Written by Alan Pope the 28 Feb 08 at 13:50.
Category: Internet & Networking.
Related project:
Nothing/Others.
Status: New
Rationale
A single unified tool should be provided which allows the user to connect to a network (or internet) via any supported method. It would also be useful to provide an extension to this tool to manage firewall rules and network connection sharing.
Indeed, "unified tool should be provided which allows the user to connect to a network" sounds a lot like NetworkManager. Bear in mind its version number (0.7 coming up).
Also, I think Canonical and other Linux companies are investing a lot in "transparent network connection" software, whose goal will be to provide a seamless surfing experience.
@ oodlesofmoddles: we had dynamic wep in my university. probably the same system you are connect to. they changed last year to WPA+MSCHAPV2, works flawlessly.
The connection to GPRS/3G phones works very well on Maemo the Debian port for Nokia N800, maybe backporting some code from there would help a lot. It also contains lots of information about the different providers so you don't have to set it up manually. Would be great !
On the other side I get too many options in NetworkManager already. Friend tells me settings are WEP or WPA and password, but what the heck, I have to fiddle with 64/128bit Hex or Asci options and keys are either Open or Shared, resulting in multiple tryies before I connect. It would be nice if NM guessed the right things (if that is possible).
NetworkManager is definitely the right blueprint for this, however, there is a lot of work needed - the VPN plugins don't all work on the new 0.7 tree, for example. A lot of people have raised issues with the lack of static IP and VPN support on the Launchpad bugs related to NM.
Right now when I connect my PDA via USB to Ubuntu, nothing happens. I was able to find out what to do after searching the internet for a few minutes, but an inexperienced user would have no idea what to do. It would be helpful if there was some kind of indication that a USB device had been connected (right now absolutely nothing happens) even if Ubuntu doesn't have the drivers/software to communicate with that specific device. The indication could give suggestions on where to find the correct drivers/software.
In the GUI simplification is the best idea. You can put an advanced tab in for more advanced users, but for the average Joe, make it simple. Check out the OSX network manager for the simplicity, though I don't advocate copying it exactly.
Something I find very frustrating is why we cannot use NetworkMonitor to connect to a VPN while using static IP. Also a great thing would be to be able to configure network routes for used by VPN. I mean use VPN only for some hosts.
Does anyone else find it annoying that network manager doesn't give you a simple way to display what it knows (i.e. a list of networks you've told it about). I like the simplicity of the thing, but sometimes I want to be able to see what it knows and change things (for example, if I've told it to try to connect to a network that doesn't work, I'd like to be able to tell it not to bother trying in the future).
something as simple as a button that refreshes the available networks.... sometimes i know that there are available networks that don't show up. i have to wait a long while before they finally do, if at all.
something either as versatile as wicd or just adopt wicd instead. it can handle wireless much better than networkmanager. also networkmanager has a bug where if you switch to wireless you can't go back to wired connection.
I think network manager should have to option to install plugins for you when you choose an option like "Connect to VPN" before the VPN plugin installed (like totem does for missing codecs).
I absolutely agree with this. Mac OS X and Windows XP both trump Ubuntu in the mobile networking arena in particular for their ability to handle a great variety of network cards as well as provide an easy interface for locating and connecting to access points. The faster the linux community can pull together projects for ease-of-use on laptops, the more accessible linux will be to the average user.
I would also REALLY like the chance to have a wireless connection reconfigured with the same ip to wired and vice versa if they're on the same subnet, that is, the wireless network is a bridge of the wired.
that would allow real "roaming" between wired and wlan. i hate it when everything dies just because i plug in / plug out a cable.
Conceptually, Network Manager is a great idea. But under the hood, it's a huge exercise of reinvent the wheel and drive on the sidewalk. It hijacks the standard Debian networking stack and doesn't leave a clue why.
It violates standards because it places the configurations in /var/lib/NetworkManager instead of /etc/network, where it belongs. It also creates security and management problems because it relies on avahi-daemon and avahi-autoipd (a/k/a the "Paint a Target on My Tee Shirt" protocol).
