NAME¶
nmcli - command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager
SYNOPSIS¶
nmcli [OPTIONS...] {help | general
| networking | radio | connection | device |
agent | monitor} [COMMAND] [ARGUMENTS...]
DESCRIPTION¶
nmcli is a command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager
and reporting network status. It can be utilized as a replacement for
nm-applet or other graphical clients. nmcli is used to create,
display, edit, delete, activate, and deactivate network connections, as well
as control and display network device status. See nmcli-examples(7)
for ready to run nmcli examples.
Typical uses include:
•Scripts: Utilize NetworkManager via
nmcli
instead of managing network connections manually.
nmcli supports a
terse output format which is better suited for script processing. Note that
NetworkManager can also execute scripts, called "dispatcher
scripts", in response to network events. See
NetworkManager(8) for
details about these dispatcher scripts.
•Servers, headless machines, and terminals:
nmcli can be used to control NetworkManager without a GUI, including
creating, editing, starting and stopping network connections and viewing
network status.
OPTIONS¶
-a | --ask
When using this option nmcli will stop and ask for
any missing required arguments, so do not use this option for non-interactive
purposes like scripts. This option controls, for example, whether you will be
prompted for a password if it is required for connecting to a network.
-c | --colors {yes | no | auto}
This option controls color output (using terminal escape
sequences). yes enables colors, no disables them, auto only produces colors
when standard output is directed to a terminal. The default value is auto.
The actual colors used are configured as described in
terminal-colors.d(5). Please refer to the COLORS section for a list
of color names supported by nmcli.
If the environment variable NO_COLOR is set (to any non-empty
value), then coloring is disabled with mode "auto". If the
environment variable CLICOLOR_FORCE is set (to any non-empty value), then
coloring is enabled with mode "auto". Explicitly enabling coloring
overrides the environment variable.
--complete-args
Instead of conducting the desired action,
nmcli
will list possible completions for the last argument. This is useful to
implement argument completion in shell.
The exit status will indicate success or return a code 65 to
indicate the last argument is a file name.
NetworkManager ships with command completion support for GNU
Bash.
-e | --escape {yes | no}
Whether to escape : and \ characters in terse tabular
mode. The escape character is \.
If omitted, default is yes.
-f | --fields {field1,field2... | all
| common}
This option is used to specify what fields (column names)
should be printed. Valid field names differ for specific commands. List
available fields by providing an invalid value to the
--fields option.
all is used to print all valid field values of the command. common is used to
print common field values of the command.
If omitted, default is common.
-g | --get-values {field1,field2... |
all | common}
This option is used to print values from specific fields.
It is basically a shortcut for --mode tabular --terse --fields and is a
convenient way to retrieve values for particular fields. The values are
printed one per line without headers.
If a section is specified instead of a field, the section name
will be printed followed by colon separated values of the fields belonging
to that section, all on the same line.
-h | --help
Print help information.
-m | --mode {tabular | multiline}
Switch between tabular and multiline output:
tabular
Output is a table where each line describes a single
entry. Columns define particular properties of the entry.
multiline
Each entry comprises multiple lines, each property on its
own line. The values are prefixed with the property name.
If omitted, default is tabular for most commands. For the commands
producing more structured information, that cannot be displayed on a single
line, default is multiline. Currently, they are:
•nmcli connection show ID
•nmcli device show
-p | --pretty
Output is pretty. This causes nmcli to produce
easily readable outputs for humans, i.e. values are aligned, headers are
printed, etc.
-s | --show-secrets
When using this option nmcli will display
passwords and secrets that might be present in an output of an operation. This
option also influences echoing passwords typed by user as an input.
-t | --terse
Output is terse. This mode is designed and suitable for
computer (script) processing.
--offline
Work without a daemon. Makes
connection add and
connection modify commands accept and produce connection data via
standard input/output. Ordinarily, nmcli would communicate with the
NetworkManager service.
The connection data format (keyfile) is described in
nm-settings-keyfile(5) manual.
-v | --version
Show nmcli version.
-w | --wait seconds
This option sets a timeout period for which
nmcli
will wait for NetworkManager to finish operations. It is especially useful for
commands that may take a longer time to complete, e.g. connection activation.
Specifying a value of 0 instructs nmcli not to wait but to
exit immediately with a status of success. The default value depends on the
executed command.
GENERAL COMMANDS¶
nmcli general {status | hostname |
permissions | logging | reload}
[ARGUMENTS...]
Use this command to show NetworkManager status and permissions.
