Operation Manual

mobile broadband (3G) modem, which is not possible with the traditional congu-
ration.
NetworkManager tries to keep your computer connected at all times using the best
connection available. If the network cable is accidentally disconnected, it tries to
reconnect. It can nd the network with the best signal strength from the list of your
wireless connections and automatically use it to connect. To get the same function-
ality with ifup, a great deal of conguration effort is required.
13.5.2 NetworkManager Functionality and
Conguration Files
The individual network connection settings created with NetworkManager are stored
in conguration proles. The system connections congured with either NetworkMan-
ager or YaST are saved in /etc/networkmanager/system-connections/
* or in /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-*. Any user-dened connections
are stored in GConf for GNOME.
In case no prole is congured, NetworkManager automatically creates one and names
it Auto $INTERFACE-NAME. That is made in an attempt to work without any con-
guration for as many cases as (securely) possible. If the automatically created proles
do not suit your needs, use the network connection conguration dialogs provided by
KDE or GNOME to modify them as desired. For more information, refer to Section 25.3,
“Conguring Network Connections” (page 451).
13.5.3 Controlling and Locking Down
NetworkManager Features
On centrally administered machines, certain NetworkManager features can be controlled
or disabled with PolicyKit, for example if a user is allowed to modify administrator
dened connections or if a user is allowed to dene his own network congurations.
To view or change the respective NetworkManager policies, start the graphical Autho-
rizations tool for PolicyKit. In the tree on the left side, nd them below the network-
manager-settings entry.
262 Reference