NetworkManager can't find any interfaces

[n1ywb]

Binary package hint: network-manager

Using Feisty

Upon installation, network manager (via knetworkmanager) worked fine. After doing the first major packages upgrade, it doesn't work anymore. I can see all of my network interfaces in the lshal output, eth1, wifi0, and ath0. But no interfaces are listed in knetworkmanager.

laughlin@nibbler:/etc$ sudo NetworkManager --no-daemon &
NetworkManager: <information> starting...
NetworkManager: <information> Updating allowed wireless network lists.

laughlin@nibbler:/etc$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: disconnected

print_devices(): didn't get a reply from NetworkManager.
There are no available network devices.

So it looks like the bug is probably in NetworkManager or something lower level and probably not knetworkmanager.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu
better. Could you please add the contents of your
'/etc/network/interfaces' file? Thanks in advance.

 status needsinfo
 assignee <email address hidden>

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

Thanks for looking into this by the way.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

NetworkManager will not manage any interfaces that are configured in '/etc/network/interfaces' as yours is. If you leave only the 'auto' and 'iface' line you should be able to use knetworkmanager to statically configure your interface.

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

Which interface are you referring to? NetworkManager cannot see either eth1 or ath0 as per the nm-tool output. I statically configured eth1 AFTER knetworkmanager stopped seeing it, not before, so that cannot be the cause of the issue. ath0 is not statically configured at all and already only has an iface line. So which lines specifically are you saying I should delete? I removed the static config lines and that did not help.

laughlin@nibbler:/etc/network$ cat interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

iface ath0 inet dhcp

iface eth1 inet dhcp

laughlin@nibbler:/etc/network$ sudo /etc/dbus-1/event.d/25NetworkManager restart
 * Restarting network connection manager NetworkManager [ OK ]

laughlin@nibbler:/etc/network$ sudo /etc/dbus-1/event.d/26NetworkManagerDispatcher restart
 * Restarting network events dispatcher NetworkManagerDispatcher [ OK ]

laughlin@nibbler:/etc/network$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: disconnected

print_devices(): didn't get a reply from NetworkManager.
There are no available network devices.

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

Hum, I reported just now the same on another bug... I will copy and paste, since this bug seems newer than that one.

Having the same problem as Brian. Pretty much the same config as Brian as well - except that I already had all my network cards in /etc/interfaces. But it worked just fine until yesterday.

This is a copy & paste from bug #77557:
Yesterday's update (2007-04-11) borked the whole thing again. KNetworkManager says that it couldn't find any network devices (even when they are present and working - I am just connected through wireless). Please see screenshot (in spanish, sorry).

I don't know whether it is related or not, but when I start KNetworkManager from the command line, I get the following message:
** Message: another gnome-keyring-daemon is running

If I check processes, I get this:
luis@ordenata:~$ ps aux|grep -i gnome-keyring
luis 8753 0.0 0.0 2752 988 ? S 09:00 0:00 gnome-keyring-daemon
luis 24549 0.0 0.0 2756 1016 pts/1 S 13:12 0:00 gnome-keyring-daemon

If I kill one of the processes, it doesn't complain anymore, but it still won't show any network devices. It will create a new gnome-keyring process so we have two processes again. If I kill both processes and start KNetworkManager, it won't complain either, create a new gnome-keyring process and again no network devices.

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

Sorry, when I said "Brian" I meant "n1ywb"

nm-tool output:

luis@ordenata:~$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected

print_devices(): didn't get a reply from NetworkManager.
There are no available network devices.

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

I have renamed /etc/network/interfaces and restarted networkmanager and dispatcher and now nm-tool reports correctly my network devices.

Even when this seems to be fixed it is very strange that I always had my interfaces configured statically and NM stopped to see them suddenly on monday after an update. Why doesn't NM tolerate the interfaces configuration anymore?

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

NabLa: Ditto that, when I remove /etc/network/interfaces and restart NetworkManager and NetworkManagerDispatcher, it suddenly works and nm-tool correctly reports my interfaces. This isn't good behavior. There was nothing weird in my /etc/network/interfaces file beforehand and this bug is probably going to bite a lot of people.

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

It's also worth mentioning that, after deleting /etc/network/interfaces, the moment I statically configure an interface using knetworkmanager, NetworkManager gets totally stupid. Even if it switches to a non-statically configured interface, it leaves the static interface default route in place which is very annoying. It doesn't seem to handle interface switching very well at all when one interface is static.

