linux-system-roles/network

Overview

The network role enables users to configure network on the target machines. This role can be used to configure:

• Ethernet interfaces
• Bridge interfaces
• Bonded interfaces
• VLAN interfaces
• MacVLAN interfaces
• Infiniband interfaces
• Wireless (WiFi) interfaces
• IP configuration
• 802.1x authentication

Introduction

The network role supports two providers: nm and initscripts. nm is used by default since RHEL7 and initscripts in RHEL6. The initscripts provider requires network-scripts package which is deprecated in RHEL8 and dropped in RHEL9. These providers can be configured per host via the network_provider variable. In absence of explicit configuration, it is autodetected based on the distribution. However, note that either nm or initscripts is not tied to a certain distribution. The network role works everywhere the required API is available. This means that nm requires at least NetworkManager's API version 1.2 available and certain settings supported by nm provider also requires higher NetworkManager's API version since which the settings are introduced.

The network role supports two modules: network_connections and network_state.

Since the backend of network_state is Nmstate, the network_state modules represents the future direction for the network role, aiming to provide a more streamlined and reliable way of managing network. As a result, the focus is on promoting the use of network_state over the network_connections variable to ensure better consistency and functionality moving forward. Additionally, most of the features currently supported in NetworkManager are also available with network_state. For more information and examples on how to configure the network using Nmstate schema in network_state variable, please refer to the official documentation at nmstate.io. For detailed syntax and explanations of each parameter, visit nmstate's API documentation.

For each host a list of networking profiles can be configured via the network_connections variable.

• For initscripts, profiles correspond to ifcfg files in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory and those ifcfg files has the line NM_CONTROLLED=no written.

• For nm, profiles correspond to connection profiles are handled by NetworkManager and only NetworkManager keyfile format profiles are supported in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/ since RHEL9.

For each host the network state configuration can also be applied to the interface directly via the network_state variable, and only the nm provider supports using the network_state variable.

Note that the network role both operates on the connection profiles of the devices (via the network_connections variable) and on devices directly (via the network_state variable). When configuring the connection profiles through the role, it uses the profile name by default as the interface name. It is also possible to create generic profiles, by creating for example a profile with a certain IP configuration without activating the profile. To apply the configuration to the actual networking interface, use the nmcli commands on the target system.

Warning: The network role updates or creates all connection profiles on the target system as specified in the network_connections variable. Therefore, the network role removes options from the specified profiles if the options are only present on the system but not in the network_connections variable. Exceptions are mentioned below. However, the partial networking configuration can be achieved via specifying the network state configuration in the network_state variable.

Requirements

See below

Collection requirements

The role requires external collections only for management of rpm-ostree nodes. Please run the following command to install them if you need to manage rpm-ostree nodes:

ansible-galaxy collection install -vv -r meta/collection-requirements.yml

Variables

The network role is configured via variables starting with network_ as the name prefix. List of variables:

• network_provider - The network_provider variable allows to set a specific provider (nm or initscripts) . Setting it to {{ network_provider_os_default }}, the provider is set depending on the operating system. This is usually nm except for RHEL 6 or CentOS 6 systems. Changing the provider for an existing profile is not supported. To switch providers, it is recommended to first remove profiles with the old provider and then create new profiles with the new provider.
• network_connections - The connection profiles are configured as network_connections, which is a list of dictionaries that include specific options.
• network_allow_restart - It defaults to false. To load NetworkManager plugins after installation, NetworkManager requires to be restarted. For example, if a wireless connection is configured and NetworkManager-wifi is not installed, NetworkManager must be restarted prior to the connection being configured. The restart can result in connectivity loss and therefore the role does not allow it without explicit consent. The user can consent to it by setting network_allow_restart to true. Setting network_allow_restart to false will prevent the role from restarting NetworkManager.
• network_state - The network state settings can be configured in the managed host, and the format and the syntax of the configuration should be consistent with the nmstate state examples (YAML).

Examples of Variables

Setting the variables

network_provider: nm
network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    #...
network_allow_restart: true

network_provider: nm
network_state:
  interfaces:
    - name: eth0
    #...
  routes:
    config:
      #...
  dns-resolver:
    config:
      #...

network_connections Options

The network_connections variable is a list of dictionaries that include the following options. List of options:

name (usually required)

The name option identifies the connection profile to be configured. It is not the name of the networking interface for which the profile applies, though we can associate the profile with an interface and give them the same name. Note that you can have multiple profiles for the same device, but only one profile can be active on the device each time. For NetworkManager, a connection can only be active at one device each time.

• For NetworkManager, the name option corresponds to the connection.id property option. Although NetworkManager supports multiple connections with the same connection.id, the network role cannot handle a duplicate name. Specifying a name multiple times refers to the same connection profile.

• For initscripts, the name option determines the ifcfg file name /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-$NAME. Note that the name does not specify the DEVICE but a filename. As a consequence, '/' is not a valid character for the name.

You can also use the same connection profile multiple times. Therefore, it is possible to create a profile and activate it separately.

Note: The network role will only change the profiles that are specified in the network_connections variable. Therefore, if only the ports of a profile are specified to be removed from the controller and the controller is not specified, then the controller profile will remain on the system. This can happen, if for example all ports are removed from a bond interface.

