NM-SETTINGS-KEYFILE(5) Configuration NM-SETTINGS-KEYFILE(5) NAME nm-settings-keyfile - Description of keyfile settings plugin DESCRIPTION NetworkManager is based on the concept of connection profiles that contain network configuration (see nm-settings-nmcli(5) for details). The profiles can be stored in various formats. NetworkManager uses plugins for reading and writing the data. The plugins can be configured in NetworkManager.conf(5). The keyfile plugin is the generic plugin that supports all the connection types and capabilities that NetworkManager has. The files are in a .ini-style format and located in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/, /usr/lib/NetworkManager/system-connections/ and /run/NetworkManager/system-connections/. This plugin is always enabled and will automatically be used to store any connections that are not supported by any other active plugin. For security, it will ignore files that are readable or writable by any user other than 'root' since private keys and passphrases may be stored in plaintext inside the file. FILE FORMAT The keyfile config format is a simple .ini-style format. It consists of sections (groups) of key-value pairs. More information of the generic key file format can be found at GLib key file format[1] (Lines beginning with a '#' are comments, lists are separated by character ; etc.). Each section corresponds to a setting name as described in the settings specification (nm-settings-nmcli(5)). Each key/value pair in a section is one of the properties from the specification. The majority of properties are written in the same format as the specification into the keyfile. However, some values are inconvenient for people to use so they are stored in the keyfile in more readable ways. These properties that differ from the specification are described below. An example could be IP addresses that are not written as integer arrays, but more reasonably as "1.2.3.4/12 1.2.3.254". Also, some lists of complex values (addresses, routes, routing-rules), instead of using a semicolon separated list, use one key-value pair per list element, with the key being the singular of the property name followed by the numeric index (i.e address1, address2, ...). Users can create or modify the keyfile connection files manually, even if that is not the recommended way of managing the profiles. However, if they choose to do that, they must inform NetworkManager about their changes (for example via nmcli con (re)load). Examples of keyfile configuration. A sample configuration for an ethernet network: [connection] id=Main eth0 uuid=27afa607-ee36-43f0-b8c3-9d245cdc4bb3 type=802-3-ethernet autoconnect=true [ipv4] method=auto [802-3-ethernet] mac-address=00:23:5a:47:1f:71 A sample configuration for WPA-EAP (PEAP with MSCHAPv2) and always-ask secret: [connection] id=CompanyWIFI uuid=cdac6154-a33b-4b15-9904-666772cfa5ee type=wifi autoconnect=false [wifi] ssid=CorpWLAN mode=infrastructure security=802-11-wireless-security [wifi-security] key-mgmt=wpa-eap [ipv4] method=auto [ipv6] method=auto [802-1x] eap=peap; identity=joe ca-cert=/home/joe/.cert/corp.crt phase1-peapver=1 phase2-auth=mschapv2 password-flags=2 A sample configuration for openvpn: [connection] id=RedHat-openvpn uuid=7f9b3356-b210-4c0e-8123-bd116c9c280f type=vpn timestamp=1385401165 [vpn] service-type=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn connection-type=password password-flags=3 remote=ovpn.my-company.com cipher=AES-256-CBC reneg-seconds=0 port=443 username=joe ca=/etc/openvpn/ISCA.pem tls-remote=ovpn.my-company.com [ipv6] method=auto [ipv4] method=auto ignore-auto-dns=true never-default=true A sample configuration for a bridge and a bridge port: [connection] [connection] id=MainBridge id=br-port-1 uuid=171ae855-a0ab-42b6-bd0c-60f5812eea9d uuid=d6e8ae98-71f8-4b3d-9d2d-2e26048fe794 interface-name=MainBridge interface-name=em1 type=bridge type=ethernet controller=MainBridge [bridge] port-type=bridge interface-name=MainBridge A sample configuration for a VLAN: [connection] id=VLAN for building 4A uuid=8ce1c9e0-ce7a-4d2c-aa28-077dda09dd7e interface-name=VLAN-4A type=vlan [vlan] interface-name=VLAN-4A parent=eth0 id=4 DETAILS keyfile plugin variables for the majority of NetworkManager properties have one-to-one mapping. It means a NetworkManager property is stored in the keyfile as a variable of the same name and in the same format. There are several exceptions to this rule, mainly for making keyfile syntax easier for humans. The exceptions handled specially by keyfile plugin are listed below. Refer to nm-settings-nmcli(5) for all available settings and properties and their description. Name aliases. Some of the NetworkManager setting names are somewhat hard to type or remember. Therefore keyfile introduces aliases that can be used instead of the names. setting name keyfile alias 802-3-ethernet = ethernet 802-11-wireless = wifi 802-11-wireless-security = wifi-security Table 1. 