Another thing that would be nice is an auto-repair feature. This feature tests for just about anything that can go wrong with a network connection, and, whenever possible, proposes a reasonable fix (and actually does the fix for you if it can). It would be the "got to" tool for resolving all sorts of networking problems. IP address, DHCP, DNS, do you need bcm43xx-fwcutter installed? Problems with firewall? It should keep detailed logs of any fixes it implements and provide an "undo" function. The user interface can adapt to a wide range of skills from "help, it just isn't working!" to allowing control of detailed tests and diagnostic information.
Whatever it is it can't mess with CLI: what I really want is to be able to be able to manage the same configuration when I don't have GUI access, like connecting to wireless using a pass phrase that's stored in my keyring without X11.
NetworkManager is the way to go, because it is most supported between commercial companies and I like it too. Yes, it should have better integration with Gnome System Tools, and other connection types should be better supported. But as far as I see, this is most reachable idea and I wholeheartly support that.
I would like to see a simple method of defining roles for each interface.
For example, setting up DHCP/Firewall:
eth0: internet
eth1: local network
Do you have any idea how much trouble you have to go through to set up a simple server like this? Add another NIC and it gets even more complicated.
I've been in situations where I had two private networks and one internet connection, but no way to specify that the private connections should just browse computers, and the public should be firewalled and providing net services.
PPPoE support is problematic at best, especially over wireless.
The main problems:
1. PPPoE providers don't offer DHCP on the same line. The network manager repport the connection as inactive then, so it cannot be used for a PPPoE connection.
By the way, for wireless connections a NO ENCRIPTION option shuld be made available; it isn't quite intuitive to select encription and put a empty key....
2. The pppoeconf script is asking too much unneeded questions and missing important ones.
For example it doesn't offer a way to specify using only encrypted passwords ( to protect the password on the wire).
3. A pppoe connection should work on any available/active interface, as the user may move the cable across interfaces or use wireless for access. Right now only the interface configured in pppoeconf is used, so the service doesn't work at all on other interfaces.
4. PPPoE connection status and control should be available in the NM applet; teaching users pon dsl-provider isn't going to fly. Of course the configuration should be done there as well.
5. The sistem should try to reconnect a session, ideally using all available interfaces (point 3 above). Right now the user have to issue a pon dsl-provider command on the terminal after losing connectivity.
6. Multiple pppoe configurations should be kept ( for different accounts, providers, settings, etc).
This is already available in the Ximian Linux on the ASUS EEPC.
Most of this points are to be expected by users as they are standard issue on Windows ( both native and add-ons like raspppoe).
I've never had an issue with nm-applet. My only complaint is that dialup network is a pain to configure. I'm on a 40Mbps connection myself, but I tried to setup someone who wanted dialup on Ubuntu using a US Robotics serial modem. WHAT A PAIN! Could never get it right, so he went with XP. Lovely.
I agree with the above comments regarding including WICD in the repos as it is the first wireless/wired manager that is capable of handling setting up a WPA account without creating/tweaking numerous config files.
Also it should contain "WISPR" data...eg usernames/passwords to connect to several Wifi networks... something like Devicescape... but that only supports macOSX,windows, ... no linux :'(
I too think that WICD is far superior to NM. I would like to see NM gravitate towards something like WICD, or maybe just use it by default. I was amazed that NM couldn't connect to a hidden SSID. Hell, even vista can do that!
This is one thing that keeps me from using Ubuntu as much as I'd like. It's just too hard to join a wireless network with it! That's why I use other distributions on laptops I work on, since most distributions include better networking support, especially for wireless.
NM has no problem connecting to hidden essid's in my current install of Ubuntu 7.10. Although I have to point out that configuring networks with hidden essid info is pretty much worthless. It induces instability in the connection on several different OS's and distros as well as not providing even the smallest modicum of additional security. Having a hidden essid is like painting your car black so it blends in with parking lot to avoid it getting stolen. No matter how black you paint the car it is still obviously a car and anyone who wants it or it's contents is just gonna crack away at it.
WiCD is good, but it does not offer all authentication/security combinations. Also it keeps yet another set of configuration files. Why can all these network managament solutions not use the same files? "interfaces" and if appropriate "wpa_supplicant.conf". For some who is still rather new, this is all extremely confusing.
