Provided by: network-manager_1.50.0-1ubuntu2_amd64 
NAME
nm-settings-keyfile - Description of keyfile settings plugin
DESCRIPTION
NetworkManager is based on the concept of connection profiles that contain network
configuration (see nm-settings-nmcli(5) for details). The profiles can be stored in
various formats. NetworkManager uses plugins for reading and writing the data. The plugins
can be configured in NetworkManager.conf(5).
The keyfile plugin is the generic plugin that supports all the connection types and
capabilities that NetworkManager has. The files are in a .ini-style format and located in
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/, /usr/lib/NetworkManager/system-connections/ and
/run/NetworkManager/system-connections/. This plugin is always enabled and will
automatically be used to store any connections that are not supported by any other active
plugin. For security, it will ignore files that are readable or writable by any user other
than 'root' since private keys and passphrases may be stored in plaintext inside the file.
FILE FORMAT
The keyfile config format is a simple .ini-style format. It consists of sections (groups)
of key-value pairs. More information of the generic key file format can be found at GLib
key file format[1] (Lines beginning with a '#' are comments, lists are separated by
character ; etc.).
Each section corresponds to a setting name as described in the settings specification (nm-
settings-nmcli(5)). Each key/value pair in a section is one of the properties from the
specification.
The majority of properties are written in the same format as the specification into the
keyfile. However, some values are inconvenient for people to use so they are stored in the
keyfile in more readable ways. These properties that differ from the specification are
described below. An example could be IP addresses that are not written as integer arrays,
but more reasonably as "1.2.3.4/12 1.2.3.254". Also, some lists of complex values
(addresses, routes, routing-rules), instead of using a semicolon separated list, use one
key-value pair per list element, with the key being the singular of the property name
followed by the numeric index (i.e address1, address2, ...).
Users can create or modify the keyfile connection files manually, even if that is not the
recommended way of managing the profiles. However, if they choose to do that, they must
inform NetworkManager about their changes (for example via nmcli con (re)load).
Examples of keyfile configuration.
A sample configuration for an ethernet network:
[connection]
id=Main eth0
uuid=27afa607-ee36-43f0-b8c3-9d245cdc4bb3
type=802-3-ethernet
autoconnect=true
[ipv4]
method=auto
[802-3-ethernet]
mac-address=00:23:5a:47:1f:71
A sample configuration for WPA-EAP (PEAP with MSCHAPv2) and always-ask secret:
[connection]
id=CompanyWIFI
uuid=cdac6154-a33b-4b15-9904-666772cfa5ee
type=wifi
autoconnect=false
[wifi]
ssid=CorpWLAN
mode=infrastructure
security=802-11-wireless-security
[wifi-security]
key-mgmt=wpa-eap
[ipv4]
method=auto
[ipv6]
method=auto
[802-1x]
eap=peap;
identity=joe
ca-cert=/home/joe/.cert/corp.crt
phase1-peapver=1
phase2-auth=mschapv2
password-flags=2
A sample configuration for openvpn:
[connection]
id=RedHat-openvpn
uuid=7f9b3356-b210-4c0e-8123-bd116c9c280f
type=vpn
timestamp=1385401165
[vpn]
service-type=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn
connection-type=password
password-flags=3
remote=ovpn.my-company.com
cipher=AES-256-CBC
reneg-seconds=0
port=443
username=joe
ca=/etc/openvpn/ISCA.pem
tls-remote=ovpn.my-company.com
[ipv6]
method=auto
[ipv4]
method=auto
ignore-auto-dns=true
never-default=true
A sample configuration for a bridge and a bridge port:
[connection] [connection]
id=MainBridge id=br-port-1
uuid=171ae855-a0ab-42b6-bd0c-60f5812eea9d uuid=d6e8ae98-71f8-4b3d-9d2d-2e26048fe794
interface-name=MainBridge interface-name=em1
type=bridge type=ethernet
controller=MainBridge
[bridge] port-type=bridge
interface-name=MainBridge
A sample configuration for a VLAN:
[connection]
id=VLAN for building 4A
uuid=8ce1c9e0-ce7a-4d2c-aa28-077dda09dd7e
interface-name=VLAN-4A
type=vlan
[vlan]
interface-name=VLAN-4A
parent=eth0
id=4
DETAILS
keyfile plugin variables for the majority of NetworkManager properties have one-to-one
mapping. It means a NetworkManager property is stored in the keyfile as a variable of the
same name and in the same format. There are several exceptions to this rule, mainly for
making keyfile syntax easier for humans. The exceptions handled specially by keyfile
plugin are listed below. Refer to nm-settings-nmcli(5) for all available settings and
properties and their description.
