I think NetworkManager (the service) is just a service that manage network interfaces using its own profiles of network configurations. The second runnable program is the 'nm-applet' the has to be run under the X. The 'nm-applet' is easy way to change network profiles by GUI. Even if you run NM without X that just has to exist a default network profile of the eth or wlan, otherway no interface is activated and no IP (manually or DHCP) can be set.

The NM installed in Fedora/RHEL/Debian systems really starts before X. Of course the nm-applet starts when GNOME is loaded X.

Is there a mistake in my understanding of NM?

Thanks for the reply. How?

I missed something, does disabling SELinux help?

What's SELinux?

SELinux - how to disable, read my messages back.

SELinux is "Security Enhanced Linux" developed by NSA (National Security Agency). It is built in end it is enabled by default in many distributions. It has its own system of rights and access control. SELinux rights and logic is different and really more complex than Linux user rights. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security-Enhanced_Linux )

Linux can deny access to files, processes, operations etc. It doesn't mind if you are root (process runs under root) or not. The root user is not a privileged user in SELinux.

If a system does uncommon things (such as denials, prermission deny, something doesn't work). It is very important to check if SELinux allows your operations. When you don't know what to check or how to check, the most easy way is disable SELinux. If everything works, the problem is in SELinux policy. (Policy is s set of files, restrictions, MAC, ACL, ...)

ray@linux-fl8w:~> /etc/selinux/config
bash: /etc/selinux/config: No such file or directory
ray@linux-fl8w:~> su
Password:
linux-fl8w:/home/ray # /etc/selinux/config
bash: /etc/selinux/config: No such file or directory
linux-fl8w:/home/ray #

ray@linux-fl8w:~> su
Password:
linux-fl8w:/home/ray # echo 0 >/selinux/enforce
linux-fl8w:/home/ray #

So this turns it off apparently. Now what? http://www.crypt.gen.nz/selinux/disable_selinux.html

Solved. I went into Yast>Network Settings and noticed that "user controlled with NM" wasn't ticked. "Traditional method w/ifud" was ticked. Ticked 'NM' and all is well. I never went into there because NM was present on the desktop upon installation.

Thank you for your patience and you time.

Sometimes it's the simple things :p

Cheers on fixing your problem!

Josh

Well, now when you are sure, that it was due to SELinux, use setroubleshootd to detect, what was happend.

Just type 'sealert' into command line.

'sealert' is a gui tool, that can advice you how to set SELinux properly. It writes commands you have to.

Sometimes it can be danger to allow everyhting, but in case of NetworkManger it will be ok.


Also you can set up SELinux just to log messages (what is wrong) instead of deny!

Just set /etc/selinux/config
SELINUX=permissive

Put the result of SELinux audit (/var/log/audit/audit.log) as a question in the Security forum rather then Network forum.


I recommend you using SELinux in enfocing mode to protect your computer before attacks. So take a care about correct settings of it.

"sealer" or "sealert" ??

sealert

ray@linux-fl8w:~> su
Password:
linux-fl8w:/home/ray # sealert
If 'sealert' is not a typo you can use command-not-found to lookup the package that contains it, like this:
cnf sealert
linux-fl8w:/home/ray # cnf sealert
sealert: command not found
linux-fl8w:/home/ray #


??????????

Looks like you don't have selinux installed then..... ;)

I really use SELinux to secure my desktop and servers. However I mostly use Fedora. I think 'sealert' is usually installed with setroubleshootd. Try to find that daemon that can help you solve problems like yours. Of course, there can be another tool like 'sealert' in SuSe.