Network configuration in Fedora: a nightmare?

[Cyberman]

I installed Fedora 8, and My wireless NIC is TP-LINK. In system-config-network I can see the wireless NIC, but in wireless setting is only have very few items, and it just ask for Key, but I don't know which method it uses.

[jtang613]

For Wireless, it's best to use NetworkManager instead of system-config-network

Open a terminal window:

su -
service NetworkManager start
chkconfig --level 35 NetworkManager on

[Cyberman]

I saw it after I posted this one, and since my computer is too far from the WLAN router so I havn't tested it yet.
But it seens that NetworkManager only allow me to connect one network, if I try to connect to the wireless network, the Ethernet connection will be disconnected. Why?

It seems Fedora's configuration is not so consistent, different tools have different ways.

[leigh123linux]

Threads merged , please don't double post !!


P.S This error looks like a firmware related issue !

[root@localhost ~]# ifup wlan0
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Invalid argument
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Invalid argument

What wifi card do you have ? ( the information given is lacking ! )


Post

su -
lspci |grep Network

[Cyberman]

I can see the hardware in system-config-network.

The output of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge (rev 01)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI-X Root Port
00:19.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation M5249 HTT to PCI Bridge
00:1c.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.1 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.2 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.3 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 2.0 Controller (rev 01)
00:1d.0 Audio device: ALi Corporation High Definition Audio/AC'97 Host Controller
00:1e.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation PCI to LPC Controller (rev 31)
00:1e.1 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
00:1f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c7)
00:1f.1 RAID bus controller: ALi Corporation ULi 5287 SATA (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV380 [Radeon X600 (PCIE)]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV380 [Radeon X600]
02:11.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5005G 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
02:15.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8001 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 13)
02:16.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)

I post a new one because I want to know the things behind the network configuration of Fedora, why it have different ways have different effect, not just how to configure my wireless network.

I'm choosing a new desktop environment, and the alternatives are Fedora 8.0, Fedora 7.0, and FreeBSD 7.0.
It seems no one can make the desktop easy like WinXP yet more security.

[nyjetshead]

How to set up the ath5005G from the command line as root:

Blacklist ath5k:

echo "blacklist ath5k" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

The livna repositories need to be added, that is where the drivers are located.
If you have them already skip this .

rpm --import http://livna-dl.reloumirrors.net/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY
rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-8.rpmInstall madwifi:

yum install kmod-madwifi
Reboot system

Below assumes you have net work manager installed with the network manager dispatcher.
They should be set to start when you boot.
Below will get it running from the command line as root.
Skip this if you have network manager running and the dispatcher icon in the tray.

/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 NetworkManager on

/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 NetworkManagerDispatcher on

/sbin/service NetworkManager start ; /sbin/service NetworkManagerDispatcher start


After reboot:

If you are on a wired connection disconnect it.
Network manager will ask for the default keyring password.
If this is not set suggest you make the default keyring password the same as your LOGIN password.

Network manager will find the the access points if they are in range.
Use network manager to connect to the access points providing the information that is needed to obtain access.

[Cyberman]

Hi nyjetshead, thanks for you reply. But I think NetworkManager is not the right thing I want:
1. I want multiple connection use different NIC, and I have to use static IP, not DHCP.
2. I want only the root can change the network setting.

[Iron_Mike]

Originally Posted by Cyberman

Hi nyjetshead, thanks for you reply. But I think NetworkManager is not the right thing I want:
1. I want multiple connection use different NIC, and I have to use static IP, not DHCP.
2. I want only the root can change the network setting.

Are you trying to connect to the same network with 2 separate nics in the same machine? Or are you trying to use the box as a router, i.e. your wired nic is one network and your wireless nic is a different network, your wired is routed to the wireless to provide a connection?

[nyjetshead]

You don't have to use NM then.
Do every thing up to that part. Set up the interface using system>administration> network.
Suggest not setting the wireless to start on boot, bring it up after you boot via the command line.

[Cyberman]

Originally Posted by nyjetshead

You don't have to use NM then.
Do every thing up to that part. Set up the interface using system>administration> network.
Suggest not setting the wireless to start on boot, bring it up after you boot via the command line.

Today I get some time to test it. After I try 'yum install kmod-madwifi' the wireless really worked. But if also installed a new kernel version '2.6.24.4-64.fc8', so I'm not sure it's that new package works or the new kernel works. I think it should be a kernel mod, but with 'lsmod | grep 'wifi' I can't find it.

Now ifconfig show a new device:

wifi0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-14-78-73-B5-DB-B8-ED-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:36955 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:814
TX packets:711 errors:29 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:199
RX bytes:4741696 (4.5 MiB) TX bytes:71202 (69.5 KiB)
Interrupt:20

I have another question, that I can give a METRIC in ifcfg-wlan0 so I have to default route:

[root@localhost network-scripts]# netstat -r -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wlan0
192.168.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
192.168.122.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 virbr0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 wlan0

But I can't find how to set it in system-config-newwork. It seems that some config paramters of ifconfig command don't have a choice in the GUI network seting, why?
And it seems that the metric in the output of ifconfig is not the METRIC=n I've set in ifcfg-wlan0.

Fedora have too many way's to set the same thing that are not consistent.

[Cyberman]

Hi Iron_Mike, I have to network, one use wired nic to connect and the other use wireless. The two don't have connection between each other.
The problem with NM is that I don't have a chance to set its IP, and use the two network simultaneously.

[Iron_Mike]

And if both NICS are connected to the same network at the same time, how do you suppose Fedora will know which NIC to route traffic thru? It's one or the other.

[Cyberman]

Hi Iron_Mike, thank you for your reply but I think maybe you haven't see the detail I've said. Of course I use two NIC connected to different networks:
1. 192.168.0.0/24, which connected with wired NIC, and ultimately connect the Internet through ADSL.
2. 192.168.1.0/24, which connected with wireless NIC, and ultimately connect the Internet through Ethernet.

My computer need the access the two network, and some tims I set up static route for different site using different gateway, mainly for big file downloading using wireless network, which we rarely used for Internet access.

[Iron_Mike]

And that's why I asked if it was the same Network or different Network. Are you trying to have Both NIC's active at the same time? IF both nics are active at the same time Fedora will not have any way to distinquish which traffic should be routed through 192.168.0.0 and which traffic is routed through 192.168.1.0

[Cyberman]

Originally Posted by Iron_Mike

And that's why I asked if it was the same Network or different Network. Are you trying to have Both NIC's active at the same time? IF both nics are active at the same time Fedora will not have any way to distinquish which traffic should be routed through 192.168.0.0 and which traffic is routed through 192.168.1.0

I don't think so. At least If I want access 192.168.0.0 it will use the NIC using 192.168.0.x, and 192.168.1.0 will use 192.168.1.x. If I use the traditional way to set up the network using ifcfg-xxx every thing is fine. For Internet it depends the default gateway and static routing I've set up.

Only use one network is the restrict of NetworkManager, not Fedora.