Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

sfabius · 2008-03-22 21:57:48

I have had some significant confusion over the use of netcfg, which I have happily used since putting Arch on my laptop, but now some developments are afoot that necessitate some configuration changes (I think). I am apparently in the same boat as some others, but since it was difficult for me to find this information, I thought I would post it (perhaps it should also be added to the network profiles wiki).

WARNING: Don't take this information as correct yet -- I'm posting it in the hopes that someone who knows more will verify it.
PLEASE -- someone who knows more than me check this!
Update: Upon startup the auto-wireless did not work, but the manual connection did: 'netcfg2 homewifi.'

Netcfg is no longer part of inistscripts, so you need to install netcfg separately: pacman -S netcfg.

There are two versions of netcfg, but the netcfg package installs version 2. This is what necessitates the configuration changes.

Here is what (I think) you need to do to migrate from the initscript netcfg to the standalone netcfg for a laptop with wireless. You should read over the Network Profile wiki as well (this will also tell you about some other cool stuff you can do).

1. You need to change a few things in /etc/rc.conf:
a. Remove 'network' from your DAEMONS, and add 'net-profiles'
b. NET_PROFILES is replaced with NETWORKS
c. You may want to add 'auto-wireless' to the NETWORKS line, and the profile that is available will be detected and used, unless you want a menu.
d. As far as I know, you can still have a menu: NETWORKS=(menu)
e. Remove your INTERFACES=() line
f. Remove you lo= line (now in rc.sysinit)

2. You cannot simply copy your profiles from /etc/network-profiles over to /etc/network.d, which is where profiles are now kept.
The most important difference is that you need a. CONNECTION="wireless"
b. I think the IFOPTS= line becomes IP= line

3. I did not change /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Below are my new rc.conf and network.d files.

/etc/rc.conf

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="America/New_York"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
MOD_BLACKLIST=()
MODULES=(e1000 slhc ipw2200 ac97_bus snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-ac97-codec snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m soundcore usblp)
USELVM="no"
HOSTNAME="miles"
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
NETWORKS=(auto-wireless eth1 home-ethernet)
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hal net-profiles netfs ntpd crond speedstep_centrino cpufreq_conservative ibm_acpi alsa ssh cups)

My new /etc/network.d/home-wireless, using wpa_supplicant (with some notes about changes):

DESCRIPTION="Home Wireless"
INTERFACE=eth1
HOSTNAME=miles
CONNECTION="wireless"   #NEW
SCAN="yes"              #NEW
SECURITY="wpa-config"  #NEW    
IP="dhcp"               #NEW - replaces IFOPTS
TIMEOUT=20
WPA_CONF=/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
IWOPTS="mode managed essid $ESSID"
ESSID=<censored>
WIFI_WAIT=5
WPAOPTS="-Dwext"

# USEWPA="yes"            #REMOVED
# IFOPTS="dhcp"           #REMOVED

Last edited by sfabius (2008-03-23 17:58:38)

tomk · 2008-03-23 00:23:09

sfabius wrote:

a. Remove 'network' from your DAEMONS, and add 'network-profiles'

'net-profiles', not 'network-profiles'.

For the profile itself, I'd suggest recreating it using one of the examples in /etc/network.d/examples as a template, rather than attempting to adapt an existing one.

sfabius · 2008-03-23 01:16:41

Thanks, I've changed it to net-profiles.

For the profile, the "added" and "removed" is a fiction, since I started with the example and added in non-redundant stuff from the original profile. The problem is that the Network Profiles wiki doesn't really address wpa_supplicant the way I have it currently, so I will try it and see what happens. Is there anything that actually looks like it won't work?

DonVla · 2008-03-23 01:44:03

hi,
when /etc/rc.d/network is deprecated, acually unuseable, why is it still in the initscripts package?

vlad

ps: is the CONNECTION="ethernet" entry mandatory?

Last edited by DonVla (2008-03-23 01:46:13)

sfabius · 2008-03-23 03:53:04

DonVla wrote:

when /etc/rc.d/network is deprecated, acually unuseable, why is it still in the initscripts package?

I have no idea on that one.

ps: is the CONNECTION="ethernet" entry mandatory?

I think so, based on my reading of forum posts and the wiki.

tomk · 2008-03-23 07:59:16

/etc/rc.d/network is not deprecated - it is used on machines that do not require network profile functionality.