[Jeff McClure (jeff-mcclure)]

I'm seeing this problem as well. I have a single Ethernet interface that is configured with a static IP address, and network-manager reports that I have no network interfaces. I'm running Feisty (newly upgraded from Egdy, which was in turn newly upgraded from Dapper).

Brian Murray said:
"NetworkManager will not manage any interfaces that are configured in '/etc/network/interfaces' as yours is. If you leave only the 'auto' and 'iface' line you should be able to use knetworkmanager to statically configure your interface."

This confuses me. I assume "configured...as yours is" means that it has a static IP set up in /etc/network/interfaces. That statement seems to imply that the user has configured the file in a nonstandard way. Mine is that way, but I didn't create that file. To make sure, I actually moved /etc/network/interfaces and rebooted. I then used the System->Administration->Network menu item to set up the interface again. Guess what it did? It recreated /etc/network/interfaces with a static IP address, and now network-manager once again can't find the interface. By the way, I'm running Gnome, not KDE, so I don't have knetworkmanager.

It's pretty clear I'm using the Ubuntu-intended applet for configuring the interface, but according to Brian Murray's info, that applet configures the interface in such a way that makes network-manager unhappy.

It doesn't really bother me too much that network-manager can't find the interface. Best I can tell, my setup doesn't even need network-manager (everything is static in my setup). However, a less savvy user is going to be disturbed by an icon on the desktop that says "No network connection".

This bug is marked "info needed". Is there something more that I can provide?

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

This route thing is quite surprising, does that mean you lose connectivity if the static interface connection is no longer available?

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

"By the way, I'm running Gnome, not KDE, so I don't have knetworkmanager."
I'd say this is a network-manager rather than an applet problem since nm-tool cannot report any working interfaces.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

It doesn't make network-manager "unhappy" rather it makes network-manager ignore the interface and not configure it. There is a new patch for network-manager that makes it now say "Manual connection" instead of "No network connection".

[Jeff McClure (jeff-mcclure)]

"I'd say this is a network-manager rather than an applet problem since nm-tool cannot report any working interfaces."

Well, I guess it depends. The earlier comment seems to imply that the problem is not with network-manager, but with the contents of /etc/network/interfaces. It says that removing that file then using knetworkmanager to set up the interface again will fix the problem (presumably by putting something different in /etc/network/interfaces and handling the static config some other way).

I don't have knetworkmanager. My point is that for me it's the Gnome applet, not me, that's setting up /etc/network/interfaces. I don't know how the Ubuntu designers intended this all to work. It could go either way. If the root of the error is indeed what we've been discussing (that network-manager can't handle a static entry in /etc/network/interfaces), then either network-manager needs to be fixed so that it _can_ handle that, or the Ubuntu-standard configuration tools need to set up the system in a way that network-manager can handle.

*shrug* I don't know which it is. I just wanted to chime in, because it was beginning to look like the bug was going to get set aside with the assumption that it only happens when somebody hand-edits /etc/network/interfaces. That's not the case.

[Jeff McClure (jeff-mcclure)]

Thanks, Brian. I didn't see your entry before I posted the last one. Sounds like my issue is taken care of.

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

I've revised the config of several other K/Ubuntu machines of people around and they all have /etc/network/interfaces populated with relevant stuff, and they are all default installations of Dapper or Edgy.

As n1ywb, this is going to bite quite a lot of people.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Could you elaborate as to what in particular is going to bite a lot of people?

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

The affected group is the intersection of users who use NetworkManager, and those who want to configure a static interface. Everybody with a laptop uses NetworkManager. The number of people who set up a static interface is admittedly smaller, but not insignificant IMO.

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

I'm not sure about Jeff's situation, but in my case the nm-tool output I posted indicates that network-manager isn't just ignoring the static interface but it is also ignoring the non-static interface. I suspect that it's not ignoring anything but rather that it's barfing. I haven't stepped the code in gdb but

print_devices(): didn't get a reply from NetworkManager.

doesn't look good to me.

None of this changes the fact that on my machine NetworkManager silently stopped working for no clear reason. Applications should not silently fail. Some debugging messages in the syslog would be EXTREMELY helpful.

Brian Murray said 3 hours ago: (permalink)

It doesn't make network-manager "unhappy" rather it makes network-manager ignore the interface and not configure it. There is a new patch for network-manager that makes it now say "Manual connection" instead of "No network connection".

