Command\(hyline tool for controlling networkmanager
nmcli [ OPTIONS ] OBJECT { COMMAND | help }
OBJECT := { general | networking | radio | connection | device }
OPTIONS := {
-t[erse]
-p[retty]
-m[mode] tabular | multiline
-f[ields] <field1,field2,...> | all | common
-e[scape] yes | no
-n[ocheck]
-a[sk]
-w[ait] <seconds>
-v[ersion]
-h[elp]
}
nmcli is a command\(hyline tool for controlling NetworkManager and reporting network status. It can be utilized as a replacement for nm\(hyapplet or other graphical clients. nmcli is used to create, display, edit, delete, activate, and deactivate network connections, as well as control and display network device status.
Typical uses include:
Scripts: utilize NetworkManager via nmcli instead of managing network connections manually. nmcli supports a terse output format which is better suited for script processing. Note that NetworkManager can also execute scripts, called "dispatcher scripts", in response to network events. See NetworkManager for details about these dispatcher scripts.
Servers, headless machines, and terminals: nmcli can be used to control NetworkManager without a GUI, including creating, editing, starting and stopping network connections and viewing network status.
-t, --terse
Output is terse. This mode is designed and suitable for computer (script) processing.
-p, --pretty
Output is pretty. This causes nmcli to produce easily readable outputs for humans, i.e. values are aligned, headers are printed, etc.
-m, --mode tabular | multiline
Switch between tabular and multiline output. If omitted, default is tabular for most commands. For the commands producing more structured information, that cannot be displayed on a single line, default is multiline. Currently, they are:
'nmcli connection show <ID>' 'nmcli device show'
tabular – Output is a table where each line describes a single entry. Columns define particular properties of the entry.
multiline – Each entry comprises multiple lines, each property on its own line. The values are prefixed with the property name.
-f, --fields <field1,field2,...> | all | common
This option is used to specify what fields (column names) should be printed. Valid field names differ for specific commands. List available fields by providing an invalid value to the --fields option.
all is used to print all valid field values of the command. common is used to print common field values of the command. If omitted, default is common. The option is mandatory when --terse is used. In this case, generic values all and common cannot be used. (This is to maintain compatibility when new fields are added in the future).
-e, --escape yes | no
Whether to escape ':' and '\' characters in terse tabular mode. The escape character is '\'. If omitted, default is yes.
-n, --nocheck
This option can be used to force nmcli to skip checking nmcli and NetworkManager version compatibility. Use it with care, because using incompatible versions may produce incorrect results.
-a, --ask
When using this option nmcli will stop and ask for any missing required arguments, so do not use this option for non-interactive purposes like scripts.
-w, --wait <seconds>
This option sets a timeout period for which nmcli will wait for NetworkManager to finsh operations. It is especially useful for commands that may take a longer time to complete, e.g. connection activation. Specifying a value of 0 instructs nmcli not to wait but to exit immediately with a status of success. The default value depends on the executed command.
-v, --version
Show nmcli version.
-h, --help
Print help information.
general - general NetworkManager status and operations
Use this object to show NetworkManager status and permissions. You can also get and change system hostname, as well as NetworkManager logging level and domains.
status
Show overall status of NetworkManager. This is the default action, when no additional command is provided for general object.
hostname [<hostname>]
Get and change system hostname. With no arguments, this prints currently configured hostname. When you pass a hostname, it will be handed over to NetworkManager to be set as a new system hostname.
Note that the term system hostname may also be referred to as persistent or static by other programs or tools. The hostname is stored in /etc/hostname file in most distributions. For example, systemd-hostnamed service uses the term static hostname and it only reads the /etc/hostname file when it starts.
permissions
Show the permissions a caller has for various authenticated operations that NetworkManager provides, like enable and disable networking, changing Wi\(hyFi, WWAN, and WiMAX state, modifying connections, etc.
logging [level <log level>] [domains <log domains>]
Get and change NetworkManager logging level and domains. Without any argument current logging level and domains are shown. In order to change logging state, provide level and, or, domain parameters. See NetworkManager.conf for available level and domain values.
networking - get or set general networking state of NetworkManager
Use this object to show NetworkManager networking status, or to enable and disable networking. Disabling networking removes the configuration from all devices and changes them to the 'unmanaged' state.
