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/Tutorial
Let's create a new connection
nmcli connection edit con-name <name of new connection>
It will ask 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 will use ethernet
Enter connection type: ethernet
Next this will appear, 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>
We will edit the setting "ipv4"
nmcli> goto ipv4
Note that after this our promt has changed to this to indicate that we are currently editing the "ipv4" setting
nmcli ipv4>
List available properties under the setting "ipv4" and describe the property "method"
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
Let's set property "method" to "auto"
nmcli ipv4> set method auto
Now that we have finished editing the "ipv4" setting let's go back to the main level. Execute the following command until the prompt looks like this "nmcli>"
nmcli> back
If you need to list again the main settings use the "goto" command without any arguments. After that just 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 a ifcfg connection configuration open or create with a text editor the configuration file of the connection located in "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-<connection name>"
A description of most common configuration options is available at: http://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Deployment_Guide/s1-networkscripts-interfaces.html
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. 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 this also deactivates the connection.
Documentation for NetworkManager Command Line Interface nmcli
The primary reference for nmcli are the manual pages nmcli(1) and nmcli-examples(5).
For a quick reference, the user can type nmcli [help] to print the supported options and commands.
The help parameter can also be used to obtain a more detailed description for the individual commands.
For example nmcli connection help and nmcli connection add help show a description for the possible connection operations and for how to add connections, respectively.
The newest version of the manual page can be found on nmcli(1) and nmcli-examples(7).
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