Note: To remove all profiles on a system that are not specified in the network_connections variable, add an entry without a name and persistent_state: absent. This will match and remove all remaining profiles:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0  # profiles to keep/configure on the system
    [...]

  - persistent_state: absent  # remove all other profiles

state

The state option identifies what is the runtime state of each connection profile. The state option (optional) can be set to the following values:

• up - the connection profile is activated
• down - the connection profile is deactivated

state: up

• For NetworkManager, this corresponds to nmcli connection id {{name}} up.

• For initscripts, this corresponds to ifup {{name}}.

When the state option is set to up, you can also specify the wait option (optional):

• wait: 0 - initiates only the activation, but does not wait until the device is fully connected. The connection will be completed in the background, for example after a DHCP lease was received.
• wait: <seconds> is a timeout that enables you to decide how long you give the device to activate. The default is using a suitable timeout. Note that the wait option is only supported by NetworkManager.

Note that state: up always re-activates the profile and possibly changes the networking configuration, even if the profile was already active before. As a consequence, state: up always changes the system.

state: down

• For NetworkManager, it corresponds to nmcli connection id {{name}} down.

• For initscripts, it corresponds to call ifdown {{name}}.

You can deactivate a connection profile, even if is currently not active. As a consequence, state: down always changes the system.

Note that if the state option is unset, the connection profile's runtime state will not be changed.

persistent_state

The persistent_state option identifies if a connection profile is persistent (saved on disk). The persistent_state option can be set to the following values:

persistent_state: present (default)

Note that if persistent_state is present and the connection profile contains the type option, the profile will be created or updated. If the connection profile is incomplete (no type option), the behavior is undefined. Also, the present value does not directly result in a change in the network configuration. If the state option is not set to up, the profile is only created or modified, not activated.

For NetworkManager, the new connection profile is created with the autoconnect option enabled by default. Therefore, NetworkManager can activate the new profile on a currently disconnected device. (rh#1401515).

persistent_state: absent

The absent value ensures that the profile is not present on the target host. If a profile with the given name exists, it will be deleted. In this case:

• NetworkManager deletes all connection profiles with the corresponding connection.id. Deleting a profile usually does not change the current networking configuration, unless the profile was currently activated on a device. Deleting the currently active connection profile disconnects the device. That makes the device eligible to autoconnect another connection (for more details, see rh#1401515).

• initscripts deletes the ifcfg file in most cases with no impact on the runtime state of the system unless some component is watching the sysconfig directory.

Note: For profiles that only contain a state option, the network role only activates or deactivates the connection without changing its configuration.

type

The type option can be set to the following values:

• ethernet
• bridge
• bond
• team
• vlan
• macvlan
• infiniband
• wireless
• dummy

type: ethernet

If the type is ethernet, then there can be an extra ethernet dictionary with the following items (options): autoneg, speed and duplex, which correspond to the settings of the ethtool utility with the same name.

• autoneg: true (default) or false [if auto-negotiation is enabled or disabled]
• speed: speed in Mbit/s
• duplex: half or full

Note that the speed and duplex link settings are required when autonegotiation is disabled (autoneg: false).

type: bridge, type: bond, type: team

The bridge, bond, team device types work similar. Note that team is not supported in RHEL6 kernels, and has been deprecated in RHEL 9.

For ports, the port_type and controller properties must be set. Note that ports should not have ip settings, which means that the active ports will not have IP addresses assigned.

The controller refers to the name of a profile in the Ansible playbook. It is neither an interface-name nor a connection-id of NetworkManager.

• For NetworkManager, controller will be converted to the connection.uuid of the corresponding profile.

• For initscripts, the controller is looked up as the DEVICE from the corresponding ifcfg file.

As controller refers to other profiles of the same or another play, the order of the connections list matters. Profiles that are referenced by other profiles need to be specified first. Also, --check ignores the value of the controller and assumes it will be present during a real run. That means, in presence of an invalid controller, --check may signal success but the actual play run fails.

If only bringing down the controller profile , then the port profiles will be brought down automatically. If bringing down the connection on some or all ports, then the controller profile stay active.

The team type uses roundrobin as the runner configuration. No further configuration is supported at the moment.

type: vlan

Similar to controller, the parent references the connection profile in the ansible role. The vlan ID can be specified by using nested vlan setting, the valid vlan ID value ranges from 0 to 4094. Here is how to specify the vlan ID:

type: vlan
vlan:
  id: 6

type: macvlan

Similar to controller and vlan, the parent references the connection profile in the ansible role.

type: infiniband

For the infiniband connection, currently it is only supported for the nm provider, and the following options are supported:

• p_key: The infiniband P_Key to use for the device. When it is not specified, then the connection is created on the physical infiniband fabrics. Otherwise, it is a 16-bit unsigned integer and the ipoib (IP over Infiniband) connection will be created, the high bit should be set if it is a "full membership" P_Key. The special p_key values 0x0000 and 0x8000 are invalid as kernel does not support them.
• transport_mode: The ipoib (IP over Infiniband) connection operation mode. The possible modes are datagram (default) and connected.

