nwam

- network auto-magic configuration management

Description

Network configuration can be managed automatically, according to default policy rules defined by the system, or to user-defined policy rules. This management is performed by the nwamd daemon.

The NWAM facility is provided by the network/physical:default SMF service. NWAM configuration management is enabled if the netcfg/active_ncp property is set to the name of an NWAM NCP. Alternatively, traditional network configuration is performed if the netcfg/active_ncp property is set to DefaultFixed.

Operation

The default configuration policy, implemented in the Automatic NCP, is to have all physically connected Ethernet links active; if no Ethernet links are available, a single wireless link is made active. DHCP is used to obtain IP addresses for all active links. This default policy can be changed by creating alternate Network Configuration Profiles (NCPs). The nwam-manager GUI tool or the nwamd(1M) command can be used to create and modify NCPs.

If you used an earlier version of the NWAM service, which created an /etc/nwam/llp configuration file, configuration present in that file is automatically incorporated into the User NCP upon upgrade to the current version of the NWAM service.

The automatic behavior provided by the NWAM facility requires that management of the network configuration be handed over to the NWAM service. Any manual changes to the network configuration might be lost if conditions change such that a new profile is activated, or if the NWAM service is restarted. If persistent changes are desired, the recommended approach is to create an External Network Modifier (ENM), which can be activated and deactivated as needed by the NWAM service.

Service Properties

The following list takes the form:

property_group/property_name property_type default_value

Description

nwamd/debug boolean false

Enables debug logging using daemon.debug.

nwamd/autoconf boolean false

Indicates whether open WLANs should be connected automatically, in the absence of a better (more preferred) choice.

nwamd/ncu_wait_time count 60

The number of seconds to wait for an NCU (or link/interface NCU pair, as appropriate) to come up before trying the next available NCU. The bringup activity is not cancelled, and might eventually succeed, at which time the more preferred NCU is activated and the alternate might be disabled, depending on the specified configuration conditions.

nwamd/condition_check_interval count 120

The number of seconds between periodic condition checks for conditionally activated objects. Minimum value is 30 seconds.

nwamd/scan_interval count 120

The number of seconds between periodic wireless scans.

nwamd/scan_level astring weak

A signal strength threshold; if the currently connected AP drops below this signal level, and equivalent APs (of the same ESSID) are available at higher signal strength, the existing connection is dropped in favor of a connection to an AP with stronger signal.

nwamd/strict_bssid boolean false

If true, both ESSID and BSSID must be matched in order to connect to a previously connected WLAN. If false, only an ESSID match is required.

netcfg/active_ncp astring Automatic

The currently active NCP. This property should not be set by the user; it is used internally by the NWAM service for persistence across restarts. The appropriate user interface to change the currently active NCP is by means of the nwam-manager GUI or the netadm command's enable subcommand.

Enabling the reserved NCP name DefaultFixed disables the NWAM automatic configuration management and enables traditional, fixed network configuration.

Attributes

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

See Also

svcs(1), netcfgd(1M), nwamd(1M), svadm(1M), attributes(5), smf(5)

See also nwam-manager(1M), available in the JDS/GNOME man page collection.

Notes

The networking service is managed by the service management facility, smf(5), under the service identifier:

svc:/network/physical:default

Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or requesting restart, can be performed using svadm(1M). The service's status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.