Chapter 15. Configuring NetworkManager to ignore certain devices
By default, NetworkManager manages all devices. To ignore certain devices, you can configure NetworkManager by setting as unmanaged.
15.1. Permanently configuring a device as unmanaged in NetworkManager
You can permanently configure devices as unmanaged based on several criteria, such as the interface name, MAC address, or device type.
Procedure
Optional: Display the list of devices to identify the device or MAC address you want to set as
unmanaged:# ip link show ... 2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000 link/ether 52:54:00:74:79:56 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ...Create the
/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/99-unmanaged-devices.conffile with the following content:To configure a specific interface as unmanaged, add:
[keyfile] unmanaged-devices=interface-name:enp1s0
To configure a device with a specific MAC address as unmanaged, add:
[keyfile] unmanaged-devices=mac:52:54:00:74:79:56
To configure all devices of a specific type as unmanaged, add:
[keyfile] unmanaged-devices=type:ethernet
To set multiple devices as unmanaged, separate the entries in the
unmanaged-devicesparameter with a semicolon, for example:[keyfile] unmanaged-devices=interface-name:enp1s0;interface-name:enp7s0
Reload the
NetworkManagerservice:# systemctl reload NetworkManager
Verification
Display the list of devices:
# nmcli device status DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION enp1s0 ethernet unmanaged -- ...
The
unmanagedstate next to theenp1s0device indicates that NetworkManager does not manage this device.
Troubleshooting
If the device is not shown as
unmanaged, display the NetworkManager configuration:# NetworkManager --print-config ... [keyfile] unmanaged-devices=interface-name:enp1s0 ...If the output does not match the settings that you configured, ensure that no configuration file with a higher priority overrides your settings. For details about how NetworkManager merges multiple configuration files, see the
NetworkManager.conf(5)man page.
15.2. Temporarily configuring a device as unmanaged in NetworkManager
You can temporarily configure devices as unmanaged, for example, for testing purposes.
Procedure
Optional: Display the list of devices to identify the device you want to set as
unmanaged:# nmcli device status DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION enp1s0 ethernet disconnected -- ...Set the
enp1s0device to theunmanagedstate:# nmcli device set enp1s0 managed no
Verification
Display the list of devices:
# nmcli device status DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION enp1s0 ethernet unmanaged -- ...
The
unmanagedstate next to theenp1s0device indicates that NetworkManager does not manage this device.