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

After some recent updates, if /etc/network/interfaces even exists, network-manager borks. Even if there are only two lines inside:

laughlin@nibbler:~$ cat /etc/network/interfaces.foo
iface ath0 inet dhcp
iface eth1 inet dhcp

If this file exists, nm-tool reports no interfaces and network-manager doesn't work.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I believe you are missing 'auto ath0' and 'auto eth1' from your '/etc/network/interfaces' file.

[Niran Babalola (niran)]

I had a static wired interface and a dynamic wireless interface configured and working fine until the latest update. The wireless networks still work for me, but the static wired interface doesn't show up in nm-tool or the nm-applet menu as "Wired Network" like it used to. This makes me sad.

Moving the interfaces file out of the way makes NetworkManager see both interfaces and gets an IP for the wired one, but I had DNS issues when I tried to use it. Not sure if that's related. Putting the interfaces file back and using the wireless network works fine.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Hi,

Brian Murray [2007-04-16 22:31 -0000]:
> I believe you are missing 'auto ath0' and 'auto eth1' from your
> '/etc/network/interfaces' file.

Confirmed. n-m will ignore non-auto interfaces on purpose, since not
doing so would act against your manual configuration.

[Niran Babalola (niran)]

All my interfaces are auto. I've attached my interfaces file.

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

Same here. I'll paste mine instead:

luis@ordenata:/etc/network$ cat interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.0.0

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless-essid MyWirelessAP

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Niran, you have a static configuration for eth0. Is this your primary network interface? It should be ignored by network-manager, the other interfaces should be managed by it.

NabLa, you *only* have statically configured interfaces, so it is correct that network-manager ignores them all.

[Niran Babalola (niran)]

The intention was that I'd be able to have a static IP address for my wired connection, but be able to switch between my wired and my wireless connections using NetworkManager. This worked perfectly until I updated earlier today.

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

OK, so all I need to do is to take out the essid line and NM will show the
interface.

Something that puzzles me is why shouldn't NM allow re-configuring an
interface configured statically, as it used to do. I sometimes log in for a
quick task using BlacBox instead of KDE, so the reason I had my essid in
place is to avoid configuring it by hand. Now I cannot do that, unless I
load any of the applets that access NM - loading all gnome or kde libraries
with it.

On 17/04/07, Martin Pitt <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Niran, you have a static configuration for eth0. Is this your primary
> network interface? It should be ignored by network-manager, the other
> interfaces should be managed by it.
>
> NabLa, you *only* have statically configured interfaces, so it is
> correct that network-manager ignores them all.
>
> --
> NetworkManager can't find any interfaces
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/103532
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Luis Pabón

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

NabLa [2007-04-17 9:17 -0000]:
> Something that puzzles me is why shouldn't NM allow re-configuring an
> interface configured statically, as it used to do.

It did that only for a very short period of time, and clobbering
static configurations with dynamic changes caused a *lot* of grief.
You can easily switch back to roaming mode by just using a few clicks
in the GUI.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Closing this one, since the last comments all indicate wanted behaviour of n-m. Thank you!

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

OK then! Thanks guys!

[n1ywb (jlaughlin)]

Very well, this is a feature, not a bug.

I very strongly suggest that NetworkManager should be patched to produce some useful output in this case, something to syslog to the effect of "I see some interfaced but I am ignoring them because auto isn't set" would have been extraordinarily useful.

I also strongly suggest that this behavior should be documented somewhere, I would suggest the NetworkManager(1) and interfaces(5) man pages as appropriate places.

I also submit that the KDE Network Settings control panel the checkbox that controls the "auto" flag in the interfaces file is misleading. It's currently labeled "Activate when the computer starts". Clearly this button does more than that. It should perhaps be re-labeled and It's function should be documented.

Thank you for your time, everybody. Sorry to be such a squeaky wheel, I just want to see Ubuntu (and linux) succeed.
-Jeff

[carlivar (e-launchpad-carlivar-com)]

This bug is now a year old but I was just bit by this.

Had a DHCP problem on my new Ubuntu install so like a good GUI-boy I went to the Network config and made sure dhcp was configured for eth0.

Big mistake. That modified /etc/network/interfaces. I then spent an hour figuring out how NetworkManager worked and why it wasn't doing the DHCP client stuff for me. Finally commented out eth0 stuff in /etc/network/interfaces.

Frankly, this is unacceptable. Ubuntu is supposed to be easy to use and configure, yet my "easy GUI config" broke everything? Serious flaw. Logging has got to be improved at the very least (i.e. suggestions above).