man
5 nm-settings-keyfile
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 |
| | | decimal-byte | network. |
| | | list - obsolete) | |
| | | | Example: |
| | | | ssid=Quick Net |
+----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
|mac-address | | 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). |
+----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
|cloned-mac-address | | usual | Cloned MAC address in |
| | | hex-digits-and-colons | traditional |
| | | notation | hex-digits-and-colons |
| | | | 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 |
| | | (separated with | blacklist. |
| | | semicolons) | |
| | | | Example: |
| | | | mac-address-blacklist= |
| | | | 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 |
+----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
|mac-address-denylist | | list of MACs | MAC address denylist. |
| | | (separated with | |
| | | semicolons) | Example: mac-address-denylist= |
| | | | 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 |
| | | 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) |
+----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
|cloned-mac-address | | usual | Cloned MAC address in |
| | | hex-digits-and-colons | traditional |
| | | notation | hex-digits-and-colons |
| | | | 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 |
| | | (separated with | blacklist. |
| | | semicolons) | |
| | | | Example: |
| | | | mac-address-blacklist= |
| | | | 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 |
+----------------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
|mac-address-denylist | | list of MACs | MAC address denylist. |
| | | (separated with | |
| | | semicolons) | Example: mac-address-denylist= |
| | | | 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 |
| | | hex-digits-and-colons | traditional |
| | | notation | hex-digits-and-colons |
| | | | 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. connection setting (section)
+---------+------------------+--------+-------------------------------------------+
|Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description |
+---------+------------------+--------+-------------------------------------------+
|uuid | uuid | | UUID for the |
| | | | connection |
| | | | profile. When |
| | | | missing, |
| | | | NetworkManager |
| | | | creates the UUID |
| | | | by hashing the |
| | | | connection |
| | | | filename. |
| | | | |
| | | | Example: |
| | | | uuid=7bdbe39a-126c-3f94-ac5e-8f156ed38383 |
+---------+------------------+--------+-------------------------------------------+
Table 5. infiniband setting (section)
+------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description |
+------------+------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|mac-address | | usual | MAC address in |
| | | hex-digits-and-colons | traditional |
| | | notation | hex-digits-and-colons |
| | | | notation, or |
| | | | semicolon |
| | | | separated list |
| | | | of 20 decimal |
| | | | bytes (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 6. ipv4 setting (section)
+--------------+------------------+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
|Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description |
+--------------+------------------+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
|dns | dns | list of DNS IP | List of DNS |
| | | addresses | servers. |
| | | | |
| | | | Example: |
| | | | dns=1.2.3.4;8.8.8.8;8.8.4.4; |
+--------------+------------------+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
|addresses | address1, | address/prefix-length[,gateway] | Static IPv4 addresses, one |
| | address2, ... | | address per variable. The |
| | | | variables can also contain |
| | | | the gateway after a comma or |
| | | | semicolon; it is recommended |
| | | | to use the "gateway" |
| | | | variable instead. |
| | | | |
| | | | Example: |
| | | | address1=192.168.100.100/24 |
| | | | address2=10.1.1.5/16 |
| | | | address1=192.168.100.100/24,192.168.100.1 |
+--------------+------------------+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
|gateway | gateway | string | Gateway IP address as a string. The |
| | | | gateway can be also specified in one of |
| | | | the "address1", "address2", etc. |
| | | | variables after the address, separated by |
| | | | a comma or semicolon (for example |
| | | | "address1=192.168.100.1/24,192.168.100.254"). |
| | | | The value from the "gateway" variable |
| | | | takes precedence over any gateway |
| | | | specified in one of the "address*" |
| | | | variables. |
| | | | |
| | | | Example: gateway=192.168.100.254 |
+--------------+------------------+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
|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, if any. |
|(attributes) | route2_options, | | 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 rule add`, |
| | routing-rule2, | | but with mandatory fixed priority. The |
| | ... | | "lookup" and "table" options don't support a |
| | | | table name, only a number. |
| | | | |
| | | | Example: routing-rule1=priority 5 from |
| | | | 192.167.4.0/24 table 45 |
+--------------+------------------+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
Table 7. ipv6 setting (section)
+--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
|Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description |
+--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
|dns | | list of DNS IP | List of DNS |
| | | addresses | servers. |
| | | | |
| | | | Example: |
| | | | dns=2001:4860:4860::8888;2001:4860:4860::8844; |
+--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
|addresses | address1, | address/plen[,gateway] | Static IPv6 addresses, one address per |
| | address2, ... | | variable. The variables can also contain the |
| | | | gateway after a comma or semicolon; it is |
| | | | recommended to use the "gateway" variable |
| | | | instead. |
| | | | |
| | | | Example: address1=abbe::cafe/96 |
| | | | address2=2001::1234/56 |
| | | | address1=fd01::2000/64;fd01::1 |
+--------------+------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
|gateway | gateway | string | Gateway IP address as a string. The gateway |
| | | | can be also specified in one of the |
| | | | "address1", "address2", etc. variables after |
| | | | the address, separated by a comma or semicolon |
| | | | (for example |
| | | | "address1=fd01::2000/64;fd01::1"). The value |
| | | | from the "gateway" variable takes precedence |
| | | | over any gateway specified in one of the |
| | | | "address*" variables. |
| | | | |
| | | | 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 8. 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 9. vpn setting (section)
+---------+------------------+--------+-----------------------+
|Property | Keyfile Variable | Format | Description |
+---------+------------------+--------+-----------------------+
|data | separate | | The keys of the |
| | variables named | | data dictionary |
| | after keys of | | are used as |
| | the dictionary | | variable names |
| | | | 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 10. 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 11. 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 1.52.0 NM-SETTINGS-KEYFILE(5)