802-11-wireless setting (section) +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |ssid | | string (or | SSID of Wi-Fi network. Example: | | | | decimal-byte list - | ssid=Quick Net | | | | obsolete) | | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |mac-address | | usual | MAC address in traditional | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | hex-digits-and-colons notation | | | | notation | (e.g. 00:22:68:12:79:A2), or | | | | | semicolon separated list of 6 bytes | | | | | (obsolete) (e.g. | | | | | 0;34;104;18;121;162). | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |cloned-mac-address | | usual | Cloned MAC address in traditional | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | hex-digits-and-colons notation | | | | notation | (e.g. 00:22:68:12:79:B2), or | | | | | semicolon separated list of 6 bytes | | | | | (obsolete) (e.g. | | | | | 0;34;104;18;121;178). | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |mac-address-blacklist | | list of MACs | MAC address blacklist. Example: | | | | (separated with | mac-address-blacklist= | | | | semicolons) | 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |mac-address-denylist | | list of MACs | MAC address denylist. Example: | | | | (separated with | mac-address-denylist= | | | | semicolons) | 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ Table 2. 802-3-ethernet setting (section) +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |mac-address | | usual | MAC address in traditional | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | hex-digits-and-colons notation | | | | notation | (e.g. 00:22:68:12:79:A2), or | | | | | semicolon separated list of 6 bytes | | | | | (obsolete) (e.g. | | | | | 0;34;104;18;121;162) | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |cloned-mac-address | | usual | Cloned MAC address in traditional | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | hex-digits-and-colons notation | | | | notation | (e.g. 00:22:68:12:79:B2), or | | | | | semicolon separated list of 6 bytes | | | | | (obsolete) (e.g. | | | | | 0;34;104;18;121;178). | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |mac-address-blacklist | | list of MACs | MAC address blacklist. Example: | | | | (separated with | mac-address-blacklist= | | | | semicolons) | 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ |mac-address-denylist | | list of MACs | MAC address denylist. Example: | | | | (separated with | mac-address-denylist= | | | | semicolons) | 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 | +----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+ Table 3. bridge setting (section) +------------+------------------+-----------------------+----------------------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +------------+------------------+-----------------------+----------------------------------+ |mac-address | | usual | MAC address in traditional | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | hex-digits-and-colons notation, | | | | notation | or semicolon separated list of 6 | | | | | decimal bytes (obsolete) | | | | | Example: | | | | | mac-address=00:22:68:12:79:A2 | | | | | mac-address=0;34;104;18;121;162; | +------------+------------------+-----------------------+----------------------------------+ Table 4. infiniband setting (section) +------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+ |mac-address | | usual | MAC address in traditional hex-digits-and-colons notation, | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | or or semicolon separated list of 20 decimal bytes | | | | notation | (obsolete) Example: mac-address= | | | | | 80:00:00:6d:fe:80:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:02:55:00:70:33:cf:01 | +------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+ Table 5. ipv4 setting (section) +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ |dns | | list of DNS IP addresses | List of DNS servers. Example: | | | | | dns=1.2.3.4;8.8.8.8;8.8.4.4; | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ |addresses | address1, | address/plen | List of static IP addresses. | | | address2, ... | | Example: | | | | | address1=192.168.100.100/24 | | | | | address2=10.1.1.5/24 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ |gateway | gateway | string | Gateway IP addresses as a string. | | | | | Example: gateway=192.168.100.1 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ |routes | route1, route2, | route/plen[,gateway,metric] | List of IP routes. Example: | | | ... | | route1=8.8.8.0/24,10.1.1.1,77 | | | | | route2=7.7.0.0/16 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ |routes | route1_options, | key=val[,key=val...] | Attributes defined for the routes, | |(attributes) | route2_options, | | if any. The supported attributes | | | ... | | are explained in ipv4.routes entry | | | | | in `man nm-settings-nmcli`. | | | | | Example: | | | | | route1_options=mtu=1000,onlink=true | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ |routing-rules | routing-rule1, | routing rule string | Routing rules as defined with `ip | | | routing-rule2, | | rule add`, but with mandatory fixed | | | ... | | priority. Example: | | | | | routing-rule1=priority 5 from | | | | | 192.167.4.0/24 table 45 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+ Table 6. ipv6 setting (section) +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |dns | | list of DNS IP addresses | List of DNS servers. Example: | | | | | dns=2001:4860:4860::8888;2001:4860:4860::8844; | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |addresses | address1, | address/plen | List of static IP addresses. Example: | | | address2, ... | | address1=abbe::cafe/96 address2=2001::1234 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |gateway | gateway | string | Gateway IP addresses as a string. Example: gateway=abbe::1 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |routes | route1, route2, | route/plen[,gateway,metric] | List of IP routes. Example: | | | ... | | route1=2001:4860:4860::/64,2620:52:0:2219:222:68ff:fe11:5403 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |routes | route1_options, | key=val[,key=val...] | Attributes defined for the routes, if any. The supported | |(attributes) | route2_options, | | attributes are explained in ipv6.routes entry in `man | | | ... | | nm-settings-nmcli`. Example: | | | | | route1_options=mtu=1000,onlink=true | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |routing-rules | routing-rule1, | routing rule string | Routing rules as defined with `ip rule add`, but with | | | routing-rule2, | | mandatory fixed priority. Example: routing-rule1=priority 5 | | | ... | | from 2001:4860:4860::/64 table 45 | +--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ Table 7. serial setting (section) +---------+------------------+------------------+-----------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +---------+------------------+------------------+-----------------+ |parity | | 'e', 'o', or 'n' | The connection | | | | | parity; even, | | | | | odd, or none. | | | | | Note that older | | | | | versions of | | | | | NetworkManager | | | | | stored this as | | | | | an integer: 69 | | | | | ('E') for even, | | | | | 111 ('o') for | | | | | odd, or 110 | | | | | ('n') for none. | | | | | Example: | | | | | parity=n | +---------+------------------+------------------+-----------------+ Table 8. vpn setting (section) +---------+------------------+--------+-----------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +---------+------------------+--------+-----------------------+ |data | separate | | The keys of the data | | | variables named | | dictionary are used | | | after keys of | | as variable names | | | the dictionary | | directly under [vpn] | | | | | section. Example: | | | | | remote=ovpn.corp.com | | | | | cipher=AES-256-CBC | | | | | username=joe | +---------+------------------+--------+-----------------------+ |secrets | separate | | The keys of the | | | variables named | | secrets dictionary | | | after keys of | | are used as variable | | | the dictionary | | names directly under | | | | | [vpn-secrets] | | | | | section. Example: | | | | | password=Popocatepetl | +---------+------------------+--------+-----------------------+ Table 9. wifi-p2p setting (section) +---------+------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +---------+------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |peer | | usual | MAC address in | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | traditional | | | | notation | hex-digits-and-colons | | | | | notation (e.g. | | | | | 00:22:68:12:79:A2), | | | | | or semicolon | | | | | separated list of 6 | | | | | bytes (obsolete) | | | | | (e.g. | | | | | 0;34;104;18;121;162). | +---------+------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ Table 10. wpan setting (section) +------------+------------------+-----------------------+---------------------------+ |Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description | +------------+------------------+-----------------------+---------------------------+ |mac-address | | usual | MAC address in | | | | hex-digits-and-colons | hex-digits-and-colons | | | | notation | notation (e.g. | | | | | 76:d8:9b:87:66:60:84:ee). | +------------+------------------+-----------------------+---------------------------+ Secret flags Each secret property in a NetworkManager setting has an associated flags property that describes how to handle that secret. In the keyfile plugin, the value of -flags variable is a decimal number (0 - 7) defined as a sum of the following values: o 0 - (NM owned) - the system is responsible for providing and storing this secret. o 1 - (agent-owned) - a user-session secret agent is responsible for providing and storing this secret; when it is required, agents will be asked to provide it. o 2 - (not-saved) - this secret should not be saved but should be requested from the user each time it is required. o 4 - (not-required) - in some situations it cannot be automatically determined that a secret is required or not. This flag hints that the secret is not required and should not be requested from the user. FILES /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/* SEE ALSO nm-settings-nmcli(5), nm-settings-ifcfg-rh(5), NetworkManager(8), NetworkManager.conf(5), nmcli(1), nmcli-examples(7) NOTES 1. GLib key file format https://developer.gnome.org/glib/stable/glib-Key-value-file- parser.html#glib-Key-value-file-parser.description NetworkManager 1.50.0 NM-SETTINGS-KEYFILE(5)