Name aliases. Some of the NetworkManager setting names are somewhat hard to type or
remember. Therefore keyfile introduces aliases that can be used instead of the names.
setting name keyfile alias
802-3-ethernet = ethernet
802-11-wireless = wifi
802-11-wireless-security = wifi-security
Table 1. 802-11-wireless setting (section)
┌──────────────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ssid │ │ string (or │ SSID of Wi-Fi │
│ │ │ decimal-byte list - │ network. │
│ │ │ obsolete) │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: ssid=Quick │
│ │ │ │ Net │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address │ │ usual │ MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ traditional │
│ │ │ notation │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ │ notation (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:A2), │
│ │ │ │ or semicolon │
│ │ │ │ separated list of 6 │
│ │ │ │ bytes (obsolete) │
│ │ │ │ (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 0;34;104;18;121;162). │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│cloned-mac-address │ │ usual │ Cloned MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ traditional │
│ │ │ notation │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ │ notation (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:B2), │
│ │ │ │ or semicolon │
│ │ │ │ separated list of 6 │
│ │ │ │ bytes (obsolete) │
│ │ │ │ (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 0;34;104;18;121;178). │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address-blacklist │ │ list of MACs │ MAC address │
│ │ │ (separated with │ blacklist. │
│ │ │ semicolons) │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ mac-address-blacklist= │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address-denylist │ │ list of MACs │ MAC address denylist. │
│ │ │ (separated with │ │
│ │ │ semicolons) │ Example: mac-address-denylist= │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 │
└──────────────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘
Table 2. 802-3-ethernet setting (section)
┌──────────────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address │ │ usual │ MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ traditional │
│ │ │ notation │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ │ notation (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:A2), │
│ │ │ │ or semicolon │
│ │ │ │ separated list of 6 │
│ │ │ │ bytes (obsolete) │
│ │ │ │ (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 0;34;104;18;121;162) │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│cloned-mac-address │ │ usual │ Cloned MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ traditional │
│ │ │ notation │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ │ notation (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:B2), │
│ │ │ │ or semicolon │
│ │ │ │ separated list of 6 │
│ │ │ │ bytes (obsolete) │
│ │ │ │ (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 0;34;104;18;121;178). │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address-blacklist │ │ list of MACs │ MAC address │
│ │ │ (separated with │ blacklist. │
│ │ │ semicolons) │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ mac-address-blacklist= │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 │
├──────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address-denylist │ │ list of MACs │ MAC address denylist. │
│ │ │ (separated with │ │
│ │ │ semicolons) │ Example: mac-address-denylist= │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:A6;00:22:68:12:79:78 │
└──────────────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘
Table 3. bridge setting (section)
┌────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address │ │ usual │ MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ traditional │
│ │ │ notation │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ │ notation, or │
│ │ │ │ semicolon separated │
│ │ │ │ list of 6 decimal │
│ │ │ │ bytes (obsolete) │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ mac-address=00:22:68:12:79:A2 │
│ │ │ │ mac-address=0;34;104;18;121;162; │
└────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘
Table 4. infiniband setting (section)
┌────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│mac-address │ │ usual │ MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ traditional │
│ │ │ notation │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ │ notation, or or │
│ │ │ │ semicolon separated │
│ │ │ │ list of 20 decimal │
│ │ │ │ bytes (obsolete) │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ mac-address= │
│ │ │ │ 80:00:00:6d:fe:80:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:02:55:00:70:33:cf:01 │
└────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Table 5. ipv4 setting (section)
┌────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│dns │ │ list of DNS IP │ List of DNS │
│ │ │ addresses │ servers. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ dns=1.2.3.4;8.8.8.8;8.8.4.4; │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│addresses │ address1, address2, │ address/plen │ List of static IP addresses. │
│ │ ... │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ address1=192.168.100.100/24 │
│ │ │ │ address2=10.1.1.5/24 │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│gateway │ gateway │ string │ Gateway IP addresses as a │
│ │ │ │ string. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ gateway=192.168.100.1 │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│routes │ route1, route2, ... │ route/plen[,gateway,metric] │ List of IP routes. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ route1=8.8.8.0/24,10.1.1.1,77 │
│ │ │ │ route2=7.7.0.0/16 │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│routes (attributes) │ route1_options, │ key=val[,key=val...] │ Attributes defined for the │
│ │ route2_options, ... │ │ routes, if any. The supported │
│ │ │ │ attributes are explained in │
│ │ │ │ ipv4.routes entry in `man │