Note: If the p_key is specified , then the interface_name must be unset.

type: wireless

The wireless type supports WPA-PSK (password) authentication, WPA-EAP (802.1x) authentication, WPA3-Personal SAE (password) authentication and Enhanced Open (OWE).

nm (NetworkManager) is the only supported network_provider for this type.

If WPA-EAP is used, ieee802_1x settings must be defined in the ieee802_1x option.

The following options are supported:

• ssid: the SSID of the wireless network (required)

• key_mgmt (required)

  Any key from following key list:

  • owe
  • sae
  • wpa-eap
  • wpa-psk

• password: password for the network (required if wpa-psk or sae is used)

type: dummy

Dummy network interface, nm (NetworkManager) is the only supported network_provider for this type.

autoconnect

By default, profiles are created with autoconnect enabled.

• For NetworkManager, this corresponds to the connection.autoconnect property.

• For initscripts, this corresponds to the ONBOOT property.

autoconnect_retries

The number of times a connection should be tried when autoactivating before giving up. Zero means forever, -1 means the global default in NetworkManager (4 times if not overridden). Setting this to 1 means to try activation only once before blocking autoconnect. Note that after a timeout, NetworkManager will try to autoconnect again.

• For NetworkManager, this corresponds to the connection.autoconnect-retries property.

mac

The mac address is optional and restricts the profile to be usable only on devices with the given MAC address. mac is only allowed for type ethernet or infiniband to match a non-virtual device with the profile. The value of the mac address needs to be specified in hexadecimal notation using colons (for example: mac: "00:00:5e:00:53:5d"). To avoid YAML parsing mac addresses as integers in sexagesimal (base 60) notation (see https://yaml.org/spec/1.1/#id858600), it is recommended to always quote the value with double quotes and sometimes it is necessary.

• For NetworkManager, mac is the permanent MAC address, ethernet.mac-address.

• For initscripts, mac is the currently configured MAC address of the device (HWADDR).

cloned_mac

The cloned_mac address is optional and allow to specify the strategy to get the default mac or to set your own mac. The value of the cloned_mac address needs to be specified in hexadecimal notation like mac property. Besides explicitly specifying the value as a MAC address with hexadecimal notation, the following special values are also supported:

• default: honor the default behavior in NetworkManager
• permanent: use the permanent MAC address of the device
• preserve: don't change the MAC address of the device upon activation
• random: generate a randomized value upon each connect
• stable: generate a stable, hashed MAC address

mtu

The mtu option denotes the maximum transmission unit for the profile's device. The maximum value depends on the device. For virtual devices, the maximum value of the mtu option depends on the underlying device.

interface_name

For the ethernet and infiniband types, the interface_name option restricts the profile to the given interface by name. This argument is optional and by default the profile name is used unless a mac address is specified using the mac key. Specifying an empty string ("") means that the profile is not restricted to a network interface.

Note: With persistent interface naming, the interface is predictable based on the hardware configuration. Otherwise, the mac address might be an option.

For virtual interface types such as bridges, the interface_name is the name of the created interface. In case of a missing interface_name, the name of the profile name is used.

Note: The name (the profile name) and the interface_name (the device name) may be different or the profile may not be tied to an interface at all.

match

Settings to specify devices or systems matching a profile. Currently, only the path setting is implemented.

The settings support a list of patterns which support the following modifiers and wildcards:

Special modifiers for match settings:

• |, the element is an alternative, the match evaluates to be true if at least one of the alternatives matches (logical OR). By default, an element is an alternative. This means that an element foo behaves the same as |foo

• &, the element is mandatory, the match evaluates to be true if all the element matches (logical AND)

• !, an element can also be inverted with exclamation mark (!) between the pipe symbol (or the ampersand) and before the pattern. Note that !foo is a shortcut for the mandatory match &!foo

• \, a backslash can be used at the beginning of the element (after the optional special characters) to escape the start of the pattern. For example, &\!a is an mandatory match for literally !a

Wildcard patterns for match Settings: In general these work like shell globs.

• *, matches zero or more of any character
• ?, matches any single character
• [fo] - matches any single f or o character - also supports ranges - [0-9] will match any single digit character

path

The path setting is a list of patterns to match against the ID_PATH udev property of devices. The ID_PATH udev property represents the persistent path of a device. It consists of a subsystem string (pci, usb, platform, etc.) and a subsystem-specific identifier. The ID_PATH of a device can be obtained with the command udevadm info /sys/class/net/$dev | grep ID_PATH= or by looking at the path property exported by NetworkManager (nmcli -f general.path device show $dev). The path setting is optional and restricts the profile to be activated only on devices with a matching ID_PATH. The path setting is only supported for ethernet or infiniband profiles. It supports modifiers and wildcards as described for match settings.

zone

The zone option sets the firewalld zone for the interface.

Ports to the bridge, bond or team devices cannot specify a zone.

ip

The IP configuration supports the following options:

• address Manual addressing can be specified via a list of addresses under the address option.

• auto_gateway

  If enabled, a default route will be configured using the default gateway. If disabled, the default route will be removed.

  If this variable is not specified, the role will use the default behavior of the network_provider selected.

