NetworkManager is a software to provide an API for configuring the network on Linux. It aims to make configuration simple and reliable.
A new NetworkManager version 1.26.0 was released today.
See the NEWS file for what is new and find the release tarball at the GNOME download page.
- New manual pages nm-settings-nmcli and nm-settings-dbus. NetworkManager is all about the API that it provides. And this API is mostly about connection profiles. Depending on whether you use nmcli, D-Bus, keyfile or ifcfg-rh files, the properties of a profile are handled slightly different. For example, in nmcli all properties are strings, but on D-Bus they are structured data. So we also need different documentation. For that, we have now the manual pages nm-settings-dbus, nm-settings-nmcli, nm-settings-keyfile and nm-settings-ifcfg-rh.
- Match profiles by device driver, PCI address and kernel command line. Connection profiles can be restricted to a certain device (interface). Commonly the interface name or the permanent MAC address can be specified. Since 1.26.0 there are two new matches: by device driver and by the device path. The device path essentially corresponds to the PCI address of the interface. Also, you can match a profile based on the kernel command line. That means, a profile will only be usable, if the kernel command line is as specified. For that, there are 3 new properties. In nmcli, they are called match.driver, match.path, and match.kernel-command-line. See the nm-settings-nmcli manual for details.
- nm-cloud-setup now supports Google Compute Engine (GCE). nm-cloud-setup is a tool that automatically configures the network when running in a cloud environment. It already supported Amazon EC2 cloud and got support for Google Compute Engine (GCE).
- Support for ethtool settings for coalesce and ring options. NetworkManager now supports ethtool coalesce and ring options in addition to offload features. For that, configure the ethtool properties like ethtool.coalesce-tx-frames.
Also, NetworkManager now restores the previous ethtool auto-negotiations settings when deactivating a profile. That is important, because with the wrong ethernet speed settings the link will have no carrier. - nmcli now colors profiles for externally configured devices differently. When a device is configured outside of NetworkManager, then NetworkManager creates an in-memory profile to represent that the device is connected. But it does not touch the device in any way, so these devices and profiles are special. This is often a cause for confusion. Now nmcli color codes these settings differently.