NetworkManager
NetworkManager is a system daemon, with various graphical front-ends available
Original author	Red Hat
Initial release	November 19, 2004; 21 years ago (2004-11-19)
Stable release	1.54.3[1]  / 12 December 2025; 2 months ago (12 December 2025)
Written in	C withGObject
Operating system	Linux[2]
Type	Network interface configuration daemon and utility Linux on the desktop
License	GNU LGPL v2.1 or later, portionsGNU GPL v2 or later[3]
Website	networkmanager.dev
Repository	gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.git

NetworkManager is adaemon that sits on top oflibudev and other Linux kernel interfaces (and a couple of other daemons) and provides a high-level interface for the configuration of the network interfaces.

NetworkManager is a software utility that aims to simplify the use ofcomputer networks onLinux distributions.^[2]

To connect computers with each other, variouscommunications protocols have been developed, e.g.IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet),IEEE 802.11 ("wireless"),IEEE 802.15.1 (Bluetooth),PPPoE,PPPoA, and many many more. Each participating computer must have the suitable hardware, e.g.network card orwireless network card and this hardware must be configured accordingly to be able to establish a connection.

In case of a monolithic kernel all the device drivers are part of it. The hardware is accessed (and also configured) through its device driver by the configuration utility to configure the hardware, and programs like theweb browser/SSH/NTP-client/etc. to send and receive network packets.

On Linux and all Unix-like operating systems, the utilitiesifconfig and the newerip (from theiproute2-bundle) are used to configureIEEE 802.3 andIEEE 802.11 hardware. These utilities configure the kernel directly and the configuration is applied immediately. After boot-up, the user is required to configure them again.

To apply the same static configuration after each boot-up, the PID1-programs are used:System V init executesshell scripts and binary programs,systemd parses its own conf-files (and executes programs). The boot-up configuration for network interfaces is stored in/etc/network/interfaces for Debian Linux distributions and its derivatives orifcfg files in/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ forFedora and its derivatives, andDNS-servers in/etc/resolv.conf./etc/network/interfaces or/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-* can define a static IP-address ordhclient to be used, and all kinds ofVPN can be configured here as well.

In case the configuration has to be changed,DHCP-protocol goes a long way to do so automatically, without the user even noticing.

• NetworkManager is accessible viaD-Bus.
• Configuration is stored in/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

But as we've transitioned from physically large servers to more portable hosts that may be plugged and unplugged (or moved from WiFi hotspot to WiFi hotspot) at the user's discretion, dynamic configurations (i.e., not stored in a static configuration file but taken from outside the host, and potentially changing after boot) have become a more prevalent configuration.Bootp was an early protocol used for this, and to this day its descendantDHCP is still very common. Many Unix-like systems include a program calleddhclient to handle this dynamic configuration. Given a relatively static or simple dynamic configuration, static configuration modified bydhclient works well. However, as networks and their topologies get more complex, a central manager for all the network configuration information becomes more essential.^{[citation needed]}

NetworkManager has two components:

1. the NetworkManagerdaemon, the actual software which manages connections and reports network changes
2. thegraphical orcommand-line interface

• 
  nm-applet 0.9.5 in Ubuntu 12.04's systray, showing all availableAPs.
• 
  Graphical front-end forGNOME Shell 3.10.

nm‑applet

nm‑applet is aGTK 3-based GUI for NetworkManager which runs in the system tray. The applet is maintained by the GNOME project, and can be used with any desktop environment which implements thefd.o System Tray Protocol^[4] (this excludes theGNOME Shell, which has its own built-in implementation).

plasma‑nm

KDE Plasma 6 has its own applet for configuring connections through NetworkManager, plasma‑nm. The applet is not included in Plasma 6 by default.

nmcli

nmcli is NetworkManager's built-incommand-line interface added in 2010.^[5] nmcli allows easy display of NetworkManager's current status, manage connections and devices, monitor connections.

nmtui

nmtui is the built-intext-based user interface for NetworkManager. It is basic when compared to nmcli, as it only allows users to add, edit, activate and deactivate connections; set the hostname of the system; and enable and disable radios.^[6] It does not allow for the setup of wired connections,WPA-Enterprise, orVPNs; preconfigured connections can be used.^[7]

cnetworkmanager

cnetworkmanager is aPython-based CLI for NetworkManager, written by Martin Vidner. The project's last commit was in August 2010; its final version (0.21.1) was released in August 2009.^[8]

NetworkManager is used in conjunction with ModemManager^[9] and Paul's PPP Package^[10] forWWAN/mobile broadband support.

Antti Kaijanmäki announced the development of a mobile broadband configuration assistant for NetworkManager in April 2008;^[11] the required changes were made to NetworkManager in 0.7.1.^[12]

Red Hat initiated the NetworkManager project in 2004 with the goal of enabling Linux users to deal more easily with modern networking needs, particularlywireless networking. NetworkManager takes an opportunistic approach to network selection, attempting to use the best available connection as outages occur, or as the user roams between wireless networks. It prefersEthernet connections over “known” wireless networks, which are preferred over wireless networks withSSIDs to which the user has never connected. The user is prompted forWEP orWPA keys as needed.

The NetworkManager project was among the first major Linux desktop components to utilizeD-Bus andHAL extensively. Since June 2009, however, NetworkManager no longer depends on HAL, and since 0.9.10 (ca. 2014), neither does it require the D-Bus daemon to be running for root operation.^[13]

• Linux on the desktop – Overview of Linux' usesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• BlueZ – System software implementing Bluetooth functionsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• GNOME Keyring Manager – Linux password management softwarePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• usbserial – Unix software libraryPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Wicd – network manager written inPython
• wpa_supplicant – Open-source implementation of IEEE 802.11i
• wvdial – Computer program for assisting modem connectionsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• netifd – tiny daemon with the ability to listen on netlink events; does not requireD-Bus, does not depend onGLib, targets embedded devices
• ConnMan – daemon for managing Internet connections within embedded devices

• NetworkManager Homepage
• Service Provider Database
• NetworkManager in freedesktop.org
• NetworkManager status on the freebsd-gnome mailing list
• Original NetworkManager page at redhat.com via WaybackMachine
• Announcement of the first public release of NetworkManager
• How to use a WiFi interface with NetworkManager
• NetworkManager on the Arch Wiki

• Applications using D-Bus
• Free network-related software
• Linux network-related software
• Red Hat software

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2018
• Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets via Module:Annotated link