  Setting this option to false is equivalent to:

  • DEFROUTE = no in initscripts, or
  • ipv4.never-default/ipv6.never-default yes in nmcli

• dhcp4, auto6, and ipv6_disabled

  Also, manual addressing can be specified by setting either dhcp4 or auto6. The dhcp4 key is for DHCPv4 and auto6 for StateLess Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC). Note that the dhcp4 and auto6 keys can be omitted and the default key depends on the presence of manual addresses. ipv6_disabled can be set to disable ipv6 for the connection.

• dhcp4_send_hostname

  If dhcp4 is enabled, it can be configured whether the DHCPv4 request includes the hostname via the dhcp4_send_hostname option. Note that dhcp4_send_hostname is only supported by the nm provider and corresponds to ipv4.dhcp-send-hostname property.

• dns

  Manual DNS configuration can be specified via a list of addresses given in the dns option.

• dns_search

  Manual DNS configuration can be specified via a list of domains to search given in the dns_search option.

• dns_options

  dns_options is only supported for the NetworkManager provider. Manual DNS configuration via a list of DNS options can be given in the dns_options. The list of supported DNS options for IPv4 nameservers is described in man 5 resolv.conf. Currently, the list of supported DNS options is:

  • attempts:n
  • debug
  • edns0
  • inet6
  • ip6-bytestring
  • ip6-dotint
  • ndots:n
  • no-aaaa
  • no-check-names
  • no-ip6-dotint
  • no-reload
  • no-tld-query
  • rotate
  • single-request
  • single-request-reopen
  • timeout:n
  • trust-ad
  • use-vc

  Note: The "trust-ad" setting is only honored if the profile contributes name servers to resolv.conf, and if all contributing profiles have "trust-ad" enabled. When using a caching DNS plugin (dnsmasq or systemd-resolved in NetworkManager.conf) then "edns0" and "trust-ad" are automatically added.

• dns_priority

  DNS servers priority. The relative priority for DNS servers specified by this setting. The default value is 0, a lower numerical value has higher priority. The valid value of dns_priority ranges from -2147483648 to 2147483647. Negative values have the special effect of excluding other configurations with a greater numerical priority value; so in presence of at least one negative priority, only DNS servers from connections with the lowest priority value will be used.

• gateway4 and gateway6

  The default gateway for IPv4 (gateway4) or IPv6 (gateway6) packets.

• wait_ip

  The property controls whether the system should wait for a specific IP stack to be configured before considering the connection activated. It can be set to "any", "ipv4","ipv6," or "ipv4+ipv6". When set to "any," the system considers the connection activated when any IP stack is configured. "ipv4" ensures the system waits for IPv4 configuration, while "ipv6" ensures the system waits for IPv6 configuration. The "ipv4+ipv6" option requires both IPv4 and IPv6 to be configured before the connection is considered activated.

• ipv4_ignore_auto_dns and ipv6_ignore_auto_dns

  If enabled, the automatically configured name servers and search domains (via DHCPv4, DHCPv6, modem etc) for IPv4 or IPv6 are ignored, only the name servers and search domains specified in dns and dns_search properties are used. The settings are distinguished by the address families. The variables are not supported by initscripts provider.

  If the variables are not specified, the role will use the default behavior of nm provider.

• route_metric4 and route_metric6

  For NetworkManager, route_metric4 and route_metric6 corresponds to the ipv4.route-metric and ipv6.route-metric properties, respectively. If specified, it determines the route metric for DHCP assigned routes and the default route, and thus the priority for multiple interfaces. For initscripts, route_metric4 sets the metric for the default route and route_metric6 is not supported.

• route

  Static route configuration can be specified via a list of routes given in the route option. The default value is an empty list. Each route is a dictionary with the following entries: gateway, metric, network, prefix, src, table and type. network and prefix specify the destination network. src specifies the source IP address for a route. table supports both the numeric table and named table. In order to specify the named table, the users have to ensure the named table is properly defined in /etc/iproute2/rt_tables or /etc/iproute2/rt_tables.d/*.conf. The optional type key supports the values blackhole, prohibit, and unreachable. See man 8 ip-route for their definition. Routes with these types do not support a gateway. If the type is not specified, the route is considered as a unicast route. Note that the classless inter-domain routing(CIDR) notation or the network mask notation are not supported for the network key.

• routing_rule

  The policy routing rules can be specified via a list of rules given in the routing_rule option, which allow routing the packets on other packet fields except for destination address. The default value is a an empty list. Each rule is a dictionary with the following entries:

