Operation Manual
23.5 NetworkManager
NetworkManager is the ideal solution for laptops and other portable computers. With
NetworkManager, you do not need to worry about conguring network interfaces and
switching between networks when you are moving.
23.5.1 NetworkManager and ifup
However, NetworkManager is not a suitable solution for all cases, so you can still
choose between the traditional method for managing network connections (ifup) and
NetworkManager. If you want to manage your network connection with NetworkMan-
ager, enable NetworkManager in the YaST Network Settings module as described in
Section 35.2, “Enabling NetworkManager” (page 582) and congure your network
connections with NetworkManager. For a list of use cases and a detailed description
how to congure and use NetworkManager, refer to Chapter 35, Using NetworkMan-
ager (page 581).
Some differences between ifup and NetworkManager include:
root Privileges
If you use NetworkManager for network setup, you can easily switch, stop or start
your network connection at any time from within your desktop environment using
an applet. NetworkManager also makes it possible to change and congure wireless
card connections without requiring root privileges. For this reason, NetworkMan-
ager is the ideal solution for a mobile workstation.
Traditional conguration with ifup also provides some ways to switch, stop or start
the connection with or without user intervention, like user-managed devices.
However, this always requires root privileges to change or congure a network
device. This is often a problem for mobile computing, where it is not possible to
precongure all the connection possibilities.
Types of Network Connections
Both traditional conguration and NetworkManager can handle network connections
with a wireless network (with WEP, WPA-PSK, and WPA-Enterprise access), dial-
up and wired networks using DHCP and static conguration. They also support
connection through VPN.
Basic Networking 395