│ │ │ │ nm-settings-nmcli`. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ route1_options=mtu=1000,onlink=true │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│routing-rules │ routing-rule1, │ routing rule string │ Routing rules as defined with `ip │
│ │ routing-rule2, ... │ │ rule add`, but with mandatory fixed │
│ │ │ │ priority. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: routing-rule1=priority 5 │
│ │ │ │ from 192.167.4.0/24 table 45 │
└────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘
Table 6. ipv6 setting (section)
┌────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│dns │ │ list of DNS IP │ List of DNS │
│ │ │ addresses │ servers. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ dns=2001:4860:4860::8888;2001:4860:4860::8844; │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│addresses │ address1, address2, │ address/plen │ List of static IP addresses. │
│ │ ... │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: address1=abbe::cafe/96 │
│ │ │ │ address2=2001::1234 │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│gateway │ gateway │ string │ Gateway IP addresses as a string. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: gateway=abbe::1 │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│routes │ route1, route2, ... │ route/plen[,gateway,metric] │ List of IP routes. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ route1=2001:4860:4860::/64,2620:52:0:2219:222:68ff:fe11:5403 │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│routes (attributes) │ route1_options, │ key=val[,key=val...] │ Attributes defined for the routes, if any. The supported │
│ │ route2_options, ... │ │ attributes are explained in ipv6.routes entry in `man │
│ │ │ │ nm-settings-nmcli`. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: route1_options=mtu=1000,onlink=true │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│routing-rules │ routing-rule1, │ routing rule string │ Routing rules as defined with `ip rule add`, but with │
│ │ routing-rule2, ... │ │ mandatory fixed priority. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: routing-rule1=priority 5 from 2001:4860:4860::/64 │
│ │ │ │ table 45 │
└────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Table 7. serial setting (section)
┌─────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├─────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
│parity │ │ 'e', 'o', or 'n' │ The connection │
│ │ │ │ parity; even, odd, │
│ │ │ │ or none. Note that │
│ │ │ │ older versions of │
│ │ │ │ NetworkManager │
│ │ │ │ stored this as an │
│ │ │ │ integer: 69 ('E') │
│ │ │ │ for even, 111 ('o') │
│ │ │ │ for odd, or 110 │
│ │ │ │ ('n') for none. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: parity=n │
└─────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────────┘
Table 8. vpn setting (section)
┌─────────┬─────────────────────┬────────┬───────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├─────────┼─────────────────────┼────────┼───────────────────────┤
│data │ separate variables │ │ The keys of the │
│ │ named after keys of │ │ data dictionary are │
│ │ the dictionary │ │ used as variable │
│ │ │ │ names directly │
│ │ │ │ under [vpn] │
│ │ │ │ section. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ remote=ovpn.corp.com │
│ │ │ │ cipher=AES-256-CBC │
│ │ │ │ username=joe │
├─────────┼─────────────────────┼────────┼───────────────────────┤
│secrets │ separate variables │ │ The keys of the │
│ │ named after keys of │ │ secrets dictionary │
│ │ the dictionary │ │ are used as variable │
│ │ │ │ names directly under │
│ │ │ │ [vpn-secrets] │
│ │ │ │ section. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Example: │
│ │ │ │ password=Popocatepetl │
└─────────┴─────────────────────┴────────┴───────────────────────┘
Table 9. wifi-p2p setting (section)
┌─────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┬───────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├─────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┤
│peer │ │ usual │ MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ traditional │
│ │ │ notation │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ │ notation (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 00:22:68:12:79:A2), │
│ │ │ │ or semicolon │
│ │ │ │ separated list of 6 │
│ │ │ │ bytes (obsolete) │
│ │ │ │ (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 0;34;104;18;121;162). │
└─────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────┴───────────────────────┘
Table 10. wpan setting (section)
┌────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┐
│Property │ Keyfile Variable │ Format │ Description │
├────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│mac-address │ │ usual │ MAC address in │
│ │ │ hex-digits-and-colons │ hex-digits-and-colons │
│ │ │ notation │ notation (e.g. │
│ │ │ │ 76:d8:9b:87:66:60:84:ee). │
└────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────┴───────────────────────────┘
Secret flags
Each secret property in a NetworkManager setting has an associated flags property that
describes how to handle that secret. In the keyfile plugin, the value of -flags variable
is a decimal number (0 - 7) defined as a sum of the following values:
• 0 - (NM owned) - the system is responsible for providing and storing this secret.
• 1 - (agent-owned) - a user-session secret agent is responsible for providing and
storing this secret; when it is required, agents will be asked to provide it.
• 2 - (not-saved) - this secret should not be saved but should be requested from the
user each time it is required.
• 4 - (not-required) - in some situations it cannot be automatically determined that a
secret is required or not. This flag hints that the secret is not required and should
not be requested from the user.
FILES
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*
SEE ALSO
nm-settings-nmcli(5), nm-settings-ifcfg-rh(5), NetworkManager(8), NetworkManager.conf(5),
nmcli(1), nmcli-examples(7)
NOTES
1. GLib key file format
https://developer.gnome.org/glib/stable/glib-Key-value-file-parser.html#glib-Key-value-file-parser.description