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# nmcli - NetworkManager
----
`nmcli` manages NetworkManager in Linux. Work with two core concepts: **Device** (physical hardware like `eth0` or `wlan0`) and **Connection** (a saved configuration profile).

Alternatively you could use `nmtui` application with simple console UI (NetworkManager Textual User Interface).

### Overview & Diagnostics

* **View overall network status:**
```
$ nmcli general status

```
* **List physical network interfaces and their status:**
```
$ nmcli device status
---------------------
DEVICE  TYPE      STATE                   CONNECTION         
enp2s0  ethernet  connected               Wired connection 1 
lo      loopback  connected (externally)  lo                 
virbr0  bridge    connected (externally)  virbr0          
```
* **Show detailed interface info (IP, MAC, DNS, Gateway):**
```
$ nmcli device show enp2s0
--------------------------
GENERAL.DEVICE:                         enp2s0
GENERAL.TYPE:                           ethernet
GENERAL.HWADDR:                         50:E5:49:ED:A9:BF
GENERAL.MTU:                            1500
GENERAL.STATE:                          100 (connected)
GENERAL.CONNECTION:                     Wired connection 1
GENERAL.CON-PATH:                       /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/2
WIRED-PROPERTIES.CARRIER:               on
IP4.ADDRESS[1]:                         192.168.178.18/24
IP4.GATEWAY:                            192.168.178.1
IP4.ROUTE[1]:                           dst = 192.168.178.0/24, nh = 0.0.0.0, mt = 100
IP4.ROUTE[2]:                           dst = 0.0.0.0/0, nh = 192.168.178.1, mt = 100
IP4.DNS[1]:                             192.168.178.1
IP4.DOMAIN[1]:                          lan
IP6.ADDRESS[1]:                         2001:1c00:2e07:fa0a:c363:14e8:16bd:6436/64
IP6.ADDRESS[2]:                         fdaa:66:67:a:4b23:15d3:3424:d1ab/64
IP6.ADDRESS[3]:                         fdaa:66:67:a::e78/128
IP6.ADDRESS[4]:                         2001:1c00:2e07:fa0a::e78/128
IP6.ADDRESS[5]:                         2001:1c00:2e07:fa0a:52e5:49ff:feed:a9bf/64
IP6.ADDRESS[6]:                         fdaa:66:67:a:52e5:49ff:feed:a9bf/64
IP6.ADDRESS[7]:                         fe80::52e5:49ff:feed:a9bf/64
IP6.GATEWAY:                            fe80::ee08:6bff:fe84:2043
IP6.ROUTE[1]:                           dst = fe80::/64, nh = ::, mt = 1024
IP6.ROUTE[2]:                           dst = fdaa:66:67:a::/64, nh = ::, mt = 100
IP6.ROUTE[3]:                           dst = 2001:1c00:2e07:fa0a::/64, nh = ::, mt = 100
IP6.ROUTE[4]:                           dst = ::/0, nh = fe80::ee08:6bff:fe84:2043, mt = 100
IP6.ROUTE[5]:                           dst = fdaa:66:67:a::e78/128, nh = ::, mt = 100
IP6.ROUTE[6]:                           dst = 2001:1c00:2e07:fa0a::e78/128, nh = ::, mt = 100
IP6.DNS[1]:                             fdaa:66:67:a::1
```
* **List all saved connection profiles:**
```
$ nmcli connection show

```
* **Show only active connections:**
```
$ nmcli connection show --active
--------------------------------
NAME                UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE 
Wired connection 1  483fb914-06e5-4b66-b00f-e2b31025eaff  ethernet  enp2s0 
lo                  ce29234b-7809-4b88-b743-79bf79ac55bf  loopback  lo     
virbr0              4778a23b-a938-412c-8c64-e78ecb98571c  bridge    virbr0 
```
---

### Wi-Fi Management

* **Scan for nearby Wi-Fi networks:**
```
$ nmcli device wifi list

```
* **Connect to a Wi-Fi network:**
```
# nmcli device wifi connect "SSID_NAME" password "WIFI_PASSWORD"

