NetworkManager is a software utility to simplify the use of computer networks on Linux and other Unix-based operating systems.
After almost 6 months since the last major release, the new version of NetworkManager 1.44, which arrives with 796 commits since NetworkManager 1.42.
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.
Main new features of NetworkManager 1.44
In this new version of NetworkManager 1.44, it is highlighted that added a new configuration containing kernel binding related properties "link", which collects properties related to network link parameters, such as "tx-queue-length", "gso-max-size", "gso-max-segments", and "gro-max-size ".
Another change that stands out in this new version is that ifcfg-rh plugin has been deprecated, with which from this version you will only receive bug fixes and no new features.
With this change added “main.migrate-ifcfg-rh” option to automatically migrate existing ifcfg-rh connections to the keyfile format. It is mentioned that migration is disabled by default, but the default can be changed at compile time via "--with-config-migrate-ifcfg-rh-default=yes”.
In addition to this, it is also highlighted that now the interface nmtui has the ability to enable and disable Wi-Fi and WWAN modules, as well as that nmcli throws a warning when the version of NetworkManager does not match.
We can also find in NetworkManager 1.44, the implemented monitoring of the number of repeated automatic connection attempts for each device and connection. Previously, it was only traced per connection, and this caused unexpected behavior in the case of multi-connection profiles.
Of the other changes that stand out of this new version:
- Permanent enforcement of DNS settings is provided in the section "[global-dns]".
- For connected devices and network bridges (bond, bridge, team), the parameter "ignore-carrier=no”.
- Configured VLAN filtering options on the bridge via netlink instead of sysfs.
- property added "ipv6.dhcp-pd-hint" to send the address prefix via DHCPv6.
- IPv6 tentative addresses are no longer used to resolve the system hostname
through DNS. - Options have been added "arp_missed_max", "lacp_active" and "ns_ip6_target" for bound interfaces.
- properties have been added "initial-eps-bearer-configure" and "initial-eps-bearer-apn" to GSM settings.
- Added option "[keyfile].rename" to NetworkManager.conf to force renaming of profiles on disk when their associated names change.
- Added IMDSv2 support to the utility nm-cloud-setup for Amazon EC2 environments.
Finally, if you are interested in knowing more about it about this new release of Networkmanager you can check the details from the link below.
How to get NetworkManager 1.44?
For those who are interested in being able to obtain this new version 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 from their 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 1.32 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