Yes, I've personally had problems getting some users to make the switch because of this. If you don't have a working internet connection, it makes installing the distro next to impossible.
The user in question had a winmodem, and had to install and configure a bunch of drivers and *still* found it to not work. The user is back to windows vista until this issue can be fixed :S
The way the distro is setup, its almost impossible to fix it if you don't have a working internet connection! Remember not everyone on the planet has wireless or broadband... these ugly winmodems need some love ;)
This really calls for improving the NetworkManager. It has some functionality still missing but the UI is aok and it has the infrastructure (dbus messages for events and such) ready. It also has a plugin architecture for adding new stuff such as vpn and more special networking device support.
Personally I have been always installing the vpnc and the networkmanager vpnc plugin to be able to access my workplace by using NetworkManager. Puzzling why it has not been installed by default. It's more important than many other things crammed on the livecd :(
Get Network Manager working with the same depth of options and profile management as WICD!
Additionally to networkmanager:
- Profile switching should just work.
- Ability to not auto-connect to unknown networks and just try saved profiles only.
And add the ability to easily circumvent the dreaded keyfile manager!
Frankly, not sure why networkmanager isn't just dropped with primary support for wicd added instead.
I was one of the first people to order an Ubunutu Linux laptop from Dell back in May last year, and this was the 2nd most annoying thing I had run into (not being able to change resolution to the native LCD res of the laptop being the biggest annoyance). It took me close to half an hour to figure out what icon I needed to click on to configure the wireless connection. Having a single unified place to configure all network connections would be a god-send, but only if the multitude of other places that network config tools appear, are removed.
1. Please include dial-up in such a scenario. It would be extra nice if the app could say something like "Sorry, but you on-board dial-up network card is not currently supported, due to the fact that the manufacturer refuses to give Linux developers the specifications of the card. We suggest you use a serial modem".
2. Include a button to switch IPv6 on/off
3. Give the user the options to use OpenDNS as the default DHCP server (and explain why this is a good idea)
The one thing I've noticed about Linux (especially Ubuntu) is that it doesn't get in the way of computing - it lets you do things because it is simple to use and simple to understand.
That being said, if some work is done on a single unified tool incorporating many different single tools (such as Network Manager and others), then the way everything is described is paramount.
I've realized that using Ubuntu means some tools are written in "baby computer" language, and others are explained in "geek computer" language. I'm halfway between both, so it's great for a learning curve - but really, not everyone is understanding the geek approach. Any tools written specifically for Ubuntu must reflect the simplicity it's been known to have.
The tool should have (possibility for):
1. Fixed entries for resolv.conv, no matter the "location" (e.g. OpenDNS)
2. Location dependent entries for resolv.conf and hosts. Although many in places resolv.conf is given by DHCP it is not true everywhere (e.g. home). And I have static addresses for home so whenever Network Manager overwrites the hosts I have to manually "re-overwrite".
For whatever reason neither 7.04 or 7.10 have run with the ISP connection right off the installation! So much for the installation detecting standard Ethernet cards!
But I'm fairly stupid and cannot configure the system properly on my own too! I need help...
This may sound quite specific, but here's my feature request :
- Profiles consisting of an Internet access part (eg.: wired, wireless, 3G), with their own resolution setup, and a VPN part supporting at least OpenVPN and PPTP for roadwarriors.
- Ability to swap the internet access support while keeping the VPN up (but stalled why switching) if the server supports it
- Usage monitoring for mobile broadband connection (3G/Edge)
(note : vodafone betavin forge hosts a dashboard project wich is still really buggy)
- Setup wizzard for mobile devices, either via bluetooth, PCMCIA or internal PCIe cards
Also, especially as we don't have a cover-it-all graphical frontend (including bridging ...), manual changes to /etc/network/interfaces shouldn't disable automatic network connection otherwise.
(And yes, NetworkManager is sluggish - but if it worked otherwise ...)
It would be nice if there's a proxy setting for a certain network profile (LAN at work mostly), all processes that access internet (http and ftp at least) should use that proxy, so setting it should worg for synaptic, apt console tools, ncftp and other cliënts etc.
