F12: NetworkManager-Firefox: Firefox is currently in offline mode and can't browse the Web

Wed Dec 2 21:32:48 UTC 2009

On Tue, 2009-12-01 at 10:24 +0000, Terry Barnaby wrote:
> On 12/01/2009 07:50 AM, Dan Williams wrote:
> > On Mon, 2009-11-30 at 19:52 +0000, Terry Barnaby wrote:
> >> On 11/30/2009 06:12 PM, Dan Williams wrote:
> >>> On Mon, 2009-11-30 at 09:55 +0000, Terry Barnaby wrote:
> >>>> On 11/29/2009 11:30 PM, Dan Williams wrote:
> >>>>> On Sat, 2009-11-28 at 09:10 +0000, Terry Barnaby wrote:
> >>>>>> On 11/28/2009 08:35 AM, Rakesh Pandit wrote:
> >>>>>>> 2009/11/28 Terry Barnaby wrote:
> >>>>>>>> If the NetworkManager service is running, but not managing the current
> >>>>>>>> network connection, then Firefox starts up in offline mode.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Is this a bug in NetworkManager or Firefox ?
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> This is odd behaviour and needs to be fixed. I would suggest open up a
> >>>>>>> bug against firefox. I know one can change
> >>>>>>> toolkit.networkmanager.disable preference, but it is a PITA for our
> >>>>>>> users. One of use cases is: Sometime network manager does not connect
> >>>>>>> me via my CDMA usb modem (in case signal is weak), but wvdial does and
> >>>>>>> once I switch from NM to wvdial, my firefox gets to offline mode,
> >>>>>>> which I don't expect it to as I am connected.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>> Ok, filed as: 542078
> >>>>>
> >>>>> NetworkManager is intended to control the default internet connection.
> >>>>> If NetworkManager cannot control the default internet connection, then
> >>>>> you may not want to use NetworkManager.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> In your case, you're using a mobile broadband device.  The real bug here
> >>>>> is that for whatever reason, NM/MM aren't connecting your modem, and we
> >>>>> should follow up on that bug instead.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Dan
> >>>>>
> >>>> I am not using a mobile broadband device. The network connection my systems
> >>>
> >>> My mistake.  I guess it was Rakesh Pandit who was using a CDMA 3G
> >>> connection.
> >>>
> >>>> use is not just the Internet it is a local network LAN connection that also
> >>>> serves the internet. Most of my systems use a local network server which
> >>>> provides NIS, /home and /data using NFS and VPN etc. I normally use the
> >>>> service "network" to bring up wired or wireless networking for this. Fedora,
> >>>> by default, uses NetworkManager to manage all network devices though. I use
> >>>> the service "network" as, for some reason, the NetworkManager service is
> >>>> started after the netfs and other services are started. Is there a reason
> >>>> for this ??
> >>>
> >>> No particular reason, in fact that looks like a bug.  NM no longer
> >>> depends on HAL, but that dependency is still in the initscript, which
> >>> looks like it pushes NM later than netfs.
> >>>
> >>> But in reality, you're looking for a dependency based initsystem which
> >>> we don't quite yet have.  There are already scripts that kick netfs to
> >>> mount stuff when NM brings the network up
> >>> (/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/05-netfs), so you get asynchronous
> >>> bootup *and* your mounts.  The rest of the system, if it requires
> >>> something from the mounted directories, needs to be smart enough to know
> >>> that.
> >>>
> >>> If you need to, you can set NETWORKWAIT=yes in /etc/sysconfig/network,
> >>> which causes the NetworkManager initscript to block until a network
> >>> connection is brought up, or 30 seconds have passed.
> >>>
> >>>> I can obviously turn of the NetworkManager service, which I have done on the
> >>>> desktop systems. However, I also have a few Laptops that can roam. In F11 and
> >>>> before I have used the network and NetworkManager services. When the laptop
> >>>> boots away from home, the "network" service fails and I can then use the
> >>>> NetworkManager service to connect to whatever wireless network or G3 network is
> >>>> available.
> >>>>
> >>>> It does seem sensible to me that the "system" provides applications with info
> >>>> on if the network is up (not just the Internet). The NetworkManager service
> >>>> seems the place to do this and it looks like the applications are starting
> >>>> to use it for this purpose.
> >>>> So maybe a generic NM "isNetworkUp()" API call is called for ?
> >>>
> >>> See the other mail; the problem with a generic isUp() is that it simply
> >>> says hey, is there a connection?  It doesn't provide enough information
> >>> about the networking state of the system for anything to make an
