restarting mobile broadband

[Bill Davidsen]

David L wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 4:07 PM, Bill Davidsen wrote:
>> David L wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I asked this question on the network manager
>>> mailing list but didn't get answer, so I thought
>>> I'd try here.
>>>
>>> I'm a newbie to NetworkManager and have a few
>>> questions.  I have a verizon wireless pcmcia
>>> card.  It is working with NetworkManager, but the
>>> connection drops from time to time and doesn't
>>> restart.  I have the "connect automatically"
>>> configuration option set, and that seems to work
>>> on startup.  But is doesn't reconnect automatically
>>> when the connection dies.  So, here are my
>>> questions:
>>>
>>> 1) Is there an option that I'm missing to tell it
>>> to reconnect automatically?
>> On the rare occasions when I have had drops, it seems to reconnect by itself
>> but not instantly. There seems to be a delay before reconnect is attempted.
> 
> Hi Bill,
> 
> Somebody eventually responded to my original
> post on the networkmanager list and said this
> in response to my first question:
> 
> "Yeah, reconnect of a failed connection (as opposed to a
> user-disconnected one) is definitely on the list.  I was planning on
> doing some of the work for that in the 'inhibit' branch in git, so you
> can track that there.  It won't be mobile-broadband-specific at first,
> but the changes there will help out the mobile broadband stuff too."
> 
> Somebody asked a similar question about VPN
> and the response was basically the same.
> 
> Nobody answered the other questions
> (except you).
> 
> 
>>> 2) Is there a command-line method to start
>>> the connection so I can roll my own
>>> reconnection script?
>>> 3) Is there a way to reconnect a VPN
>>> connection when the mobile broadband
>>> connection is restarted?
>> Not that I ever found.
>>
>>> 4) Is there a way to keep track of total bytes
>>> transferred through a mobile broadband
>>> connection over multiple sessions?  I'd
>>> like to keep track of how close I'm getting
>>> to the Verizon 5GB monthly limit.
>>>
>> Maybe, there is a statistics directory for the device in /sys, with a name
>> like
>>  /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/net/eth0/statistics/
>> and a file called rx_bytes which may or may not run boot to boot rather than
>> resetting with the connect. Do let me know if that's what you need, and good
>> luck with the VPN. I find that if there are multiple access points NM
>> doesn't even reliably remember which one I was using, so reconnect is
>> reliable as long as the number of available APs is no more than one. That
>> may only happen after suspend, rather than drop...
> 
> I do know about /proc/net/dev that has per session statistics,
> but I was wondering if networkmanager had a way to accumulate
> over multiple sessions.  I think the answer is no.
> 
As I noted, there is a per-device count in /sys which appears to run boot to 
boot. I say that cautiously, I did try moving my connection from my own AP to a 
local open AP running *way* more than legal power, and then back, and the count 
didn't reset to zero in /sys.

> Cheers...
> 
>                     David
> 


-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot