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 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>
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 interactive connection editing, this have to be done manually as explained above
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