You can also get and change system hostname, as well as NetworkManager
logging level and domains.
status
Show overall status of NetworkManager. This is the
default action, when no additional command is provided for nmcli
general.
hostname [hostname]
Get and change system hostname. With no arguments, this
prints currently configured hostname. When you pass a hostname, it will be
handed over to NetworkManager to be set as a new system hostname.
Note that the term "system" hostname may also be
referred to as "persistent" or "static" by other
programs or tools. The hostname is stored in /etc/hostname file in most
distributions. For example, systemd-hostnamed service uses the term
"static" hostname and it only reads the /etc/hostname file when it
starts.
permissions
Show the permissions a caller has for various
authenticated operations that NetworkManager provides, like enable and disable
networking, changing Wi-Fi and WWAN state, modifying connections, etc.
logging [level level]
[domains domains...]
Get and change NetworkManager logging level and domains.
Without any argument current logging level and domains are shown. In order to
change logging state, provide
level and, or,
domain parameters.
See
NetworkManager.conf(5) for available level and domain values.
reload [flags...]
Reload NetworkManager's configuration and perform certain
updates, like flushing caches or rewriting external state to disk. This is
similar to sending SIGHUP to NetworkManager but it allows for more
fine-grained control over what to reload through the flags argument. It also
allows non-root access via PolicyKit and contrary to signals it is
synchronous. Available flags are:
conf
Reload the NetworkManager.conf configuration from disk.
Note that this does not include connections, which can be reloaded through
nmcli connection reload instead.
dns-rc
Update DNS configuration, which usually involves writing
/etc/resolv.conf anew. This is equivalent to sending the SIGUSR1 signal to the
NetworkManager process.
dns-full
Restart the DNS plugin. This is for example useful when
using dnsmasq plugin, which uses additional configuration in
/etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d. If you edit those files, you can restart the
DNS plugin. This action shortly interrupts name resolution.
With no flags, everything that is supported is reloaded, which is
identical to sending a SIGHUP. See NetworkManager(8) for more details
about signals.
NETWORKING CONTROL COMMANDS¶
nmcli networking {on | off |
connectivity} [ARGUMENTS...]
Query NetworkManager networking status, enable and disable
networking.
on, off
Enable or disable networking control by NetworkManager.
All interfaces managed by NetworkManager are deactivated when networking is
disabled.
connectivity [check]
Get network connectivity state. The optional
check
argument tells NetworkManager to re-check the connectivity, else the most
recent known connectivity state is displayed without re-checking.
Possible states are:
none
the host is not connected to any network.
portal
the host is behind a captive portal and cannot reach the
full Internet.
limited
the host is connected to a network, but it has no access
to the Internet.
full
the host is connected to a network and has full access to
the Internet.
unknown
the connectivity status cannot be found out.
RADIO TRANSMISSION CONTROL COMMANDS¶
nmcli radio {all | wifi | wwan}
[ARGUMENTS...]
Show radio switches status, or enable and disable the
switches.
wifi [on | off]
Show or set status of Wi-Fi in NetworkManager. If no
arguments are supplied, Wi-Fi status is printed; on enables Wi-Fi;
off disables Wi-Fi.
wwan [on | off]
Show or set status of WWAN (mobile broadband) in
NetworkManager. If no arguments are supplied, mobile broadband status is
printed; on enables mobile broadband, off disables it.
all [on | off]
Show or set all previously mentioned radio switches at
the same time.
ACTIVITY MONITOR¶
nmcli monitor
Observe NetworkManager activity. Watches for changes in
connectivity state, devices or connection profiles.
See also nmcli connection monitor and nmcli device
monitor to watch for changes in certain devices or connections.
CONNECTION MANAGEMENT COMMANDS¶
nmcli connection {show | up | down
| modify | add | edit | clone | delete |
monitor | reload | load | import | export
| migrate} [ARGUMENTS...]
NetworkManager stores all network configuration as
"connections", which are collections of data (Layer2 details, IP
addressing, etc.) that describe how to create or connect to a network. A
connection is "active" when a device uses that connection's
configuration to create or connect to a network. There may be multiple
connections that apply to a device, but only one of them can be active on
that device at any given time. The additional connections can be used to
allow quick switching between different networks and configurations.
Consider a machine which is usually connected to a DHCP-enabled
network, but sometimes connected to a testing network which uses static IP
addressing. Instead of manually reconfiguring eth0 each time the network is
changed, the settings can be saved as two connections which both apply to
eth0, one for DHCP (called default) and one with the static addressing
details (called testing). When connected to the DHCP-enabled network the
user would run nmcli con up default , and when connected to the
static network the user would run nmcli con up testing.
show [--active]
[--order [+-]category:...]