  • priority - The priority of the rule. A valid priority ranges from 0 to 4294967295. Higher number means lower priority.
  • action - The action of the rule. The possible values are to-table (default), blackhole, prohibit, unreachable.
  • dport- The range of the destination port (e.g. 1000 - 2000). A valid dport value for both start and end ranges from 0 to 65534. And the start cannot be greater than the end.
  • family - The IP family of the rule. The possible values are ipv4 and ipv6.
  • from - The source address of the packet to match (e.g. 192.168.100.58/24).
  • fwmark - The fwmark value of the packet to match.
  • fwmask - The fwmask value of the packet to match.
  • iif - Select the incoming interface name to match.
  • invert - Invert the selected match of the rule. The possible values are boolean values true and false (default). If the value is true, this is equivalent to match any packet that not satisfying selected match of the rule.
  • ipproto - Select the IP protocol value to match, the valid value ranges from 1 to 255.
  • oif - Select the outgoing interface name to match.
  • sport - The range of the source port (e.g. 1000 - 2000). A valid sport value for both start and end ranges from 0 to 65534. And the start cannot be greater than the end.
  • suppress_prefixlength - Reject routing decisions that have a prefix length of the specified or less.
  • table - The route table to look up for the to-table action. table supports both the numeric table and named table. In order to specify the named table, the users have to ensure the named table is properly defined in /etc/iproute2/rt_tables or /etc/iproute2/rt_tables.d/*.conf.
  • to - The destination address of the packet to match (e.g. 192.168.100.58/24).
  • tos - Select the tos value to match.
  • uid - The range of the uid to match (e.g. 1000 - 2000). A valid uid value for both start and end ranges from 0 to 4294967295. And the start cannot be greater than the end.

• route_append_only

  The route_append_only option allows only to add new routes to the existing routes on the system.

  If the route_append_only boolean option is set to true, the specified routes are appended to the existing routes. If route_append_only is set to false (default), the current routes are replaced. Note that setting route_append_only to true without setting route has the effect of preserving the current static routes.

• rule_append_only

  The rule_append_only boolean option allows to preserve the current routing rules.

Note: When route_append_only or rule_append_only is not specified, the network role deletes the current routes or routing rules.

Note: Ports to the bridge, bond or team devices cannot specify ip settings.

ethtool

The ethtool settings allow to enable or disable various features. The names correspond to the names used by the ethtool utility. Depending on the actual kernel and device, changing some options might not be supported.

The ethtool configuration supports the following options:

• ring

  Changes the rx/tx ring parameters of the specified network device. The list of supported ring parameters is:

  • rx - Changes the number of ring entries for the Rx ring.
  • rx-jumbo - Changes the number of ring entries for the Rx Jumbo ring.
  • rx-mini - Changes the number of ring entries for the Rx Mini ring.
  • tx - Changes the number of ring entries for the Tx ring.

  ethtool:
    features:
      esp_hw_offload: true|false  # optional
      esp_tx_csum_hw_offload: true|false  # optional
      fcoe_mtu: true|false  # optional
      gro: true|false  # optional
      gso: true|false  # optional
      highdma: true|false  # optional
      hw_tc_offload: true|false  # optional
      l2_fwd_offload: true|false  # optional
      loopback: true|false  # optional
      lro: true|false  # optional
      ntuple: true|false  # optional
      rx: true|false  # optional
      rx_all: true|false  # optional
      rx_fcs: true|false  # optional
      rx_gro_hw: true|false  # optional
      rx_udp_tunnel_port_offload: true|false  # optional
      rx_vlan_filter: true|false  # optional
      rx_vlan_stag_filter: true|false  # optional
      rx_vlan_stag_hw_parse: true|false  # optional
      rxhash: true|false  # optional
      rxvlan: true|false  # optional
      sg: true|false  # optional
      tls_hw_record: true|false  # optional
      tls_hw_tx_offload: true|false  # optional
      tso: true|false  # optional
      tx: true|false  # optional
      tx_checksum_fcoe_crc: true|false  # optional
      tx_checksum_ip_generic: true|false  # optional
      tx_checksum_ipv4: true|false  # optional
      tx_checksum_ipv6: true|false  # optional
      tx_checksum_sctp: true|false  # optional
      tx_esp_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_fcoe_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_gre_csum_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_gre_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_gso_partial: true|false  # optional
      tx_gso_robust: true|false  # optional
      tx_ipxip4_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_ipxip6_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_nocache_copy: true|false  # optional
      tx_scatter_gather: true|false  # optional
      tx_scatter_gather_fraglist: true|false  # optional
      tx_sctp_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_tcp_ecn_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_tcp_mangleid_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_tcp_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_tcp6_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_udp_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_udp_tnl_csum_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_udp_tnl_segmentation: true|false  # optional
      tx_vlan_stag_hw_insert: true|false  # optional
      txvlan: true|false  # optional
    coalesce:
      adaptive_rx: true|false  # optional
      adaptive_tx: true|false  # optional
      pkt_rate_high: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      pkt_rate_low: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_frames: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_frames_high: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_frames_irq: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_frames_low: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_usecs: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_usecs_high: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_usecs_irq: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_usecs_low: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      sample_interval: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      stats_block_usecs: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_frames: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_frames_high: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_frames_irq: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_frames_low: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_usecs: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_usecs_high: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_usecs_irq: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx_usecs_low: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
    ring:
      rx: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_jumbo: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      rx_mini: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff
      tx: 0  # optional mininum=0 maximum=0xffffffff

ieee802_1x

Configures 802.1x authentication for an interface.

Currently, NetworkManager is the only supported provider and EAP-TLS is the only supported EAP method.

SSL certificates and keys must be deployed on the host prior to running the role.

• eap

  The allowed EAP method to be used when authenticating to the network with 802.1x.

  Currently, tls is the default and the only accepted value.

