Network Manager Quick Reference
NetworkManager status
- Overall status of NetworkManager
-
$ nmcli general status
- Display active connections
$ nmcli connection show --active
- Display all configured connections
$ nmcli connection show configured
Connect/disconnect to an already configured connection
- Connect to a configured connection by name
$ nmcli connection up id <connection_name>
- Disconnection by name
$ nmcli connection down id <connection_name>
Wi-Fi
- Get Wi-Fi status
$ nmcli radio wifi
- Turn Wi-Fi on or off
$ nmcli radio wifi _on|off_
- Available access points (AP)
$ nmcli device wifi list
- Refresh the previous list
$ nmcli device wifi rescan
- Create a new connection to an open AP
$ nmcli device wifi connect <SSID|BSSID>
- Create a new connection to a protected AP
$ nmcli device wifi connect <SSID|BSSID> password <password>
Network interfaces
- List available devices and their status
$ nmcli device status
- Disconnect an interface
$ nmcli device disconnect iface <interface>
Create or modify a connection
To create a new connection using an interactive editor
$ nmcli connection edit con-name <name_of_new_connection>
To edit an already existing connection using an interactive editor:
$ nmcli connection edit <connection_name>
Example/Tutorial
Create a new connection:
$ nmcli connection edit con-name _name of new connection_
It asks us to define a connection type:
Valid connection types: 802-3-ethernet (ethernet), 802-11-wireless (wifi), wimax, gsm, cdma, infiniband, adsl, bluetooth, vpn, 802-11-olpc-mesh (olpc-mesh), vlan, bond, team, bridge, bond-slave, team-slave, bridge-slave Enter connection type:
In this example, we use ethernet:
Enter connection type: ethernet
The following message appears, note that nmcli> is a prompt and that it lists the main settings available:
===| nmcli interactive connection editor |=== Adding a new '802-3-ethernet' connection Type 'help' or '?' for available commands. Type 'describe [<setting>.<prop>]' for detailed property description. You may edit the following settings: connection, 802-3-ethernet (ethernet), 802-1x, ipv4, ipv6 nmcli>
Edit the setting ipv4:
nmcli> goto ipv4
Note that after this our prompt has changed to indicate that we are currently editing the ipv4 setting:
nmcli ipv4>
List available properties under the ipv4 setting and describe the method property:
nmcli ipv4> describe Available properties: method, dns, dns-search, addresses, routes, ignore-auto-routes, ignore-auto-dns, dhcp-client-id, dhcp-send-hostname, dhcp-hostname, never-default, may-fail Property name? Property name? method
Set property method to auto:
nmcli ipv4> set method auto
The ipv4 setting is now finished. Go back to the main level. Enter the following command until the prompt looks like nmcli>:
nmcli ipv4> back
To list the main settings again, use the goto command without any arguments. After that, press Enter and ignore the error.
nmcli> goto Available settings: connection, 802-3-ethernet (ethernet), 802-1x, ipv4, ipv6 Setting name?
It is possible to set a value for a property directly from the main level:
nmcli> set __setting__.__property__ _value_
For example:
nmcli> set connection.autoconnect TRUE nmcli> set connection.interface-name _interface name this connection is bound to_ nmcli> set ethernet.cloned-mac-address _Spoofed MAC address_
Finally, check the connection details, save and exit:
nmcli> print nmcli> save nmcli> quit
Manually editing
To manually edit an ifcfg connection configuration, open or create with a text editor the configuration file of the connection located in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-.
A description of most common configuration options is available in the RHEL6 Deployment Guide.
To modify a connection password, open with a text editor and edit the file keys- located in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/. The password is stored in plain text. For example:
$ cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/keys-__connection name__ WPA_PSK='password'
Or, if using keyfile, simply edit the connection file located inside /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/
Finally, save the files and to apply changes to an already active connection execute.
nmcli connection up id _connection name_
Delete a connection configuration
Delete the connection:
nmcli connection delete id <connection_name>
Please note that this also deactivates the connection.
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