Being able to automatically use proxy at work and turn off proxy at home (or use another one) is i think best implemented using network profile's based on subnets you're connected to, being connected with multiple subnets might make this a bit tricky though, but you could say that the subnet where you have the default gateway on is the one that should be used as profile...
I think there should be an easy-to-use graphic frontend for all connections (dial-up, ISDN, GSM/GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA, PPPoE, Cable, ...) without installing additional packages, working at the console etc.
VPN is a big issue for me. Today i am not able to connect to an old Windows VPN (PPTP) Server and no real error messages are produced by NM. It would be also very helpful to setup a standard vpn-server for a profile so NM would connect at first to a Wireless LAN and afterwards automatically to a VPN server as it is required e.g. in my university.
At my uni they use WPA2 Enterprise with TTLS/PAP authentication. Although you can set all the relevant options, knetworkmanager does not connect. Gnome network manager does connect but loses it's connection after a few minutes.
I manually set up a wpa_supplicant.conf file and use that in a script to connect, but that is far from the way I would like it to be. Would be cool if this would work.
NetworkManager could do a better job of handling Wireless and Networked connections, VPN and BRIDGED connections. It needs the ability to quickly see what the status is of each connection in existence, and the ability to reconfigure each on the fly. XP's Network Connections system is more intuitive and functional, but not perfect.
At the moment, Bridged connections are ignored, and this hampers use of Virtualbox networking.
i am all for pppoe integration into network manager - it's the most common way for joe user in germany to connect to the internet - if that is not possible without using console and pppoeconf they can't find the forums pages telling them to do so. pppoeconf seems to be able to detect the availability of pppoe - so this option could be disabled if pppoe is not available and thus would not clutter the interface.
The network manager could definitely use some work.
For instance, I use network-manager-vpnc whenever I'm connecting to my school's wireless network. However, if you enter a blank field while using that, network-manager dies.
As dems pointed out Network Manager has the very strange behaviour that you can't make vpn connections when you have static IP. It's pointless, I should set up a DHCP server just to use this feature of NM, and even with that DHCP server, it give constant IP for me, so I can't see why this difference.
Yes this is a very good idea because many people use 3g\edge\gprs\wifi.
At this moment with network manager i have difficulty to config my network connection because i use ADSL 3G and satellite connection.
Hi,
There are too few options in the OpenVPN GUI. It would be nice to see more options place in the advanced tab or at least to have a config file to change. Enabling a openvpn connection via desktop is a nice feature (if it works). From the several configured connections that I have, some do not work, mainly due to non-default MTU settings.
One of the problems with such an approach are the APIs to gather all the information you would like to see in such a for sure very useful tool. Also updating different parameters requires to use different APIs for different wireless interfaces.
There is an open source project called the Unified Link-Layer API or ULLA for short that tries to solve this problem:
http://ulla.sourceforge.net/
I attached my old Samsung SGH E300 via USB cable to my notebook. I tried wvdial, minicom, pon, gnome-ppp, etc...
Nothing worked. Then I tried grpsec (http://darrenalbers.com/gprsec/), worked out of the box!!
Network-Manager 0.7 should take a look at it!!
you should add a update or reconnect funtion to nework-manager. Sometimes it just does not rescan the available wifi networks. Also giving of a static IP should be made possible when in roaming mode.
It looks like PPPoE is being integrated into NM 0.7, but will it be available for Hardy is my biggest concern. NM currently sits at 0.6.6 which scares me.
Great ideea, i think there should be a connection center or somthing where all external devices that we can connect to like network adapters, routers, bluetooth, infrared, wifi, acces points, other computers in a network... somthing should be done to bring all of this together!!
+1
I have a pppoe Internet protocol connection. I usually configure that connection with pppoeconf. This was the case with Hardy too, until I finally discover that Network Manager offer a GUI to do just that. But I have a nasty surprise.
Here is what is happen:
1. I already have configured the Internet connection with pppoeconf
2. I decide to use the Network Manager GUI to configure the connection
3. I stopped the connection done with pppoeconf
4. I configure the ppoe connection with the Network Manager GUI
5. It do not start the new connection, I had to start the connection manually from the panel applet (connect with pon dsl-provider)
6. After a few testings I realize that in order to start the connection at boot time I have to tick the "Make this connection the default connection" option.
