On 12/12/2012 08:54 AM, Winnie Lacesso wrote:
>
> Do I grok this aright - you set up an SL workstation to do network stuff
> in the background, i.e: dhcp renewal, ntp, wee-hours automatic security
> updates, possibly other things (overnight backups? rsync of data to
> central server?); but if no one's logged onto the console, those all just
> stop working bcs NM has shut off the network?
> TUV thinks this is a good idea?!<astonish>
>
> It seems badly thought, if someone's not logged on overnight, no security
> updates. Or does yum rerun its wee-hours cron if someone logs in at the
> console during daytime?
Enterprise Linux != Server-only Linux.

Workstation users may very well be on a network where the physical 
connection is per-user authenticated with something like 802.1x NAC.  
This isn't just for wireless.  I can think of numerous use cases where 
an ethernet-connected workstation should not have a valid connection 
unless someone is logged in and has passed 802.1x auth.

And I do use EL as a workstation, both in wired and wireless modes, with 
laptop and desktop hardware.  Using it right now, in fact.

The server case is trivially handled during installation; there is a 
fairly obvious Networking button on the screen during the installation, 
and kickstart can likewise set up networking if you can't or won't use 
the GUI installer (either on local console or remote with VNC).  
Kickstart installs are the best ones when latency is horrible and even 
ssh or remote serial consoles are sluggish.

There are use cases that NM isn't the best for; the bridged connection 
case is one of them.  Those cases are being worked on.  In the meantime, 
NM_CONTROLLED=no in the normal and documented locations works fine.  
Nuking NM from high orbit is no longer necessary.......