List in-memory and on-disk connection profiles, some of
which may also be active if a device is using that connection profile. Without
a parameter, all profiles are listed. When
--active option is
specified, only the active profiles are shown.
The --order option can be used to get custom ordering of
connections. The connections can be ordered by active status (active), name
(name), type (type) or D-Bus path (path). If connections are equal according
to a sort order category, an additional category can be specified. The
default sorting order is equivalent to --order active:name:path. + or no
prefix means sorting in ascending order (alphabetically or in numbers), -
means reverse (descending) order. The category names can be abbreviated
(e.g. --order -a:na).
show [--active] [id | uuid |
path | apath] ID...
Show details for specified connections. By default, both
static configuration and active connection data are displayed. When
--active option is specified, only the active profiles are taken into
account. Use global
--show-secrets option to display secrets associated
with the profile.
id, uuid, path and apath keywords can
be used if ID is ambiguous. Optional ID-specifying keywords
are:
id
the ID denotes a connection name.
uuid
the ID denotes a connection UUID.
path
the ID denotes a D-Bus static connection path in
the format of /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/num or just
num.
apath
the ID denotes a D-Bus active connection path in
the format of /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/num or
just num.
It is possible to filter the output using the global
--fields option. Use the following values:
profile
only shows static profile configuration.
active
only shows active connection data (when the profile is
active).
You can also specify particular fields. For static configuration,
use setting and property names as described in nm-settings-nmcli(5)
manual page. For active data use GENERAL, IP4, DHCP4, IP6, DHCP6, VPN.
When no command is given to the nmcli connection, the
default action is nmcli connection show.
up [id | uuid | path] ID
[ifname ifname] [ap BSSID]
[passwd-file file]
Activate a connection. The connection is identified by
its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If
ID is ambiguous, a keyword
id,
uuid or
path can be used. When requiring a particular device to
activate the connection on, the
ifname option with interface name
should be given. If the
ID is not given an
ifname is required,
and NetworkManager will activate the best available connection for the given
ifname. In case of a VPN connection, the
ifname option specifies
the device of the base connection. The
ap option specify what
particular AP should be used in case of a Wi-Fi connection.
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 90 seconds.
See connection show above for the description of the
ID-specifying keywords.
Available options are:
ifname
interface that will be used for activation.
ap
BSSID of the AP which the command should connect to (for
Wi-Fi connections).
passwd-file
some networks may require credentials during activation.
You can give these credentials using this option. Each line of the file should
contain one password in the form:
setting_name.property_name:the password
For example, for WPA Wi-Fi with PSK, the line would be
802-11-wireless-security.psk:secret12345
For 802.1X password, the line would be
802-1x.password:my 1X password
nmcli also accepts wifi-sec and wifi strings instead of
802-11-wireless-security. When NetworkManager requires a password and it is
not given, nmcli will ask for it when run with --ask. If
--ask was not passed, NetworkManager can ask another secret agent
that may be running (typically a GUI secret agent, such as nm-applet or
gnome-shell).
down [id | uuid | path | apath]
ID...
Deactivate a connection from a device without preventing
the device from further auto-activation. Multiple connections can be passed to
the command.
Be aware that this command deactivates the specified active
connection, but the device on which the connection was active, is still
ready to connect and will perform auto-activation by looking for a suitable
connection that has the 'autoconnect' flag set. Note that the deactivating
connection profile is internally blocked from autoconnecting again. Hence it
will not autoconnect until reboot or until the user performs an action that
unblocks autoconnect, like modifying the profile or explicitly activating
it.
In most cases you may want to use device down command
instead.
The connection is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If
ID is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid, path or
apath can be used.
See connection show above for the description of the
ID-specifying keywords.
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 10 seconds.
modify [--temporary] [id | uuid |
path] [ID]
{option value | [+|-]setting.property value}...
Add, modify or remove properties in the connection
profile.
To set the property just specify the property name followed by the
value. An empty value ("") resets the property value to the
default.
See nm-settings-nmcli(5) for complete reference of setting
and property names, their descriptions and default values. The
setting and property can be abbreviated provided they are
unique.
If you want to append an item or a flag to the existing value, use
+ prefix for the property name or alias. If you want to remove items from a
container-type or flag property, use - prefix. For certain properties you
can also remove elements by specifying the zero-based index(es). The + and -
modifiers only have a real effect for properties that support them. These
are for example multi-value (container) properties or flags like ipv4.dns,
ip4, ipv4.addresses, bond.options, 802-1x.phase1-auth-flags etc.
