network-manager does not take into account static configurations *properly*

[Jeff Fortin Tam]

Binary package hint: network-manager

taken from http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=412018 (rejected by upstream as they say it is an ubuntu patch)

I have a static IP set using gnome's network-admin tool, but network-manager is installed (some metapackage depends on it).

All the applications that are networkmanager-aware (specto, epiphany, xchat-gnome, etc) will incorrectly believe there is no network connection available (because networkmanager is not managing the static connection) and you will not be able to refresh watches, load webpages, join channels, etc.

I would mark this bug as *major* because it is a regression for those who have static IP setups and will see their apps break when they dist-upgrade their ubuntu boxes. Their webpages will refuse loading, and they will have no idea why, as their network seems to "behave normally" (for all networkmanager-unaware applications).

Reply from upstream: "This is actually expected behavior. NM is not supposed to respect the setup of distro-specific tools."

[Jeff Fortin Tam (kiddo)]

------- Comment #3 from Dan Williams 2007-02-26 12:32 UTC -------
NM actually has some support for static IP settings already, but the distro specific backend has to support it. Fedora, SUSE, and Debian support it. But Ubuntu decided to make NM ignore _any_ interface that you have already configured in /etc/network/interfaces. Therefore, to NM that interface doesn't exist, and you'll get the behavior your see.

[Chris Burgan (cburgan)]

The readme.debian explicitly states the following, which just confirms your statement:

Only devices that are *not* listed in /etc/network/interfaces or which have
been configured "auto" and "dhcp" (with no other options) are managed by NM.

This way you can setup a custom (static) configuration for a device and NM
will not try to override this setting.

This is a duplicate of bug 5364 though.

[Chris Burgan (cburgan)]

I'm going to leave it unmarked as a duplicate though for the moment, as it seems it's having a much more direct effect on Feisty then previous versions.

[Jeff Fortin Tam (kiddo)]

Hi Chris! From what I read, I don't think this is the same issue. The problem is not that NM doesn't work with a static interfaces (I know that it "bypasses" them already, I used that since hoary).

The problem is that network manager does not REPORT a network when using a static ip. Result? It *breaks* the behavior of all the apps!

Ubuntu/debian's NM needs to be able to either:
- check the static interface's status and report that to userspace applications
- report that "network-manager support is not available" to applications that try to use it (might be easier technically?)

[Chris Burgan (cburgan)]

Yes I agree I spoke too soon in saying it was a duplicate, which is why I didn't mark it as one right away. I'm going to try and duplicate it on a virtual machine so I can confirm it but it's not cooperating at the moment. I'll hopefully have more to add soon.

[Steve Alexander (stevea)]

I just had great confusion about this issue.

I upgraded to Feisty from Edgy.

Gaim was apparently not working. Nothing I did in the options in Gaim instant messenger would make it go online, or even show my list of buddies.

It apparently depends on networkmanager working, although it doesn't actually *say* that.

So, I tried to get network manager working. It just said "network is not enabled", which is obviously untrue, as I could see that my network was enabled.

Eventually, after googling some forum thread, I found out I have to remove the configuration from /etc/network/interfaces, and then network manager will "magically" start working, and gaim will also magically start working.

This is so unobvious, it hurts!

One fix would, as suggested in this bug report, be to make network manager report working network interfaces, even if it isn't actually managing them.

However, for me, a simple fix would have been for the network manager applet to say "managed networking not enabled, remove custom config from /etc/network/interfaces to enable network manager".

[Steve Alexander (stevea)]

I should point out that I don't have a static set-up. The set-up was in /etc/network/interfaces, but it basically said eth1, auto, dhcp, and explicitly gave the wireless essid I connect to.

[Benjamin Chung (crazebenny)]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info. I kinda realized that after playing around with my
network interfaces configuration that I can only use DHCP in order for
the NetworkManager applet to work. Is this bug going to be fixed so that
Static Ips will work also?

Thanks,
Ben

Steve Alexander wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 82335 ***
>
> I should point out that I don't have a static set-up. The set-up was in
> /etc/network/interfaces, but it basically said eth1, auto, dhcp, and
> explicitly gave the wireless essid I connect to.
>
>

[Nicolas M (nicolas-martin-gmail)]

Looks like this one is killed in Feisty Beta ?

Gave a try in 7.04 beta, and after setting my static IP, the little NM icon :

- briefly displays (.5 s) the network as disconnected,
- then starts a sympatic animation with a green circle (2s)
- and finally stops and displays the network as connected

Urrah!

[Richard Rickwood (rickwookie)]

>Looks like this one is killed in Feisty Beta ?
>
>Gave a try in 7.04 beta, and after setting my static IP, the little NM icon :
>
>- briefly displays (.5 s) the network as disconnected,
>- then starts a sympatic animation with a green circle (2s)
>- and finally stops and displays the network as connected
>
>Urrah!

Yes, but is the interface really configured with the static address you specified or is it still using the DHCP assigned one (even though the NM information dialogue would have you believe otherwise). I found (by pinging my machine) that although NM reported the new static configuration in the way you describe, I didn't actually get the new static address until I restarted my machine. :-(

[Nicolas M (nicolas-martin-gmail)]

You're right, more precisely, here is the behavior I've noticed for the network settings (I use ifconfig to check the network setting changes):

- If I run the Network settings dialog by left clicking the NM Icon:
  . When changing from dhcp -> static: the static settings are not taken into account the first time I change them, but they are taken the second time only. However, after the first change (which does not get applied as seen in ifconfig), right click on the NM icon and select Network Information shows the modified static setting.
  . When changing from static -> dhcp: the change takes effect on the first change.

- If I run the Network settings dialog by the menu: System/Administration/Network, the changes take effect on the first change, in both cases, dhcp -> static and static -> dhcp.

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

Moving milestone forward.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

> Only devices that are *not* listed in /etc/network/interfaces or which have
> been configured "auto" and "dhcp" (with no other options) are managed by NM.

Just want to point to the related bug #92299, that NM tries to configure statically configured interfaces. This is probably what Steve experiences. (BTW static configuration does not imply static IP.)