• identity (required)

  Identity string for EAP authentication methods.

• private_key (required)

  Absolute path to the client's PEM or PKCS#12 encoded private key used for 802.1x authentication.

• private_key_password

  Password to the private key specified in private_key.

• private_key_password_flags

  List of flags to configure how the private key password is managed.

  Multiple flags may be specified.

  Valid flags are:

  • none
  • agent-owned
  • not-saved
  • not-required

  See NetworkManager documentation on "Secret flag types" more details (man 5 nm-settings).

• client_cert (required)

  Absolute path to the client's PEM encoded certificate used for 802.1x authentication.

• ca_cert

  Absolute path to the PEM encoded certificate authority used to verify the EAP server.

• ca_path

  Absolute path to directory containing additional pem encoded ca certificates used to verify the EAP server. Can be used instead of or in addition to ca_cert. Cannot be used if system_ca_certs is enabled.

• system_ca_certs

  If set to true, NetworkManager will use the system's trusted ca certificates to verify the EAP server.

• domain_suffix_match

  If set, NetworkManager will ensure the domain name of the EAP server certificate matches this string.

bond

The bond setting configures the options of bonded interfaces (type bond). See the kernel documentation for bonding or your distribution nmcli documentation for valid values. It supports the following options:

• mode

  Bonding mode. The possible values are balance-rr (default), active-backup, balance-xor, broadcast, 802.3ad, balance-tlb, or balance-alb.

• ad_actor_sys_prio

  In 802.3ad bonding mode, this specifies the system priority. The valid range is 1 - 65535.

• ad_actor_system

  In 802.3ad bonding mode, this specifies the system mac-address for the actor in protocol packet exchanges (LACPDUs).

• ad_select

  This option specifies the 802.3ad aggregation selection logic to use. The possible values are: stable, bandwidth, count.

• ad_user_port_key

  In 802.3ad bonding mode, this defines the upper 10 bits of the port key. The allowed range for the value is 0 - 1023.

• all_ports_active

  all_slaves_active <!--- wokeignore:rule=slave ---> in kernel and NetworkManager. The boolean value false drops the duplicate frames (received on inactive ports) and the boolean value true delivers the duplicate frames.

• arp_all_targets

  This option specifies the quantity of arp_ip_targets that must be reachable in order for the ARP monitor to consider a port as being up. The possible values are any or all.

• arp_interval

  This option specifies the ARP link monitoring frequency in milliseconds. A value of 0 disables ARP monitoring.

• arp_validate

  In any mode that supports arp monitoring, this option specifies whether or not ARP probes and replies should be validated. Or for link monitoring purposes, whether non-ARP traffic should be filtered (disregarded). The possible values are: none, active, backup, all, filter, filter_active, filter_backup.

• arp_ip_target

  When arp_interval is enabled, this option specifies the IP addresses to use as ARP monitoring peers.

• downdelay

  The time to wait (in milliseconds) before disabling a port after a link failure has been detected.

• fail_over_mac

  This option specifies the policy to select the MAC address for the bond interface in active-backup mode. The possible values are: none (default), active, follow.

• lacp_rate

  In 802.3ad bonding mode, this option defines the rate in which we requst link partner to transmit LACPDU packets. The possible values are: slow, fast.

• lp_interval

  This option specifies the number of seconds between instances where the bonding driver sends learning packets to each ports peer switch.

• miimon

  Sets the MII link monitoring interval (in milliseconds).

• min_links

  This option specifies the minimum number of links that must be active before asserting the carrier.

• num_grat_arp

  This option specify the number of peer notifications (gratuitious ARPs) to be issued after a failover event. The allowed range for the value is 0 - 255.

• packets_per_port

  In balance-rr bonding mode, this option specifies the number of packets allowed for a port in network transmission before moving to the next one. The allowed range for the value is 0 - 65535.

• peer_notif_delay

  This option specifies the delay (in milliseconds) between each peer notification when they are issued after a failover event.

• primary

  This option defines the primary device.

• primary_reselect

  This option specifies the reselection policy for the primary port. The possible values are: always, better, failure.

• resend_igmp

  This option specifies the number of IGMP membership reports to be issued after a failover event. The allowed range for the value is 0 - 255.

• tlb_dynamic_lb

  This option specifies if dynamic shuffling of flows is enabled in tlb mode. The boolean value true enables the flow shuffling while the boolean value false disables it.

• updelay

  This option specifies the time (in milliseconds) to wait before enabling a port after a link recovery has been detected.

• use_carrier

  This options specifies whether or not miimon should use MII or ETHTOOL ioctls versus netif_carrier_ok() to determine the link sattus. The boolean value true enables the use of netif_carrier_ok() while the boolean value false uses MII or ETHTOOL ioctls instead.

• xmit_hash_policy

  This option specifies the transmit hash policy to use for port selection, the possible values are: layer2, layer3+4, layer2+3, encap2+3, encap3+4, vlan+srcmac.

