Nico,
Thanks for that. I don't have NetworkManger installed in by base system.
My problem is how do I stop NetworkManger running during the anaconda
install process while kickstarting? From what I can gather everything
works fine until it starts. one it starts it ruins the /etc/resolv.conf
file and all my %post scripts fail.

can I do something in a %pre script that will prevent NetworkManger from
editing anything. maybe a "chmod a-w /etc/resolv.conf"?

Thanks,
Ahmed




On Thu, 2011-04-07 at 00:07 -0400, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 2:50 AM, Ahmed El Zein <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> > I am looking at the logs and the only network related log that coincides
> > with the resolv.conf file changing is:
> > <29> Arp 6 06:40:49 NetworkManager[542]:    ifcfg-rh:
> > updating /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
> >
> > at that point /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 changes and gets
> > an NM_CONTROLLED="yes" added to it and the /etc/resolv.conf file is
> > replaced with the single lined one.
> 
> NetworkManager, frankly, has no use on a typical server. Its dynamic
> manipulations of network configuration are unpredictable, unintuitive,
> and far more suited to a laptop or traveling desktop in an environment
> where upstream DHCP is reliably configured. It is a complex and
> powerful tool that *STILL* has no way to configure pair-bonding,
> 'bridged' connections for KVM supporting hosts, or DHCP client
> configuration with client identifiers except to use a text editor and
> turn off NetworkManager by one means or another. It's one of the
> upstream vendors least useful development efforts.
> 
> Unfortunately, we're now pretty much stuck with it, due to all the
> recent system dependencies on it. Ripping it out by the roots became
> infeasible with Scientific :Linux 6. Fortunately, pre-configuring
> 'NM_CONTROLLED=no' is a new capability, and doing so early in the
> kickstart '%post' scripts seems to be very helpful in preventing such
> issues. In syntax:
> 
>       grep -q ^NM_CONTROLLED= [filename] || \
>            echo 'NM_CONTROLLED=no' >> [filename]
>       sed -i 's/NM_CONTROLLED=.*/NM_CONTROLLED=no/g' [filename]
> 
> Deducing the files to do this to is a bit more awkward, since you
> don't want to touch '.bak' files or '~' files, but there are functions
> to do that already available in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/
> utiliti4es. Do you need help with that?

-- 
Ahmed H. El Zein
Data Services Specialist
ANU Supercomputer Facility
Room 315, Leonard Huxley Building (#56), Mills Road
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia

T: +61 2 6125 0539
F: +61 2 6125 8199
M: +61 4 4913 5073
W: http://anusf.anu.edu.au/ 

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