The connection is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If
ID is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid or path can
be used. The ID is not used with the global --offline
option.
When the global --offline is used, the command reads the
connection from the standard input and prints the modified connection to
standard output instead of making the the NetworkManager daemon act upon
specified connection.
modify [--temporary] [id | uuid |
path] ID remove setting
Removes a setting from the connection profile.
add [save {yes | no}]
{option value | [+|-]setting.property value}...
Create a new connection using specified properties.
You need to describe the newly created connections with the
property and value pairs. See nm-settings-nmcli(5) for the complete
reference. The syntax is the same as of the nmcli connection modify
command.
To construct a meaningful connection you at the very least need to
set the connection.type property (or use the type alias) to
one of known NetworkManager connection types:
•6lowpan
•802-11-olpc-mesh (alias olpc-mesh)
•802-11-wireless (alias wifi)
•802-3-ethernet (alias ethernet)
•adsl
•bluetooth
•bond
•bond-slave (deprecated for ethernet with
controller)
•bridge
•bridge-slave (deprecated for ethernet with
controller)
•cdma
•dummy
•generic
•gsm
•infiniband
•ip-tunnel
•macsec
•macvlan
•olpc-mesh
•ovs-bridge
•ovs-dpdk
•ovs-interface
•ovs-patch
•ovs-port
•pppoe
•team
•team-slave (deprecated for ethernet with
controller)
•tun
•veth
•vlan
•vpn
•vrf
•vxlan
•wifi-p2p
•wimax
•wireguard
•wpan
The most typical uses are described in the EXAMPLES section.
Aside from the properties and values two special options are
accepted:
save
Controls whether the connection should be persistent,
i.e. NetworkManager should store it on disk (default: yes).
--
If a single -- argument is encountered it is
ignored. This is for compatibility with older versions on nmcli.
When the global --offline is used, the command prints the
resulting connection to standard output instead of actually adding the
connection via the NetworkManager daemon.
edit
{[id | uuid | path] ID
|
[type type] [con-name name]
}
Edit an existing connection or add a new one, using an
interactive editor.
The existing connection is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus
path. If ID is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid, or
path can be used. See connection show above for the
description of the ID-specifying keywords. Not providing an ID
means that a new connection will be added.
The interactive editor will guide you through the connection
editing and allow you to change connection parameters according to your
needs by means of a simple menu-driven interface. The editor indicates what
settings and properties can be modified and provides in-line help.
Available options:
type
type of the new connection; valid types are the same as
for connection add command.
con-name
name for the new connection. It can be changed later in
the editor.
See also nm-settings-nmcli(5) for all NetworkManager
settings and property names, and their descriptions; and
nmcli-examples(7) for sample editor sessions.
clone [--temporary] [id | uuid |
path] ID new_name
Clone a connection. The connection to be cloned is
identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If
ID is ambiguous, a
keyword
id,
uuid or
path can be used. See
connection
show above for the description of the
ID-specifying keywords.
new_name is the name of the new cloned connection. The new connection
will be the exact copy except the connection.id (
new_name) and
connection.uuid (generated) properties.
The new connection profile will be saved as persistent unless
--temporary option is specified, in which case the new profile won't
exist after NetworkManager restart.
delete [id | uuid | path]
ID...
Delete a configured connection. The connection to be
deleted is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If
ID is
ambiguous, a keyword
id,
uuid or
path can be used. See
connection show above for the description of the
ID-specifying
keywords.
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 10 seconds.
monitor [id | uuid | path]
ID...
Monitor connection profile activity. This command prints
a line whenever the specified connection changes. The connection to be
monitored is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If
ID is
ambiguous, a keyword
id,
uuid or
path can be used. See
connection show above for the description of the
ID-specifying
keywords.
Monitors all connection profiles in case none is specified. The
command terminates when all monitored connections disappear. If you want to
monitor connection creation consider using the global monitor with nmcli
monitor command.
reload
Reload all connection files from disk. NetworkManager
does not monitor changes to connection. So you need to use this command in
order to tell NetworkManager to re-read the connection profiles from disk when
a change was made to them.
load filename...
Load/reload one or more connection files from disk. Use
this after manually editing a connection file to ensure that NetworkManager is
aware of its latest state.
import [--temporary] type type
file file
Import an external/foreign configuration as a
NetworkManager connection profile. The type of the input file is specified by
type option.