DonVla · 2008-03-23 08:31:52

ok thanks.

now i setup my two network profiles: one for my router the other one for direct adsl connection.
router:

CONNECTION="ethernet"
DESCRIPTION="Router Network Profile"

# Network Settings
INTERFACE=eth0
IP="dhcp"

direct connection:

CONNECTION="ppp"
INTERFACE="ignore"
PEER="/etc/ppp/peers/provider"

but when i run

/etc/rc.d/net-profiles restart
:: router down                                                                                                                                                                                                [DONE]
:: pppoe up                                                                                                                                                                                                   [BUSY] 
/usr/sbin/pppd: call option value may not contain .. or start with /
             - pppd connection failed
:: router up

my /etc/ppp/peers/provider file is the one from the wiki:

plugin rp-pppoe.so
# network interface
eth1
# login name
name "HAHAHA"
usepeerdns
persist
# Uncomment this if you want to enable dial on demand
#demand
#idle 180
defaultroute
hide-password
noauth

rc.conf NETWORKS:

NETWORKS=(!menu pppoe router)

it has to be a netcfg issue.
starting adsl connection through

pon provider

gives no error and works.

any ideas?

vlad

sfabius · 2008-03-23 12:13:26

Maybe try: netcfg2 ppp

jimmi · 2008-03-23 12:44:11

Thanks sfabius, only a couple of adjustments it may need:

c. You may want to add 'auto-wireless' to the NETWORKS line, and the profile that is available will be detected and used, unless you want a menu.

auto-wireless needs <interface> argument. So, also in your rc.conf example the NETWORK line shall be:

NETWORKS=(auto-wireless eth1 home-ethernet)

In the home-wireless example the WPAOPTS line doesn't want space between the option and the argument, therefore it turns to:

WPAOPTS="-Dwext"

At last I could understand what happened to my network I'm not very active with the Archlinux community, therefore I could have missed some "warning" regarding the shift to netcfg2. I was really shocked today morning when I was not able to connect anymore via the usual /etc/rc.d/network script, and I could not find any information on the Wiki.

I mean, there is a page that explains how net-profiles works now, but nothing regarding the shift, except this nice thread. How could be like this?

Jimmi

rson451 · 2008-03-23 13:47:51

you should have seen a warning about it when you upgraded init-scripts.

sfabius · 2008-03-23 17:54:24

rson451:
Some may have missed the warning zipping by (especially if there were many upgraded packages). I did see the warning.
But all it says, if I remember, is that netcfg is not longer in initscripts and you chould install netcfg. Nothing about changing rc.conf or profiles, etc. Hence the post.

jimmi:
Thanks for the fixes. I wondered why the auto-wireless didn't work at bootup but did manually. I will edit the post to correct it.

turtle · 2008-03-24 07:14:09

DonVla wrote:

CONNECTION="ppp"
INTERFACE="ignore"
PEER="/etc/ppp/peers/provider"

The last line should read

PEER="provider"

jimmi · 2008-03-24 10:38:06

sfabius: I did not mention that in your example of home-wireless HOSTNAME, WPA_CONF, IWOPTS and WIFI_WAIT seems not necessary, and KEY is missed. This example is perfectly working on my laptop:

CONNECTION="wireless"
DESCRIPTION="Wireless di casa"
INTERFACE=eth1
SCAN="yes"
SECURITY="wpa"
WPA_OPTS="-Dwext"
ESSID="ESSID"
KEY="12345678"
IP="dhcp"
TIMEOUT=20

Last edited by jimmi (2008-03-24 10:38:30)

tomk · 2008-03-24 13:25:45

As advised earlier, these discrepancies can be avoided by recreating your profiles in the new format, instead of copying and amending them.

.:B:. · 2008-03-24 16:48:50

Thanks for this thread sfabius, it took me a few minutes to realise why all of a sudden my network failed . When I saw the loopback interface not being up either I knew there was a problem with the whole network config and started digging.

I think stuff like this (read: upgrading initscripts will require you to install new standalone netcfg) might have been on the frontpage a bit quicker . I see it is now, but I had this issue saturday evening (CET) and the homepage was awfully silent about it. Since these packages have been in testing for quite a while probably, the issue was known before and could have been informed about quicker.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-22 21:57:48

Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#2 2008-03-23 00:23:09

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#3 2008-03-23 01:16:41

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#4 2008-03-23 01:44:03

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#5 2008-03-23 03:53:04

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#6 2008-03-23 07:59:16

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#7 2008-03-23 08:31:52

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#8 2008-03-23 12:13:26

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#9 2008-03-23 12:44:11

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#10 2008-03-23 13:47:51

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#11 2008-03-23 17:54:24

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#12 2008-03-24 07:14:09

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#13 2008-03-24 10:38:06

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#14 2008-03-24 13:25:45

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

#15 2008-03-24 16:48:50

Re: Migrating from netcfg in initscripts to standalone netcfg 2 (wpa)

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