> >>> intelligent decision about anything.  It's a "hey I'm connected to
> >>> something" but there's no information about *what* you're connected to;
> >>> whether it's a secure home network, whether it's a slow 3G network,
> >>> whether it's billed by the  minute or the hour or unlimited, etc.
> >>>
> >>> Dan
> >>>
> >> Hi, Thanks for the info.
> >> I would have thought that a generic isUp() is good enough for the likes
> >> of Firefox and Pidgen though to decide if to start offline. Being connected to a
> >> Network is probably all you need, you may be accessing an Intranet as all
> >> my systems Firefox home pages do ...
> >>
> >> Anyway, following your email (And notes in Bugzilla) I thought I'd try and
> >> use NM properly for my config. However I have a problem, which may be
> >> a bug. I have turned off the Network services and turned on NetworkManger.
> >> I have two main network interfaces eth0 (wired) and eth1 (Wifi), both are
> >> set to be managed by NM and to start at boot. I have also added
> >> NETWORKWAIT=yes in /etc/sysconfig/network.
> >>
> >> When I boot with this the network (eth1 (eth0 is disconnected)) does not
> >> come up at boot. There is a message stating a failure on the line
> >> where it is waiting for the network to come up. When I log in as a
> >> local user the network then comes up ...
> >>
> >> I also note that, before the user is logged in, I cannot start the network
> >> with "service network start" and the WiFi light is off. It looks like
> >> NM has done something like powered down my WiFi chip ?
> >> (Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG IBM Thinkpad R52)
> >>
> >> Another thing, I would need NETWORKWAIT=yes as I have ypbind enabled.
> >> Maybe ypbind should be modified to not start when the network is down and
> >> also added to /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d ?
> >
> > NM has two types of connection: system and user (see
> > http://live.gnome.org/NetworkManagerConfiguration ).  NM treats ifcfg
> > files as system connections and thus they are available at boot time and
> > before login.  I had assumed that since your connection was working
> > correctly with the 'network' service that it was also a system
> > connection.  What is the result of
> > 'ls /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*' and what are the contents
> > of /var/log/messages when the device is not correctly connected on
> > bootup?
> >
> > Before logging in, can you also drop to a VT, log in, and run 'nm-tool'
> > for me?
> >
> > THanks,
> > Dan
> >
> >
> Hi Dan,
> 
> As far as I am aware my connections are "system" connections. I have configured 
> the Network interfaces using the system-config-network tool. When I use the
> "network" service the eth1 wireless network comes up fine at boot. When I use 
> NetworkManager the eth1 wireless network does not come up at boot. There is the 
> error: "Waiting for network...  [FAILED]"
> If the NetworkManger service is running (eth1 has not come up) and I run
> "service network start" the eth1 interface still does not come up. If
> I stop the NetworkManger service and again run "service network start" then
> the eth1 interface comes up ...
> 
> The configuration files are:
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-* files are there:
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-lo
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-Vodaphone
> 
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 is:
> # Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] Network Connection
> DEVICE=eth1
> HWADDR=00:16:6F:8A:E1:95
> ONBOOT=yes
> BOOTPROTO=dhcp
> TYPE=Wireless
> NM_CONTROLLED=yes
> USERCTL=yes
> PEERDNS=yes
> IPV6INIT=no
> MODE=Auto

^^^^ This is the problem.  "Auto" is not a valid mode.

Dec  1 09:59:05 think NetworkManager:    ifcfg-rh:     error: Invalid mode 'auto' (not 'Ad-Hoc' or 'Managed')

you'll probably be seeing something on the console when running "ifup
eth1" like this:

Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

Since all ifup-wireless does is send $MODE to iwconfig, and "auto" is
not a valid mode.

Dan

> RATE=auto
> ESSID=beamwifi
> CHANNEL=
> 
> Section of /var/log/messages attached.
> Output of nm-tool attached.
> 
> nm-tool also outputs the error on stderr:
> ** (process:1492): WARNING **: error: failed to read connections from 
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerUserSettings:
>      The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerUserSettings was not provided by any 
> .service files
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> 
> Terry
> 
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