Only VPN configurations are supported at the moment. The
configuration is imported by NetworkManager VPN plugins. type values
are the same as for vpn-type option in nmcli connection add.
VPN configurations are imported by VPN plugins. Therefore the proper VPN
plugin has to be installed so that nmcli could import the data.
The imported connection profile will be saved as persistent unless
--temporary option is specified, in which case the new profile won't
exist after NetworkManager restart.
export [id | uuid | path] ID
[file]
Export a connection.
Only VPN connections are supported at the moment. A proper VPN
plugin has to be installed so that nmcli could export a connection.
If no file is provided, the VPN configuration data will be printed to
standard output.
migrate [--plugin plugin...]
[id | uuid | path] [ID...]
Migrate connection profiles to a different settings
plugin, such as keyfile (default) or ifcfg-rh.
The connection to be migrated is identified by its name, UUID or
D-Bus path. If ID is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid or
path can be used. See connection show above for the
description of the ID-specifying keywords.
If no connections are specified, the command acts on all available
connections. Therefore, with no arguments, the command migrates all
connection profiles to the keyfile plugin.
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 10 seconds.
DEVICE MANAGEMENT COMMANDS¶
nmcli device {status | show | set |
up | connect | reapply | modify | down |
disconnect | delete | monitor | wifi |
lldp | checkpoint} [ARGUMENTS...]
Show and manage network interfaces.
status
Print status of devices.
This is the default action if no command is specified to nmcli
device.
show [ifname]
Show detailed information about devices. Without an
argument, all devices are examined. To get information for a specific device,
the interface name has to be provided.
set [ifname] ifname
[autoconnect {yes | no}]
[managed {yes | no}]
Set device properties.
up ifname
Connect the device. NetworkManager will try to find a
suitable connection that will be activated. It will also consider connections
that are not set to auto connect.
If no compatible connection exists, a new profile with default
settings will be created and activated. This differentiates nmcli
connection up ifname "$DEVICE" from nmcli device up
"$DEVICE"
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 90 seconds.
connect ifname
Alias for command up. Before version 1.34.0
up was not supported.
reapply ifname
Attempt to update device with changes to the currently
active connection made since it was last applied.
modify ifname
{option value | [+|-]setting.property value}...
Modify the settings currently active on the device.
This command lets you do temporary changes to a configuration
active on a particular device. The changes are not preserved in the
connection profile.
See nm-settings-nmcli(5) for the list of available
properties. Please note that some properties can't be changed on an already
connected device.
down ifname...
Disconnect a device and prevent the device from
automatically activating further connections without user/manual intervention.
Note that disconnecting software devices may mean that the devices will
disappear.
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 10 seconds.
disconnect ifname...
Alias for command down. Before version 1.34.0
down was not supported.
delete ifname...
Delete a device. The command removes the interface from
the system. Note that this only works for software devices like bonds,
bridges, teams, etc. Hardware devices (like Ethernet) cannot be deleted by the
command.
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 10 seconds.
monitor [ifname...]
Monitor device activity. This command prints a line
whenever the specified devices change state.
Monitors all devices in case no interface is specified. The
monitor terminates when all specified devices disappear. If you want to
monitor device addition consider using the global monitor with nmcli
monitor command.
wifi
[list [--rescan | auto | no | yes] [ifname ifname] [bssid BSSID]]
List available Wi-Fi access points. The
ifname and
bssid options can be used to list APs for a particular interface or
with a specific BSSID, respectively.
By default, nmcli ensures that the access point list is no
older than 30 seconds and triggers a network scan if necessary. The
--rescan can be used to either force or disable the scan regardless
of how fresh the access point list is.
wifi connect (B)SSID
[password password]
[wep-key-type {key | phrase}]
[ifname ifname] [bssid BSSID]
[name name]
[private {yes | no}]
[hidden {yes | no}]
Connect to a Wi-Fi network specified by SSID or BSSID.
The command finds a matching connection or creates one and then activates it
on a device. This is a command-line counterpart of clicking an SSID in a GUI
client. If a connection for the network already exists, it is possible to
bring up (activate) the existing profile as follows:
nmcli con up id
name. Note that only open, WEP and WPA-PSK networks are
supported if no previous connection exists. It is also assumed that IP
configuration is obtained via DHCP.
If --wait option is not specified, the default timeout will
be 90 seconds.