[ on | off ]
Get networking\(hyenabled status or enable and disable networking by NetworkManager. All interfaces managed by NetworkManager are deactivated when networking has been disabled.
connectivity [check]
Get network connectivity state. The optional check argument tells NetworkManager to re-check the connectivity, else the most recent known connectivity state is displayed without re-checking.
Possible states are:
– the host is not connected to any network
– the host is behind a captive portal and cannot reach the full Internet
– the host is connected to a network, but it has no access to the Internet
– the host is connected to a network and has full access to the Internet
– the connectivity status cannot be found out
radio - get or set radio switch states
Use this object to show radio switches status, or enable and disable the switches.
wifi [ on | off ]
Show or set status of Wi\(hyFi in NetworkManager. If no arguments are supplied, Wi\(hyFi status is printed; on enables Wi\(hyFi; off disables Wi\(hyFi.
wwan [ on | off ]
Show or set status of WWAN (mobile broadband) in NetworkManager. If no arguments are supplied, mobile broadband status is printed; on enables mobile broadband, off disables it.
wimax [ on | off ]
Show or set status of WiMAX in NetworkManager. If no arguments are supplied, WiMAX status is printed; on enables WiMAX; off disables WiMAX. Note: WiMAX support is a compile\(hytime decision, so it may be unavailable on some installations.
all [ on | off ]
Show or set all previously mentioned radio switches at the same time.
connection - start, stop, and manage network connections
NetworkManager stores all network configuration as connections, which are collections of data (Layer2 details, IP addressing, etc.) that describe how to create or connect to a network. A connection is active when a device uses that connection's configuration to create or connect to a network. There may be multiple connections that apply to a device, but only one of them can be active on that device at any given time. The additional connections can be used to allow quick switching between different networks and configurations.
Consider a machine which is usually connected to a DHCP-enabled network, but sometimes connected to a testing network which uses static IP addressing. Instead of manually reconfiguring eth0 each time the network is changed, the settings can be saved as two connections which both apply to eth0, one for DHCP (called "default") and one with the static addressing details (called "testing"). When connected to the DHCP-enabled network the user would run "nmcli con up default" , and when connected to the static network the user would run "nmcli con up testing".
show [--active]
List in-memory and on-disk connection profiles, some of which may also be active if a device is using that connection profile. Without a parameter, all profiles are listed. When --active option is specified, only the active profiles are shown.
show [--active] [ id | uuid | path | apath ] <ID> ...
Show details for specified connections. By default, both static configuration and active connection data are displayed. When --active option is specified, only the active profiles are taken into account. id, uuid, path and apath keywords can be used if <ID> is ambiguous.
Optional <ID>-specifying keywords are:
– the <ID> denotes a connection name
– the <ID> denotes a connection UUID
– the <ID> denotes a D-Bus static connection path in the format of /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/<num> or just <num>
– the <ID> denotes a D-Bus active connection path in the format of /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/<num> or just <num>
It is possible to filter the output using the global --fields option. Use the following values:
– only shows static profile configuration
– only shows active connection data (when the profile is active)
You can also specify particular fields. For static configuration, use setting and property names as described in nm-settings(5) manual page. For active data use GENERAL, IP4, DHCP4, IP6, DHCP6, VPN.
When no command is given to the connection object, the default action is 'nmcli connection show'.
up [ id | uuid | path ] <ID> [ifname <ifname>] [ap <BSSID>] [nsp <name>]
up ifname <ifname> [ap <BSSID>] [nsp <name>]
Activate a connection. The connection is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If <ID> is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid or path can be used. When requiring a particular device to activate the connection on, the ifname option with interface name should be given. If the <ID> is not given an ifname is required, and NetworkManager will activate the best available connection for the given ifname. In case of a VPN connection, the ifname option specifies the device of the base connection. The ap option specify what particular AP should be used in case of a Wi\(hyFi connection.
If '--wait' option is not specified, the default timeout will be 90 seconds.
See connection show above for the description of the <ID>-specifying keywords.
Available options are:
– interface that will be used for activation
– BSSID of the AP which the command should connect to (for Wi\(hyFi connections)
– NSP (Network Service Provider) which the command should connect to (for WiMAX connections)
down [ id | uuid | path | apath ] <ID>
Deactivate a connection from a device without preventing the device from further auto-activation.