Examples of Options

Setting the same connection profile multiple times:

network_connections:
  - name: Wired0
    type: ethernet
    interface_name: eth0
    ip:
      dhcp4: true

  - name: Wired0
    state: up

Activating a preexisting connection profile:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    state: up

Deactivating a preexisting connection profile:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    state: down

Creating a persistent connection profile:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    #persistent_state: present  # default
    type: ethernet
    autoconnect: true
    mac: "00:00:5e:00:53:5d"
    ip:
      dhcp4: true

Specifying a connecting profile for an ethernet device with the ID_PATH:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    type: ethernet
    # For PCI devices, the path has the form "pci-$domain:$bus:$device.$function"
    # The profile will only match the interface at the PCI address pci-0000:00:03.0
    match:
      path:
        - pci-0000:00:03.0
    ip:
      address:
        - 192.0.2.3/24

  - name: eth0
    type: ethernet
    # Specifying a connecting profile for an ethernet device only with the PCI address
    # pci-0000:00:01.0 or pci-0000:00:03.0
    match:
      path:
        - pci-0000:00:0[1-3].0
        - &!pci-0000:00:02.0
    ip:
      address:
        - 192.0.2.3/24

Deleting a connection profile named eth0 (if it exists):

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    persistent_state: absent

Configuring the Ethernet link settings:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    type: ethernet

    ethernet:
      autoneg: false
      speed: 1000
      duplex: full

Creating a bridge connection:

network_connections:
  - name: br0
    type: bridge
    #interface_name: br0  # defaults to the connection name

Configuring a bridge connection:

network_connections:
  - name: internal-br0
    interface_name: br0
    type: bridge
    ip:
      dhcp4: false
      auto6: false

Setting controller and port_type:

network_connections:
  - name: br0-bond0
    type: bond
    interface_name: bond0
    controller: internal-br0
    port_type: bridge

  - name: br0-bond0-eth1
    type: ethernet
    interface_name: eth1
    controller: br0-bond0
    port_type: bond

Configuring VLANs:

network_connections:
  - name: eth1-profile
    autoconnect: false
    type: ethernet
    interface_name: eth1
    ip:
      dhcp4: false
      auto6: false

  - name: eth1.6
    autoconnect: false
    type: vlan
    parent: eth1-profile
    vlan:
      id: 6
    ip:
      address:
        - 192.0.2.5/24
      auto6: false

Configuring MACVLAN:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0-profile
    type: ethernet
    interface_name: eth0
    ip:
      address:
        - 192.168.0.1/24

  - name: veth0
    type: macvlan
    parent: eth0-profile
    macvlan:
      mode: bridge
      promiscuous: true
      tap: false
    ip:
      address:
        - 192.168.1.1/24

Configuring a wireless connection:

network_connections:
  - name: wlan0
    type: wireless
    wireless:
      ssid: "My WPA2-PSK Network"
      key_mgmt: "wpa-psk"
      # recommend vault encrypting the wireless password
      # see https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/vault.html
      password: "p@55w0rD"

Setting the IP configuration:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    type: ethernet
    ip:
      route_metric4: 100
      dhcp4: false
      #dhcp4_send_hostname: false
      gateway4: 192.0.2.1

      dns:
        - 192.0.2.2
        - 198.51.100.5
      dns_search:
        - example.com
        - subdomain.example.com
      dns_options:
        - rotate
        - timeout:1

      route_metric6: -1
      auto6: false
      gateway6: 2001:db8::1

      address:
        - 192.0.2.3/24
        - 198.51.100.3/26
        - 2001:db8::80/7

      route:
        - network: 198.51.100.128
          prefix: 26
          gateway: 198.51.100.1
          metric: 2
        - network: 198.51.100.64
          prefix: 26
          gateway: 198.51.100.6
          metric: 4
      route_append_only: false
      rule_append_only: true

Configuring 802.1x:

network_connections:
  - name: eth0
    type: ethernet
    ieee802_1x:
      identity: myhost
      eap: tls
      private_key: /etc/pki/tls/client.key
      # recommend vault encrypting the private key password
      # see https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/vault.html
      private_key_password: "p@55w0rD"
      client_cert: /etc/pki/tls/client.pem
      ca_cert: /etc/pki/tls/cacert.pem
      domain_suffix_match: example.com

Configuring Enhanced Open(OWE):

network_connections:
  - name: wlan0
    type: wireless
    wireless:
      ssid: "WIFI_SSID"
      key_mgmt: "owe"

Examples of Applying the Network State Configuration

Configuring the IP addresses:

network_state:
  interfaces:
    - name: ethtest0
      type: ethernet
      state: up
      ipv4:
        enabled: true
        address:
          - ip: 192.168.122.250
            prefix-length: 24
        dhcp: false
      ipv6:
        enabled: true
        address:
          - ip: 2001:db8::1:1
            prefix-length: 64
        autoconf: false
        dhcp: false
    - name: ethtest1
      type: ethernet
      state: up
      ipv4:
        enabled: true
        address:
          - ip: 192.168.100.192
            prefix-length: 24
        auto-dns: false
        dhcp: false
      ipv6:
        enabled: true
        address:
          - ip: 2001:db8::2:1
            prefix-length: 64
        autoconf: false
        dhcp: false