Available options are:
password
password for secured networks (WEP or WPA).
wep-key-type
type of WEP secret, either key for ASCII/HEX key
or phrase for passphrase.
ifname
interface that will be used for activation.
bssid
if specified, the created connection will be restricted
just for the BSSID.
name
if specified, the connection will use the name (else NM
creates a name itself).
private
if set to yes, the connection will only be visible to the
user who created it. Otherwise, the connection is system-wide, which is the
default.
hidden
set to yes when connecting for the first time to an AP
not broadcasting its SSID. Otherwise, the SSID would not be found and the
connection attempt would fail.
wifi hotspot [ifname ifname]
[con-name name] [ssid SSID]
[band {a | bg}]
[channel channel]
[password password]
Create a Wi-Fi hotspot. The command creates a hotspot
connection profile according to Wi-Fi device capabilities and activates it on
the device. The hotspot is secured with WPA if device/driver supports that,
otherwise WEP is used. Use
connection down or
device down to
stop the hotspot.
Parameters of the hotspot can be influenced by the optional
parameters:
ifname
what Wi-Fi device is used.
con-name
name of the created hotspot connection profile.
ssid
SSID of the hotspot.
band
Wi-Fi band to use.
channel
Wi-Fi channel to use.
password
password to use for the created hotspot. If not provided,
nmcli will generate a password. The password is either WPA pre-shared
key or WEP key.
Note that --show-secrets global option can be used to print
the hotspot password. It is useful especially when the password was
generated.
wifi rescan [ifname ifname]
[ssid SSID...]
Request that NetworkManager immediately re-scan for
available access points. NetworkManager scans Wi-Fi networks periodically, but
in some cases it can be useful to start scanning manually (e.g. after resuming
the computer). By using
ssid, it is possible to scan for a specific
SSID, which is useful for APs with hidden SSIDs. You can provide multiple
ssid parameters in order to scan more SSIDs.
This command does not show the APs, use nmcli device wifi
list for that.
wifi show-password
[ifname ifname]
Show the details of the active Wi-Fi networks, including
the secrets.
lldp
[list [ifname ifname]]
Display information about neighboring devices learned
through the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). The ifname option can
be used to list neighbors only for a given interface. The protocol must be
enabled in the connection settings.
checkpoint [--timeout seconds]
[ifname...] -- COMMAND...
Runs the command with a configuration checkpoint taken
and asks for a confirmation when finished. When the confirmation is not given,
the checkpoint is automatically restored after timeout.
This allows doing disruptive configuration changes over remote
connections with an option of restoring the network configuration to a known
good state in case of an error.
If the a list of interface names is specified, the checkpoint is
taken, the checkpoint is takes only on the specified devices. Otherwise a
checkpoint is taken for all devices.
Currently the timeout defaults to 15 seconds. This may change in a
future version.
SECRET AGENT¶
nmcli agent {secret | polkit |
all}
Run nmcli as a NetworkManager secret agent, or polkit
agent.
secret
Register nmcli as a NetworkManager secret agent
and listen for secret requests. You usually do not need this command, because
nmcli can handle secrets when connecting to networks. However, you may
find the command useful when you use another tool for activating connections
and you do not have a secret agent available (like nm-applet).
polkit
Register nmcli as a polkit agent for the user
session and listen for authorization requests. You do not usually need this
command, because nmcli can handle polkit actions related to
NetworkManager operations (when run with --ask). However, you may find
the command useful when you want to run a simple text based polkit agent and
you do not have an agent of a desktop environment. Note that running this
command makes nmcli handle all polkit requests, not only NetworkManager
related ones, because only one polkit agent can run for the session.
all
Runs nmcli as both NetworkManager secret and a
polkit agent.
COLORS¶
Implicit coloring can be disabled by an empty file
/etc/terminal-colors.d/nmcli.disable.
See terminal-colors.d(5) for more details about
colorization configuration. The logical color names supported by
nmcli are:
connection-activated
A connection that is active.
connection-activating
Connection that is being activated.
connection-disconnecting
Connection that is being disconnected.
connection-external
Connection representing configuration created externally
to NetworkManager.
connection-invisible
Connection whose details is the user not permitted to
see.
connection-deprecated
Connection that uses deprecated settings. It might not be
possible to activate it.
connectivity-full
Connectivity state when Internet is reachable.
connectivity-limited
Connectivity state when only a local network
reachable.
connectivity-none
Connectivity state when the network is
disconnected.
connectivity-portal
Connectivity state when a captive portal hijacked the
connection.
connectivity-unknown
Connectivity state when a connectivity check didn't
run.
device-activated
Device that is connected.
device-activating
Device that is being configured.