7. There is no help available to guide the user into configuration steps. The help pages talk about something else, it might as well talk about making ubuntu bread and it was just as helpful.
8. When I boot it up I ended with 2 active pppoe connections: the one made with pppoeconf and the one made with the Network Manager GUI. This doesn't happen if I use only pppoeconf.
CONCLUSION:
1. The GUI do not check if there is an other pppoe connection configured and will configure as many connections as he can.
2. There are no options to make the connection active as soon as is configured.
3. There are no help pages to guide the user through the configuring process.
4. If the configuring was intended to set an Internet connection even if the user do not have administrative power
it still have to check if the administrator have configured the connection and do not attempt to initiate a new one.
5. This solution wasn't made for humans.
6. I don't know if that is was made on purpose or if is a bug because I don't know what the intentions were.
NM has real problems, and it's not clear to me the solutions being proposed are the right ones. I guess it's all good that NM uses dbus to notify interested applications about the state of the network, but there's one big problem with this: it means that any network application has to be rewritten to use this very Linux-specific feature! UNIX networking has been around essentially unchanged for 20+ years and any Linux distribution contains a lot of networking infrastructure that is nowhere close to being created for Linux itself. Having to go through all the various network daemons and add special handling for NM dbus messages just... sucks.
Consider a common UNIX enterprise environment: autofs needs to obtain information on automount maps from NIS. NIS needs to bind to an NIS server. So, NIS needs the network to be started before it can come up, and autofs needs NIS to bind before it can come up. NM wants all these things to happen "asynchronously" during boot; so that services needing the network wait for a message on dbus. Well, it's really gross to have to go into the code for NIS and autofs, which are completely generic tools used by all different versions of UNIX, and customize them to listen for dbus messages!
Someone has done that already for NIS so now that works, but it's not been done for autofs. So now when my Ubuntu Hardy system boots up, autofs is disabled because when it tries to retrieve its information from NIS it can't because NIS is waiting for NM to bring up the interface. There's just no way to fix this except disable NM entirely and go back to static interface definitions. And yes, I have filed a bug.
To me this is entirely wrong. What should be done is to create a generic program that can interact with dbus and perform simple operations based on those messages, such as bring up/down a service etc., then have the init system changed to invoke that tool (on Ubuntu) to manage the (unmodified) NIS, autofs, etc. daemons.
I will be working on mobile broadband configuration assistant for NetworkManager[1] this summer. Support for dedicated data modems is left out of the scope of my project, but I will be working on them anyway ;-)
Just take a look at my blog[2] for additional information.
Instead of just managing network connections, repair, diagnose, view attached devices, etc - would be helpful. Seeing the IP in LAN and WLAN and public IP and networks available would be awesome. Lost a CUPS connection due to a surge - took me a while to determine the cause was due to a change in the dynamic IP of the printer. Would be nice to see the devices on a network in addition to potential connections - to be able to repair connections and to see the wifi access - etc.
using sudo pppeoconf is very much complicated for frequent disconnect with network. always detect and connect to the connection to be done automatically will be much more useful..
It will be great if Ubuntu provides GUI support for any type of internet connection.Many ISPs provide pppoe for home users.It will be very helpful if GUI support is provided for this purpose.
Network Manager 0.7 should meet/exceed what is being asked for in this Brainstorm. I posted a quick preview of NM 0.7 at http://www.darrenalbers.net/blog/?p=9
The only items that seem to be missing or Bluetooth DUN and modems.
Well, dialup modem connections are a huge deal still, and Ubuntu is probably the most unfriendly distro for dialup modems. It does a very poor job of detecting them, and makes no effort to allow the user to establish dialup modem connections.
Sorry if somebody has already said that, but wht I wanted NM to do is:
1) Faster wireless connection for known nets: my wireless network is hidden, and it takes a long time to auto connect to it. Sometimes I have to manually connect to it. When we enable the wireless, it should first try to auto-connect on the saved networks.
2) the saved networks should be accessible from the icon on the sys tray to easily change network configurations.
I'm currently using it with Intrepid Ibex Alpha 2
and now that I can set a static IP I don't need
to rely on gnome-network-admin anymore
(which lost the wpa options for whatever reasons?)
or fiddle with config files...
