A new stable version of the interface has been released to simplify the network configuration "NetworkManager 1.24" in which a handful of significant changes have been added, as new protocols, greater support and other things are added.
For those who are unfamiliar with NetworkManager should know that this is a software utility for simplify the use of networks of computers on linux and other Unix-based operating systems. This utility takes an opportunistic approach to network selection, trying to use the best available connection when outages occur, or when the user moves between wireless networks.
You prefer Ethernet connections over "known" wireless networks. The user is prompted for WEP or WPA keys, as required.
NetworkManager has two components:
- A service that manages connections and reports of changes in the network.
- A graphical desktop application that allows the user to manipulate network connections. The nmcli applet provides similar functionality on the command line.
On the other hand plug-ins to support VPN, OpenConnect, PPTP, OpenVPN, and OpenSWAN are developed as part of their own development cycles.
What's new in NetworkManager 1.24?
In this new version Added support for virtual redirection and routing network interfaces is highlighted (VRF, virtual routing and forwarding) and the support for OWE connection negotiation method (Opportunistic Wireless Encryption, RFC 8110) to generate encryption keys in open wireless networks. The OWE extension is used in the WPA3 standard to encrypt all data streams between the client and the access point on public and public wireless networks that do not require authentication.
For WWAN, it is now possible to automatically activate a connection via a USB modem, in case of using an already unlocked SIM card protected by a PIN code, for the network interfaces OVS added the ability to change MTU, for VPN, the use of empty data values and secret sequences is allowed and for all nm devices, the 'HwAddress' property is provided via the D-Bus.
Also, in this new version support for escape sequences with a backslash was added in the settings "vpn.data", "vpn.secrets", "bond.options" and "ethernet.s390-options" and the added options for bridges: bridge.multicast-querier, bridge.multicast-query-use-ifaddr, bridge.multicast-router, bridge.vlan-stats-enabled, bridge.vlan-protocol and "bridge.group-address".
Of the other changes that are mentioned in the ad:
- IPv6 SLAAC and IPv6 DHCP added options to configure the timeout "ipv6.ra-timeout" and "ipv6.dhcp-timeout".
- The nmcli interface adds the ability to remove settings using the new command "nmcli connection modify $ CON_NAME remove $ setting".
- The creation or activation of slave devices stops in the absence of a master device.
- Issues with importing WireGuard profiles through nmcli are resolved and handling of configurations including ip4-auto-default-route with an explicit gateway is improved.
- Added support for 31-bit prefixes (/ 31 subnet masks) for IPv4 P2P links (RFC 3021).
- The libpolkit-agent-1 and libpolkit-gobject-1 dependencies have been removed.
How to get NetworkManager 1.24.0?
For those interested in being able to obtain this new version of NetworkManager 1.24.0, you should know that at the moment there are no packages built for Ubuntu or derivatives. So if you want to get this version they must build NetworkManager 1.24.0 from source code.
Although it is a matter of a few days for it to be incorporated into the official Ubuntu repositories for its prompt update.
So if you want, is to wait for the new update to be made available within the official Ubuntu channels, you can check if the update is already available in this link.
As soon as that happens, you can update your list of packages and repos on your system with the help of the following command:
sudo apt update
And to install the new version of NetworkManager 1.24.0 on your system, just run any of the following commands.
Update and install all available packages
sudo apt upgrade -y
Update and install only networkmanager:
sudo apt install network-manager -y