offline, or should attempt to visit a VM's
server). So in addition to the above:
report_online_if_up=eth0,wlan0
3. The above options should be entries in /etc/network/interfaces for
those interfaces listed in that file: the presence of keywords
"network_manager yes (no)" in each interface section, and
"report_online_if_up yes (no)".
4. Right now, NM will let you select a wireless AP on wlan0 to
connect to, or the wired interface on eth0 if there's a signal. When
Bluetooth 3g is added, that's like more wireless APs to choose from, but
on another interface. In general, exclusively selecting just one
interface according to an available connection, and disabling the others
(except for scanning on wireless and cable detection on wired) is a
really nice policy for roaming machines.
But alongside that, it would be a nice feature if the GUI were
able to manage _other_ interfaces in the sense of bringing them up and
down _independently_. For interfaces with just one configuration, these
would be tickboxes rather than radio buttons, when user-controllable,
and greyed out tickboxes for non-user-controllable interfaces (if you
want them in the NM-visible list.) For interfaces with multiple
selectable configurations, the probably should each have a section just
like the current Wired Networks and Wireless Networks sections, and
under each section have the list of config choices for that interfaces.
You can imagine how this generalises a little to support profiles, with
some (groups of) interfaces managed together, and some independently.
I'm thinking this would cover 90% of the cases of users who have a more
complicated setup than "computer with 1 wired + 1 wireless interface",
making NM of more general utility.
Thanks.
--
Previously working DHCP on wired ethernet is assigned static IP from unrelated
interface after upgrade to Intrepid
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/291902
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