device-disconnected
Device that is not connected.
device-external
Device configured externally to NetworkManager.
device-firmware-missing
Warning of a missing device firmware.
device-plugin-missing
Warning of a missing device plugin.
device-unavailable
Device that is not available for activation.
device-disabled
Device is disabled by software or hardware kill
switch.
manager-running
Notice that the NetworkManager daemon is available.
manager-starting
Notice that the NetworkManager daemon is being initially
connected.
manager-stopped
Notice that the NetworkManager daemon is not
available.
permission-auth
An action that requires user authentication to get
permission.
permission-no
An action that is not permitted.
permission-yes
An action that is permitted.
prompt
Prompt in interactive mode.
state-asleep
Indication that NetworkManager in suspended state.
state-connected-global
Indication that NetworkManager in connected to
Internet.
state-connected-local
Indication that NetworkManager in local network.
state-connected-site
Indication that NetworkManager in connected to networks
other than Internet.
state-connecting
Indication that NetworkManager is establishing a network
connection.
state-disconnected
Indication that NetworkManager is disconnected from a
network.
state-disconnecting
Indication that NetworkManager is being disconnected from
a network.
wifi-signal-excellent
Wi-Fi network with an excellent signal level.
wifi-signal-fair
Wi-Fi network with a fair signal level.
wifi-signal-good
Wi-Fi network with a good signal level.
wifi-signal-poor
Wi-Fi network with a poor signal level.
wifi-signal-unknown
Wi-Fi network that hasn't been actually seen (a hidden
AP).
wifi-deprecated
Wi-Fi network that might be impossible to connect to due
to use of deprecated functionality.
disabled
A property that is turned off.
enabled
A property that is turned on.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
nmcli's behavior is affected by the following environment
variables.
LC_ALL
If set to a non-empty string value, it overrides the
values of all the other internationalization variables.
LC_MESSAGES
Determines the locale to be used for internationalized
messages.
LANG
Provides a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null.
NO_COLOR
Default to not producing colored and paged output. The
--colors option, if used, takes precedence.
PAGER
Filter to pipe the output through if it doesn't fit on a
screen. Can be a file name of an executable or a shell command. Empty string
to disable the functionality.
Note that the pager command is expected to handle wide characters
and ANSI escape sequences for changing colors (unless they're disabled).
nmcli sets up the environment variables LESS and
LESSCHARSET appropriately for the less(1) pager, other pagers
may or may not need extra configuration.
If unspecified, pager(1), less(1) and more(1)
will be tried (in that order).
TERM
Terminal type. If dumb,
nmcli will not use a pager
or produce ANSI escape sequences for coloring.
Terminal types other than dumb are assumed to support ASCII escape
sequences for setting the output color.
INTERNATIONALIZATION NOTES¶
Be aware that nmcli is localized and that is why the output
depends on your environment. This is important to realize especially when
you parse the output.
Call nmcli as LC_ALL=C nmcli to be sure the locale
is set to C while executing in a script.
LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LANG variables specify
the LC_MESSAGES locale category (in that order), which determines the
language that nmcli uses for messages. The C locale is used if none
of these variables are set, and this locale uses English messages.
EXIT STATUS¶
nmcli exits with status 0 if it succeeds, a value greater
than 0 is returned if an error occurs.
0
Success – indicates the operation succeeded.
1
Unknown or unspecified error.
2
Invalid user input, wrong nmcli invocation.
3
Timeout expired (see --wait option).
4
Connection activation failed.
5
Connection deactivation failed.
6
Disconnecting device failed.
7
Connection deletion failed.
8
NetworkManager is not running.
10
Connection, device, or access point does not exist.
65
When used with --complete-args option, a file name
is expected to follow.
EXAMPLES¶
This section presents various examples of nmcli usage. If
you want even more, please refer to nmcli-examples(7) manual
page.
nmcli -t -f RUNNING general
tells you whether NetworkManager is running or not.
nmcli -t -f STATE general
shows the overall status of NetworkManager.
nmcli radio wifi off
switches Wi-Fi off.
nmcli connection show
lists all connections NetworkManager has.
nmcli -p -m multiline -f all con show
shows all configured connections in multi-line
mode.
nmcli connection show --active
lists all currently active connections.
nmcli -f name,autoconnect c s
shows all connection profile names and their auto-connect
property.
nmcli -p connection show "My default em1"
shows details for "My default em1" connection
profile.
nmcli --show-secrets connection show "My Home
Wi-Fi"
shows details for "My Home Wi-Fi" connection
profile with all passwords. Without --show-secrets option, secrets
would not be displayed.
