Networking init scripts & NetworkManager

el3ktro

I'm trying to get networkmanager to work correctly on my system. The problem is that it doesn't work well with the network init scripts. I'm having eth0 which is a wired network, and I have eth1 which is a wireless network. I have net.eth0 and net.eth1 (which both are symlinks to net.lo) both in the boot runlevel. The ipw3945 modules for the wireless are autoloaded.

The first problem is that when I don't have a cable on eth0 and it doesn't get an address by DHCP, then both eth0 AND eth1 are not started and NetworkManager doesn't work. Also it's kind of annoying that eth0 always tries to get an IP via DHCP during boot, which makes the whole boot process stop for a long time (can't this be backgrounded?)

I tried to remove net.eth0 and net.eth1 from all runlevels and just start NetworkManager because I thought that it handles all the stuff necessary to get a Network running. Is there away to just start eth0 and eth1 so that it is seen by ifconfig, but then let NetworkManager handle all the other stuff like getting IP adresses, connecting to an ESSID etc.?

The other problem is that when I have disabled the wireless adaptor during boot up it doesn't find it, but when I turned it on later via the button on my laptop then it still doesn't work - it should somehow be auto-detected.

I know this is a lot, but I think it'S essential to get some decent networking support, and I simply don't want to have to deal with init scripts or config files each time I connect to any network with my laptop.

Do you have some tipps for me how I could achieve this?

Tom

UberLord · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:18 pm Post subject:

You either use Gentoo net.xxx scripts or NetworkManager - you cannot use both.

Personally I don't like NetworkManager - but neither do I change configs when I change networks

emerge netplug
Now you have a wired cable manager, no more slow dhcp attempts when there's no cable plugged in

wpa_supplicant as a gui, but it's not that great. However, you can pre configure all networks and it will work automagically.

So if it's all pre configured, there's never a reason to drop to the prompt

_________________
Use dhcpcd for all your automated network configuration needs
Use dhcpcd-ui (GTK+/Qt) as your System Tray Network tool

el3ktro · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:49 pm Post subject:

Well I definitely want to stick with NetworkManager, it's definitely the best that I've seen so far. My gf has it running with Ubuntu on her iBook and it really rocks. She doesn't have to configure anything, whereever she is, NetworkMnager finds all wireless networks around and she just clicks on the one that she wants to connect to. She can plug in the cable and the wireless connection is dropped and NM switches to the cable. If she removes the cable, NM automatically switches back to the previous wirless network. This really rocks.

I'm just not sure how to "prepare" both network connections to work with NetworkManager. The init scripts try to do everything (DHCP, ESSID config etc.), but for NetworkManager they would just have to "be there". Hm I might try configuring both with a static IP and hopefully when N starts it will take over and try DHCP.

Tom

UberLord · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:58 pm Post subject:

el3ktro · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:28 pm Post subject:

So you mean that Gentoo itself can connect me to any wireless network around without configuring them first? Thats exactly what I want, and that exactly what NetworkManager is supposed to do. I've been reading a lot of posts and there seems to be some kind Anti-NetworkManagerism in the Gentoo forums which I don't understand because NetworkManager is a simple single package which works PERFECTLY for me in Ubuntu, without ANY configuration at all. But when wpa_supplicant also has an applet as you say then this would also work I guess. I just need to know how to initially setup /etc/conf.net, wireless.conf & wpa_supplicant.conf do make everything work automagically.

Tom

UberLord · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:29 pm Post subject:

el3ktro · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:21 pm Post subject:

Why this rant? NetworkManager is not a swiss knife for networking, it's a userfriendly tool for the most obvious networking task that a user - especially a laptop user - wants to do: Turn the laptop on and connect to any wireless network around with a single mouse click. Thats what it is supposed to do, and it does that perfectly (on Ubuntu at last). I didn't say it's a tool for all possible networking tasks. It can connect to VPNs though. If you need advanced networking, you should stick with your scripts (and I'd definitely do the same), but for "normal" everyday computing NetworkManager really rocks imho.

Tom

UberLord · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:37 pm Post subject:

Hmmm, I don't do any mouse clicks. wpa_suppliant automatically connects to my preferred APs for me - failing that it connects to the best unencrypted AP. And I roam between 4 locations frequently

_________________
Use dhcpcd for all your automated network configuration needs
Use dhcpcd-ui (GTK+/Qt) as your System Tray Network tool

el3ktro · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject:

Hm I would be interested in that. So far I've managed to let wpa_supplicant handle eth1 by putting modules_eth1=("wpa_supplicant") into /etc/conf.d/net. I've configured it for my home AP with WPA. But when I start net.eth1 it says something about "PRISM2" and different "Operation not permitted" errors. I have a ipw3945 WLAN adaptor. How can I use this with wp_supplicant? Also, how do I connect to completely new WLANs, does wpa_supplicant show me these in an applet or can I somehow look at them and click on the one I want to connect?

UberLord · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:47 pm Post subject:

You need to tell wpa_supplicant which driver to use - it used prism2 by default. For your card, use wext like so
wpa_supplicant_eth1="-Dwext"

As to connecting to new AP's I'm sure you can use wpa_gui. Emerge wpa_supplicant with qt3 USE flag to get it. How well it works I cannot say as I've personally not used it.
_________________
Use dhcpcd for all your automated network configuration needs
Use dhcpcd-ui (GTK+/Qt) as your System Tray Network tool