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Chapter 16. Configuring the loopback interface by using nmcli

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By default, NetworkManager does not manage the loopback (lo) interface. After creating a connection profile for the lo interface, you can configure this device by using NetworkManager. Some of the examples are as follows:

  • Assign additional IP addresses to the lo interface
  • Define DNS addresses
  • Change the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size of the lo interface

Procedure

  1. Create a new connection of type loopback:

    # nmcli connection add con-name example-loopback type loopback
  2. Configure custom connection settings, for example:

    1. To assign an additional IP address to the interface, enter:

      # nmcli connection modify example-loopback +ipv4.addresses 192.0.2.1/24
      Note

      NetworkManager manages the lo interface by always assigning the IP addresses 127.0.0.1 and ::1 that are persistent across the reboots. You can not override 127.0.0.1 and ::1. However, you can assign additional IP addresses to the interface.

    2. To set a custom Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), enter:

      # nmcli con mod example-loopback loopback.mtu 16384
    3. To set an IP address to your DNS server, enter:

      # nmcli connection modify example-loopback ipv4.dns 192.0.2.0

      If you set a DNS server in the loopback connection profile, this entry is always available in the /etc/resolv.conf file. The DNS server entry remains independent of whether or not the host roams between different networks.

  3. Activate the connection:

    # nmcli connection up example-loopback

Verification

  1. Display the settings of the lo interface:

    # ip address show lo
    
    1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16384 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00 inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever inet 192.0.2.1/24 brd 192.0.2.255 scope global lo valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
    valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
  2. Verify the DNS address:

    # cat /etc/resolv.conf
    ...
    nameserver 192.0.2.0
    ...
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