nmcli -f active connection show "My default
em1"
shows details for "My default em1" active
connection, like IP, DHCP information, etc.
nmcli -f profile con s "My wired connection"
shows static configuration details of the connection
profile with "My wired connection" name.
nmcli -p con up "My wired connection" ifname
eth0
activates the connection profile with name "My wired
connection" on interface eth0. The -p option makes nmcli show
progress of the activation.
nmcli con up 6b028a27-6dc9-4411-9886-e9ad1dd43761 ap
00:3A:98:7C:42:D3
connects the Wi-Fi connection with UUID
6b028a27-6dc9-4411-9886-e9ad1dd43761 to the AP with BSSID
00:3A:98:7C:42:D3.
nmcli device status
shows the status for all devices.
nmcli dev down em2
disconnects a connection on interface em2 and marks the
device as unavailable for auto-connecting. As a result, no connection will
automatically be activated on the device until the device's 'autoconnect' is
set to TRUE or the user manually activates a connection.
nmcli -f GENERAL,WIFI-PROPERTIES dev show wlan0
shows details for wlan0 interface; only GENERAL and
WIFI-PROPERTIES sections will be shown.
nmcli -f CONNECTIONS device show wlp3s0
shows all available connection profiles for your Wi-Fi
interface wlp3s0.
nmcli dev wifi
lists available Wi-Fi access points known to
NetworkManager.
nmcli dev wifi con "Cafe Hotspot 1" password caffeine
name "My cafe"
creates a new connection named "My cafe" and
then connects it to "Cafe Hotspot 1" SSID using password
"caffeine". This is mainly useful when connecting to "Cafe
Hotspot 1" for the first time. Next time, it is better to use nmcli
con up id "My cafe" so that the existing connection profile can
be used and no additional is created.
nmcli -s dev wifi hotspot con-name QuickHotspot
creates a hotspot profile and connects it. Prints the
hotspot password the user should use to connect to the hotspot from other
devices.
nmcli dev modify em1 ipv4.method shared
starts IPv4 connection sharing using em1 device. The
sharing will be active until the device is disconnected.
nmcli dev modify em1 ipv6.address 2001:db8::a:bad:c0de
temporarily adds an IP address to a device. The address
will be removed when the same connection is activated again.
nmcli connection add type ethernet autoconnect no ifname
eth0
non-interactively adds an Ethernet connection tied to
eth0 interface with automatic IP configuration (DHCP), and disables the
connection's autoconnect flag.
nmcli c a ifname Maxipes-fik type vlan dev eth0 id 55
non-interactively adds a VLAN connection with ID 55. The
connection will use eth0 and the VLAN interface will be named
Maxipes-fik.
nmcli c a ifname eth0 type ethernet ipv4.method disabled
ipv6.method link-local
non-interactively adds a connection that will use eth0
Ethernet interface and only have an IPv6 link-local address configured.
nmcli connection edit ethernet-em1-2
edits existing "ethernet-em1-2" connection in
the interactive editor.
nmcli connection edit type ethernet con-name "yet another
Ethernet connection"
adds a new Ethernet connection in the interactive
editor.
nmcli con mod ethernet-2 connection.autoconnect no
modifies 'autoconnect' property in the 'connection'
setting of 'ethernet-2' connection.
nmcli con mod "Home Wi-Fi" wifi.mtu 1350
modifies 'mtu' property in the 'wifi' setting of 'Home
Wi-Fi' connection.
nmcli con mod em1-1 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addr
"192.168.1.23/24 192.168.1.1, 10.10.1.5/8, 10.0.0.11"
sets manual addressing and the addresses in em1-1
profile.
nmcli con modify ABC +ipv4.dns 8.8.8.8
appends a Google public DNS server to DNS servers in ABC
profile.
nmcli con modify ABC -ipv4.addresses "192.168.100.25/24
192.168.1.1"
removes the specified IP address from (static) profile
ABC.
nmcli con import type openvpn file
~/Downloads/frootvpn.ovpn
imports an OpenVPN configuration to NetworkManager.
nmcli con export corp-vpnc /home/joe/corpvpn.conf
exports NetworkManager VPN profile corp-vpnc as standard
Cisco (vpnc) configuration.
NOTES¶
nmcli accepts abbreviations, as long as they are a unique
prefix in the set of possible options. As new options get added, these
abbreviations are not guaranteed to stay unique. For scripting and long term
compatibility it is therefore strongly advised to spell out the full option
names.