Configuring the Linux bridge with custom multicast, stp options, along with a port with specific stp settings:

network_state:
  interfaces:
    - name: br0
      type: linux-bridge
      state: up
      bridge:
        options:
          gc-timer: 29657
          group-addr: 01:80:C2:00:00:00
          group-forward-mask: 0
          group-fwd-mask: 0
          hash-max: 4096
          hello-timer: 0
          mac-ageing-time: 300
          multicast-last-member-count: 2
          multicast-last-member-interval: 100
          multicast-membership-interval: 26000
          multicast-querier: false
          multicast-querier-interval: 25500
          multicast-query-interval: 12500
          multicast-query-response-interval: 1000
          multicast-query-use-ifaddr: false
          multicast-router: auto
          multicast-snooping: true
          multicast-startup-query-count: 2
          multicast-startup-query-interval: 3125
          stp:
            enabled: false
            forward-delay: 15
            hello-time: 2
            max-age: 20
            priority: 32768
          vlan-protocol: 802.1q
        port:
          - name: eth1
            stp-hairpin-mode: false
            stp-path-cost: 100
            stp-priority: 32

Configuring the route:

network_state:
  interfaces:
    - name: eth1
      type: ethernet
      state: up
      ipv4:
        enabled: true
        address:
          - ip: 192.0.2.251
            prefix-length: 24
        dhcp: false

  routes:
    config:
      - destination: 198.51.100.0/24
        metric: 150
        next-hop-address: 192.0.2.251
        next-hop-interface: eth1
        table-id: 254

Configuring the DNS search and server:

network_state:
  dns-resolver:
    config:
      search:
        - example.com
        - example.org
      server:
        - 2001:4860:4860::8888
        - 8.8.8.8

Invalid and Wrong Configuration

The network role rejects invalid configurations. It is recommended to test the role with --check first. There is no protection against wrong (but valid) configuration. Double-check your configuration before applying it.

network_connections Internal Module

The network_connections internal module is intended for internal use or integration testing and is not intended for direct external access or use. When this internal module is utilized in integration tests, the tasks specified in tasks/main.yaml are skipped, thereby speeding up the test execution.

Compatibility

The network role supports the same configuration scheme for both providers (nm and initscripts). That means, you can use the same playbook with NetworkManager and initscripts. However, note that not every option is handled exactly the same by every provider. Do a test run first with --check.

It is not supported to create a configuration for one provider, and expect another provider to handle them. For example, creating profiles with the initscripts provider, and later enabling NetworkManager is not guaranteed to work automatically. Possibly, you have to adjust the configuration so that it can be used by another provider.

For example, configuring a RHEL6 host with initscripts and upgrading to RHEL7 while continuing to use initscripts in RHEL7 is an acceptable scenario. What is not guaranteed is to upgrade to RHEL7, disable initscripts and expect NetworkManager to take over the configuration automatically.

Depending on NetworkManager's configuration, connections may be stored as ifcfg files as well, but it is not guaranteed that plain initscripts can handle these ifcfg files after disabling the NetworkManager service.

The network role also supports configuring in certain Ansible distributions that the role treats like RHEL, such as AlmaLinux, CentOS, OracleLinux, Rocky.

Limitations

As Ansible usually works via the network, for example via SSH, there are some limitations to be considered:

The network role does not support bootstraping networking configuration. One option may be ansible-pull. Another option maybe be to initially auto-configure the host during installation (ISO based, kickstart, etc.), so that the host is connected to a management LAN or VLAN. It strongly depends on your environment.

For initscripts provider, deploying a profile merely means to create the ifcfg files. Nothing happens automatically until the play issues ifup or ifdown via the up or down states -- unless there are other components that rely on the ifcfg files and react on changes.

The initscripts provider requires the different profiles to be in the right order when they depend on each other. For example the bonding controller device needs to be specified before the port devices.

When removing a profile for NetworkManager it also takes the connection down and possibly removes virtual interfaces. With the initscripts provider removing a profile does not change its current runtime state (this is a future feature for NetworkManager as well).

For NetworkManager, modifying a connection with autoconnect enabled may result in the activation of a new profile on a previously disconnected interface. Also, deleting a NetworkManager connection that is currently active results in removing the interface. Therefore, the order of the steps should be followed, and carefully handling of autoconnect property may be necessary. This should be improved in NetworkManager RFE rh#1401515.

It seems difficult to change networking of the target host in a way that breaks the current SSH connection of ansible. If you want to do that, ansible-pull might be a solution. Alternatively, a combination of async/poll with changing the ansible_host midway of the play.

TODO The current role does not yet support to easily split the play in a pre-configure step, and a second step to activate the new configuration.

In general, to successfully run the play, determine which configuration is active in the first place, and then carefully configure a sequence of steps to change to the new configuration. The actual solution depends strongly on your environment.

Handling potential problems

When something goes wrong while configuring networking remotely, you might need to get physical access to the machine to recover.

TODO NetworkManager supports a checkpoint/rollback feature. At the beginning of the play we could create a checkpoint and if we lose connectivity due to an error, NetworkManager would automatically rollback after timeout. The limitations is that this would only work with NetworkManager, and it is not clear that rollback will result in a working configuration.

Want to contribute? Take a look at our contributing guidelines!

rpm-ostree

See README-ostree.md