Tools/NetworkManager/CLI

Description

nmcli is a tool that allows NetworkManager management from command line.

NetworkManager status

Display 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>

Wifi

Get Wifi status

nmcli radio wifi

Turn wifi on or off

nmcli radio wifi <on|off>

List available access points(AP) to connect to

nmcli device wifi list

Refresh 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 password 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

Let's create a new connection

nmcli connection edit con-name <name of new connection>

It will ask us to define a connection type, in this example we will use ethernet

'''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:''' ethernet 

Manually editing

To manually edit a connection configuration open or create with a text editor the configuration file of the connection located in "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-<connection name>"

For versions previous to NetworkManager 0.9.9.0

These versions lack some features described in this page and some of the commands may vary. If your current version is lower than 0.9.9.0 update NetworkManager. If you decide not to do so check the info pages for more information about your current version.

info nmcli

However as those previous version lack the support for connection editing, this have to be done manually. Open with a text editor the configuration file of the connection. The file is located in "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/" under the name of "ifcfg-<connection name>"

Connect automatically to that connection

Edit to or add the line "ONBOOT=yes"

Make the connection available only to one user

Edit or add the line "USERS=<username>"

Spoof MAC address

Edit or add the line "MACADDR=<spoofed MAC>". Don't change the line "HWADDR=<real MAC>" to spoof your MAC address.

Edit a connection password

To modify a connection password open with a text editor and edit the file "keys-<connection id>" located in "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/". The password is stored in plain text

Apply changes

Finally save the files and to apply changes to an already active connection execute

nmcli connection up id <connection name>

Delete a connection configuration

In case that the connection is active

nmcli connection down id <connection name>

Delete the connection

nmcli connection delete id <connection name>

Notes

nmcli maybe contain some bugs and lack some features graphical tools for NetworkManager have.

To see all available options for your version of nmcli

info nmcli