```
* **Prompt securely for Wi-Fi password (prevents saving password in shell history):**
```
# nmcli --ask device wifi connect "SSID_NAME"

```
* **Toggle Wi-Fi on or off:**
```
$ nmcli radio wifi off
$ nmcli radio wifi on

```
---

### Connection Controls (Up / Down / Delete)

* **Activate a connection profile:**
```
# nmcli connection up "MyConnection"

```
* **Deactivate a connection profile:**
```
# nmcli connection down "MyConnection"

```
* **Disconnect a hardware device directly:**
```
# nmcli device disconnect eth0

```
* **Delete a saved connection profile:**
```bash
sudo nmcli connection delete "MyConnection"

```
---

### Network Configuration (IP, Gateway, DNS)
* **Set a static IPv4 address and gateway:**
```
# nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.50/24 ipv4.gateway 192.168.1.1 ipv4.method manual
# nmcli connection up "Wired connection 1"

```
* **Switch back to dynamic IP (DHCP):**
```
# nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.method auto
# nmcli connection up "Wired connection 1"

```
* **Set custom DNS servers:**
```
# nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.dns "1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8"
# nmcli connection up "Wired connection 1"

```
---

### Adding New Profiles
* **Add a standard Ethernet connection profile (DHCP):**
```
# nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name "Office-Eth" ifname eth0

```
* **Add a static Ethernet connection profile directly:**
```
# nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name "Static-Eth" ifname eth0 ip4 10.0.0.10/24 gw4 10.0.0.1

```
---

# NetworkManager Configuration
## Locations
NetworkManager configuration files and connection profiles are stored across a few specific directories on your system.
|Location|Description|
|--|--|
|/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/|Saved Connection Profile.Contains all individual network profiles (Wi-Fi access points, static IP settings, VPNs, Ethernet configurations). Each file is stored in Keyfile format and contains sensitive credentials like Wi-Fi passwords.|
|/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf \\ /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/|Global Configuration & Custom Drops. NetworkManager.conf is the primary system configuration file. Any custom overrides or plugin configurations belong in /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/.|
|/run/NetworkManager/ \\ /var/lib/NetworkManager/|DNS & Runtime Network State (Auto-generated).Contains internal DHCP leases, runtime connection states, and auto-generated DNS configurations. These do not need to be backed up.|

## Backup/Restore Configuration
When testing network changes such as bridges, VLANs, or bonds with `nmcli`, back up the NetworkManager connection profiles first. Also capture the current runtime state as a readable reference.

### Back up NetworkManager
Because `/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/` stores Wi-Fi passwords, you must use `sudo` to read and archive the files. Create a compressed tarball archive of all configurations.
```
# tar -czvf /tmp/nm-config-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz /etc/NetworkManager/ 
```
After restoring reload NetworkManager to apply changes:
```
# nmcli connection reload
# systemctl restart NetworkManager

```
## Save a readable snapshot of the current state
These files are not used for automatic restoration, but they are useful for comparing the working setup with the changed configuration:
```
mkdir -p "$HOME/network-state-before-change"

nmcli connection show \
  > "$HOME/network-state-before-change/nm-connections.txt"

nmcli device show \
  > "$HOME/network-state-before-change/nm-devices.txt"

ip address show \
  > "$HOME/network-state-before-change/ip-address.txt"

ip route show table all \
  > "$HOME/network-state-before-change/ip-routes.txt"

ip rule show \
  > "$HOME/network-state-before-change/ip-rules.txt"
```
For more detail, export every NetworkManager profile in a human-readable form:

```
while IFS= read -r uuid; do
  nmcli --show-secrets connection show uuid "$uuid"
  printf '\n%s\n\n' '----------------------------------------'
done < <(nmcli -g UUID connection show) \
  > "$HOME/network-state-before-change/nm-connections-full.txt"

chmod 600 "$HOME/network-state-before-change/nm-connections-full.txt"
```
Because `--show-secrets` may reveal credentials, protect this file carefully. Omit `--show-secrets` if the secrets are not needed in the reference copy.