Be aware that this command deactivates the specified active connection. The device on which the connection was active, is still ready to connect and will perform auto-activation by looking for a suitable connection that has the 'autoconnect' flag set. This includes the just deactivated connection, so if the connection is set to auto-connect, it will be automatically started on the disconnected device again.
In most cases you may want to use device disconnect command instead.
The connection is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If <ID> is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid, path or apath can be used.
See connection show above for the description of the <ID>-specifying keywords.
add COMMON_OPTIONS TYPE_SPECIFIC_OPTIONS IP_OPTIONS
Add a connection for NetworkManager. Arguments differ according to connection types, see below.
COMMON_OPTIONS:
– connection type; see below TYPE_SPECIFIC_OPTIONS for allowed values; (mandatory)
– interface to bind the connection to. The connection will only be applicable to this interface name. A special value of "*" can be used for interface-independent connections. The ifname argument is mandatory for all connection types except bond, team, bridge and vlan. Note: use quotes around * to suppress shell expansion.
– connection name (when not provided a default name is generated: <type>[-<ifname>][-<num>])
– whether the connection profile can be automatically activated (default: yes)
– whether the connection should be persistent, i.e. NetworkManager should store it on disk (default: yes)
TYPE_SPECIFIC_OPTIONS:
ethernet:
– MAC address of the device this connection is locked to
– cloned MAC
– MTU
wifi:
– SSID
– MAC address of the device this connection is locked to
– cloned MAC
– MTU
wimax:
– MAC address of the device this connection is locked to
– Network Service Provider name
pppoe:
– PPPoE username
– Password for the PPPoE username
– PPPoE service name (if required by concentrator)
– MTU
– MAC address of the device this connection is locked to
gsm:
– APN - GSM Access Point Name
– user name
– password
cdma:
– user name
– password
infiniband:
– MAC address of the device this connection is locked to (InfiniBand MAC is 20 bytes)
– MTU
– InfiniBand transport mode
– the interface name of the parent device (if any)
– the InfiniBand P_Key (16-bit unsigned integer)
bluetooth:
– Bluetooth device address (MAC)
– Bluetooth connection type
vlan:
– parent device this VLAN is on
– VLAN ID in range <0-4095>
– flags
– VLAN ingress priority mapping
– VLAN egress priority mapping
– MTU
bond:
– bonding mode (default: balance-rr)
– primary interface name (for "active-backup" mode)
– miimon (default: 100)
– downdelay (default: 0)
– updelay (default: 0)
– ARP interval (default: 0)
– ARP IP target
bond-slave:
– master bond interface name, or connection UUID or ID of bond master connection profile. The value can be prefixed with ifname/, uuid/ or id/ to disambiguate it.
team:
– JSON configuration for team
team-slave:
– master team interface name, or connection UUID or ID of team master connection profile. The value can be prefixed with ifname/, uuid/ or id/ to disambiguate it.
– JSON configuration for team
bridge:
– controls whether Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is enabled for this bridge (default: yes)
– sets STP priority (default: 128)
– STP forwarding delay, in seconds (default: 15)
– STP hello time, in seconds (default: 2)
– STP maximum message age, in seconds (default: 20)
– the Ethernet MAC address aging time, in seconds (default: 300)
– MAC address of the bridge (note: this requires a recent kernel feature, originally introduced in 3.15 upstream kernel)
bridge-slave:
– master bridge interface name, or connection UUID or ID of bridge master connection profile. The value can be prefixed with ifname/, uuid/ or id/ to disambiguate it.
– STP priority of this slave (default: 32)
– STP port cost for destinations via this slave (default: 100)
– 'hairpin mode' for the slave, which allows frames to be sent back out through the slave the frame was received on (default: yes)
vpn:
– VPN type
– VPN username
olpc-mesh:
– SSID
– channel to use for the network
– anycast DHCP MAC address used when requesting an IP address via DHCP
IP_OPTIONS:
– IPv4 addresses
– IPv6 addresses
edit [id | uuid | path ] <ID> - edit an existing connection
edit [type <new connection type>] [con-name <new connection name>] - add a new connection
Edit an existing connection or add a new one, using an interactive editor.
