System Config Tools Cleanup Project - tools to eliminate/replace

[Chuck Anderson]

On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 03:31:09PM -0400, Tom Diehl wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Mar 2009, Colin Walters wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 1:16 PM, Adam Williamson <awilliam at redhat.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Quite a lot of people still don't want to use NetworkManager. It makes
>>> little sense on a system which just sits there connected to a static IP
>>> address 24/7.
>>
>> I think it does because it provides a useful networking API for other
>> applications to consume.  For example, answering the question "is
>> there an active network link" was effectively impossible for app
>> authors before.
>>
>> Also, in my opinion on a well-managed network if you want a fixed IP
>> address, the right way to do it is MAC matching on the DHCP server,
>> not client configuration.  And NetworkManager works well in such a
>> setup.
>
> Which I guess is OK if you are not setting up the system with the dhcp server
> AND the box you are setting up has X installed. Does NM have a command line
> interface? Not that I have seen but I could have missed it.

NM supports static IP addresses configured in 
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX, or you could enable the 
keyfile plugin to use INI-like files to specify network configuration.  
If you set ONBOOT=yes, you don't even need to interact with NM in any 
way--it should just work.  If you need to wait for the network before 
continuing the system boot up, set NETWORKWAIT=yes in 
/etc/sysconfig/network.

So basically, the no-X argument isn't convincing to me, because you 
can still do the basic stuff the old non-X way and it works.

However, there is an argument for not getting rid of the old network 
scripts.  The following are supported with network scripts but not NM 
yet:

1. IPv6
2. bridges
3. interface aliases

..and probably more.