This risks feature bloat.
However, we must make Ubuntu's more "exotic" network applications easier to install and configure.
Network Manager will support the many protocols available, but will download only the software that handles user's chosen protocols
This solves the problem of an eclectic user interface without feature bloat.
I call your attention to the following example:
User Doug has a laptop computer with a Bluetooth card and a wireless B/G card, which he wishes to use to connect to his wireless router and his Bluetooth enabled phone, respectively.
Once Doug installs Ubuntu, network-manager informs him that his wireless card needs proprietary drivers, which he installs.
When he clicks the network manager applet, just below the "create new wireless network", he sees the option "install new protocol".
Once he clicks it, he sees a dialog with two tabs.
One tab gives him the option to answer questions to figure out what kind of protocols he wishes to install.
Another tab simply lists the available protocols.
He selects Bluetooth, and clicks "close".
Network Manager now updates itself with configuration options for Bluetooth, and installs the drivers and other related software.
Thanks for your time and consideration,
Nate B.
I agree... and WiFi Radar may be intuitive, but it requires you to "pre-specify" what you're looking for, rather than finding what is available to chose from. For simple end-user use, one should always search first and then ask to select from list, rather than giving tools which if used on all possible settings may take eons to find what is available.
It seems like the network manager in 8.10 is a good step in the right direction. But we really need to add to it in two key areas that I can see.
1. CDMA Phone listings for the US Cell carries. Yeah I know this will take some work, but ATT and TMobile only cover half of the major carries in the US.
2. I notice that for wireless, where there are multiple access points with the same name the wireless will jump around when trying to connect to one. Specifying the MAC address doesn't help as it will continue to hop around. So unfortunately I had to switch back to using Wicd instead. In Wicd it will list each AP as a separate entry even if it has the same name.
I think if these two features were incorporated it would really help 9.04.
Current Network Manager (0.7) should be improved also for Wi-Fi connectivity.
You should have an option to Enable and Disable particular Access Points (providers), and put some priority for connections.
It would be nice to have Profiles as well - so you define list of APs for Home location (and only those APs are visible when you select this profile).
Another set for Work location. And third one - for Airport. :-)
Anyway - good idea, this is a step in right direction.
Yes, this is one of the most important things that linux has got to do! We need to implement something like this, 'cause you haven't got much fun with ubuntu when it can't download graphic drivers or access the internet.....it's incredible that in a user-friendly system like ubuntu you need to enter the terminal to set-up your LAN modem or that even someone who have a lot of expirience with windows and computers isn't able to connect his PC with a USB modem.....
MAKE IT EASY (hell, make it *possible*) TO PREFER SPECIFIC NETWORKS.
This is a huge issue. I can't believe this has been simmering for years (all the way back to Dapper in the forum threads I've seen) and still NOTHING.
I thought Gnome was supposed to be all about usability. Their concept of usability seems to have degenerated to "my way or the highway." Grrr. (Can you tell I'm a wildly frustrated user?) GIVE ME THE CHOICE OF WHICH NETWORKS I WANT TO USE WHEN I WANT TO USE THEM.
One person even noted that there's a legalistic aspect to this. It's braindead, I know, but there have been cases of people hauled off to court for hopping on to others' wireless networks. Given the state of tech knowledge in the legal world, it'd cost you a lawyer to say, "Sorry. Can't help it. It's a stupid default I can't change in gnome."
#11 I don't want samba to be activated "on the fly" this isn't needed to share network connection and it's not to share printers either. -1 but only because of that, without the samba part, it will be a great idea.
My two favourite items are:
Solution #5: Implement concurrent connections to NetworkManager
Solution #11: Sharing Internet and network configuration automatically.
This is already doable on Windows XP. Let's have it doable on Ubuntu!
Actually, scrap that last comment. I tried it out on Ubuntu 9.10 and both worked fine!
Connecting to wireless then wired networks resulted in being connected to both of them, and I could get on the internet provided by the wireless. Editing the wired connection so IPV4 was set to "Shared to other computers" shared my internet access over the wired network to another (Ubuntu) computer.
Solutions #5 and #11 should be marked as Implemented.