The existing connection is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If <ID> is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid, or path can be used. See connection show above for the description of the <ID>-specifying keywords. Not providing an <ID> means that a new connection will be added.
The interactive editor will guide you through the connection editing and allow you to change connection parameters according to your needs by means of a simple menu-driven interface. The editor indicates what settings and properties can be modified and provides in-line help.
Available options:
– type of the new connection; valid types are the same as for connection add command
– name for the new connection. It can be changed later in the editor.
See also nm-settings(5) for all NetworkManager settings and property names, and their descriptions; and nmcli-examples(5) for sample editor sessions.
modify [--temporary] [ id | uuid | path ] <ID> [+|-]<setting>.<property> <value>
[+|-]<setting>.<property> <value> ...
Modify one or more properties in the connection profile.
The connection is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If <ID> is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid or path can be used. See nm-settings(5) for setting and property names, their descriptions and default values. This command supports abbreviations for setting name and property name provided they are unique. Empty value ("") removes the property value (sets the property to the default value). The provided value overwrites the existing property value.
If you want to append an item to the existing value, use + prefix for the property name. If you want to remove just one item from container-type property, use - prefix for the property name and specify a value or an zero-based index of the item to remove (or option name for properties with named options) as value. Of course, +|- only have a real effect for multi-value (container) properties like ipv4.dns, ipv4.addresses, bond.options, etc.
The changes to the connection profile will be saved persistently by NetworkManager, unless --temporary option is provided, in which case the changes won't persist over NetworkManager restart.
delete [ id | uuid | path ] <ID> ...
Delete a configured connection. The connection to be deleted is identified by its name, UUID or D-Bus path. If <ID> is ambiguous, a keyword id, uuid or path can be used.
See connection show above for the description of the <ID>-specifying keywords.
reload
Reload all connection files from disk. NetworkManager does not monitor changes to connection files by default. So you need to use this command in order to tell NetworkManager to re-read the connection profiles from disk when a change was made to them. However, the auto-loading feature can be enabled and then NetworkManager will reload connection files any time they change (monitor-connection-files=true in NetworkManager.conf(5)).
load <filename> [<filename>...]
Load/reload one or more connection files from disk. Use this after manually editing a connection file to ensure that NetworkManager is aware of its latest state.
device - show and manage network interfaces
status
Print status of devices.
This is the default action if no command is specified to device object.
show [<ifname>]
Show detailed information about devices. Without an argument, all devices are examined. To get information for a specific device, the interface name has to be provided.
connect <ifname>
Connect the device. NetworkManager will try to find a suitable connection that will be activated. It will also consider connections that are not set to auto connect.
If '--wait' option is not specified, the default timeout will be 90 seconds.
disconnect <ifname>
Disconnect a device and prevent the device from automatically activating further connections without user/manual intervention.
If '--wait' option is not specified, the default timeout will be 10 seconds.
wifi [list [ifname <ifname>] [bssid <BSSID>]]
List available Wi\(hyFi access points. The ifname and bssid options can be used to list APs for a particular interface or with a specific BSSID, respectively.
wifi connect <(B)SSID> [password <password>] [wep-key-type key|phrase] [ifname <ifname>] [bssid <BSSID>] [name <name>] [private yes|no]
Connect to a Wi\(hyFi network specified by SSID or BSSID. The command creates a new connection and then activates it on a device. This is a command\(hyline counterpart of clicking an SSID in a GUI client. The command always creates a new connection and thus it is mainly useful for connecting to new Wi\(hyFi networks. If a connection for the network already exists, it is better to bring up (activate) the existing connection as follows: nmcli con up id <name>. Note that only open, WEP and WPA\(hyPSK networks are supported at the moment. It is also supposed that IP configuration is obtained via DHCP.
If '--wait' option is not specified, the default timeout will be 90 seconds.
Available options are:
– password for secured networks (WEP or WPA)
– type of WEP secret, either key for ASCII/HEX key or phrase for passphrase
– interface that will be used for activation
– if specified, the created connection will be restricted just for the BSSID
– if specified, the connection will use the name (else NM creates a name itself)
– if set to yes, the connection will only be visible to the user who created it. Otherwise the connection is system\(hywide, which is the default.
wifi rescan [[ifname] <ifname>]
Request that NetworkManager immediately re-scan for available access points. NetworkManager scans Wi\(hyFi networks periodically, but in some cases it can be useful to start scanning manually (e.g. after resuming the computer). This command does not show the APs, use 'nmcli device wifi list' for that.
wimax [list [ifname <ifname>] [nsp <name>]]
List available WiMAX NSP. The ifname and nsp options can be used to list networks for a particular interface or with a specific NSP, respectively.
nmcli's behavior is affected by the following environment variables.
If set to a non\(hyempty string value, it overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.
Determines the locale to be used for internationalized messages.
Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null.
Internationalization notes:
Be aware that nmcli is localized and that is why the output depends on your environment. This is important to realize especially when you parse the output.
Call nmcli as LC_ALL=C nmcli to be sure the locale is set to "C" while executing in a script.
LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LANG variables specify the LC_MESSAGES locale category (in that order), which determines the language that nmcli uses for messages. The "C" locale is used if none of these variables are set, and this locale uses English messages.
nmcli exits with status 0 if it succeeds, a value greater than 0 is returned if an error occurs.
Success – indicates the operation succeeded
Unknown or unspecified error
Invalid user input, wrong nmcli invocation
Timeout expired (see --wait option)
Connection activation failed
Connection deactivation failed
Disconnecting device failed
Connection deletion failed
NetworkManager is not running
nmcli and NetworkManager versions mismatch
Connection, device, or access point does not exist.
This section presents various examples of nmcli usage. If you want even more, please refer to nmcli-examples(5) manual page.
tells you whether NetworkManager is running or not.
shows the overall status of NetworkManager.
switches Wi\(hyFi off.
lists all connections NetworkManager has.
shows all configured connections in multi-line mode.
lists all currently active connections.
shows all connection profile names and their auto-connect property.
shows details for "My default em1" connection profile.
shows details for "My default em1" active connection, like IP, DHCP information, etc.
shows static configuration details of the connection profile with "My wired connection" name.
activates the connection profile with name "My wired connection" on interface eth0. The -p option makes nmcli show progress of the activation.
connects the Wi\(hyFi connection with UUID 6b028a27-6dc9-4411-9886-e9ad1dd43761 to the AP with BSSID 00:3A:98:7C:42:D3.
shows the status for all devices.
disconnects a connection on interface em2 and marks the device as unavailable for auto\(hyconnecting. As a result, no connection will automatically be activated on the device until the device's 'autoconnect' is set to TRUE or the user manually activates a connection.
shows details for wlan0 interface; only GENERAL and WIFI-PROPERTIES sections will be shown.
lists available Wi\(hyFi access points known to NetworkManager.
creates a new connection named "My cafe" and then connects it to "Cafe Hotspot 1" SSID using password "caffeine". This is mainly useful when connecting to "Cafe Hotspot 1" for the first time. Next time, it is better to use 'nmcli con up id "My cafe"' so that the existing connection profile can be used and no additional is created.
non-interactively adds an Ethernet connection tied to eth0 interface with automatic IP configuration (DHCP), and disables the connection's "autoconnect" flag.
non-interactively adds a VLAN connection with ID 55. The connection will use eth0 and the VLAN interface will be named Maxipes\(hyfik.
edits existing "ethernet\(hyem1\(hy2" connection in the interactive editor.
adds a new Ethernet connection in the interactive editor.
modifies 'autoconnect' property in the 'connection' setting of 'ethernet\(hy2' connection.
modifies 'mtu' property in the 'wifi' setting of 'Home Wi\(hyFi' connection.
sets manual addressing and the addresses in em1-1 profile.
appends a Google public DNS server to DNS servers in ABC profile.
removes the specified IP address from (static) profile ABC.
nmcli accepts abbreviations, as long as they are a unique prefix in the set of possible options. As new options get added, these abbreviations are not guaranteed to stay unique. For scripting and long term compatiblity it is therefore strongly advised to spell out the full option names.
There are probably some bugs. If you find a bug, please report it to https://bugzilla.gnome.org/ – product NetworkManager.
nmcli-examples(5), nm-online(1), NetworkManager(8), NetworkManager.conf(5), nm-settings(5), nm-applet(1), nm-connection-editor(1).