CentOS - Jan 2017 - Reliable way of having both LAN and WIFI on headless box

On Tuesday 10 January 2017 08:53:17 John R Pierce wrote:
> On 1/9/2017 7:11 PM, fred roller wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 12:04 PM, Frank Cox<theatre at
melvilletheatre.com>
> >
> > wrote:
> >> That sounds like a weak signal from your wifi transmitter.
> >
> > Or signal interference.  Where is the antennae located on the server? 
> > Ran into signal issues with antennae which were tucked behind the
server
> > before.
>
> indeed, the back of a desktop or server system, sitting on the floor (or
> in a rack) surrounded by piles of cables, is the worst possible place
> for a 2.4GHz or 5.7GHz antenna
The server is in a rack, but the dongle is plugged in the front and is 5m from 
the HP Procurv AP that covers the whole of the first floor.

A key point I thought I had included in the OP is that this is mostly a 
problem on startup.  It does sometimes drop off during use, but mainly the 
problem  is not being able to activate it on startup.

I am a traditionalist and long for the days before NetworkManager when 
networks were much simpler to admin, and much more stable.

Is it possible to remove NetworkManager and go back to the good old days, and 
still have WIFI work properly?

NetworkManger should work pretty nice and good as required.
Just run the right cronjob every minute to make sure the connection is up or
down and find out if it's possible to reconnect.
NetworkManager is kind of does all you need automatically so you should not
do anything unless there is a technical issue.

Eliezer

----
Eliezer Croitoru
Linux System Administrator
Mobile: +972-5-28704261
Email: eliezer at ngtech.co.il


-----Original Message-----
From: CentOS [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf Of Gary Stainburn
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 11:25 AM
To: CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org>
Subject: Re: [CentOS] Reliable way of having both LAN and WIFI on headless
box

On Tuesday 10 January 2017 08:53:17 John R Pierce wrote:
> On 1/9/2017 7:11 PM, fred roller wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 12:04 PM, Frank 
> > Cox<theatre at melvilletheatre.com>
> >
> > wrote:
> >> That sounds like a weak signal from your wifi transmitter.
> >
> > Or signal interference.  Where is the antennae located on the server? 
> > Ran into signal issues with antennae which were tucked behind the 
> > server before.
>
> indeed, the back of a desktop or server system, sitting on the floor 
> (or in a rack) surrounded by piles of cables, is the worst possible 
> place for a 2.4GHz or 5.7GHz antenna
The server is in a rack, but the dongle is plugged in the front and is 5m
from the HP Procurv AP that covers the whole of the first floor.

A key point I thought I had included in the OP is that this is mostly a
problem on startup.  It does sometimes drop off during use, but mainly the
problem  is not being able to activate it on startup.

I am a traditionalist and long for the days before NetworkManager when
networks were much simpler to admin, and much more stable.

Is it possible to remove NetworkManager and go back to the good old days,
and still have WIFI work properly?
_______________________________________________
CentOS mailing list
CentOS at centos.org
https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos

I'd be looking at your logs to see if there is any indication why the
wifi does not come up during boot
> sudo journalctrl -b    # current boot
> sudo journalctrl -b -1 # previous boot
Kal


On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 7:59 AM, Eliezer  Croitoru <eliezer at
ngtech.co.il> wrote:
> NetworkManger should work pretty nice and good as required.
> Just run the right cronjob every minute to make sure the connection is up
or
> down and find out if it's possible to reconnect.
> NetworkManager is kind of does all you need automatically so you should not
> do anything unless there is a technical issue.
>
> Eliezer
>
> ----
> Eliezer Croitoru
> Linux System Administrator
> Mobile: +972-5-28704261
> Email: eliezer at ngtech.co.il
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CentOS [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf Of Gary
Stainburn
> Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 11:25 AM
> To: CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org>
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Reliable way of having both LAN and WIFI on headless
> box
>
> On Tuesday 10 January 2017 08:53:17 John R Pierce wrote:
>> On 1/9/2017 7:11 PM, fred roller wrote:
>> > On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 12:04 PM, Frank
>> > Cox<theatre at melvilletheatre.com>
>> >
>> > wrote:
>> >> That sounds like a weak signal from your wifi transmitter.
>> >
>> > Or signal interference.  Where is the antennae located on the
server?
>> > Ran into signal issues with antennae which were tucked behind the
>> > server before.
>>
>> indeed, the back of a desktop or server system, sitting on the floor
>> (or in a rack) surrounded by piles of cables, is the worst possible
>> place for a 2.4GHz or 5.7GHz antenna
>
> The server is in a rack, but the dongle is plugged in the front and is 5m
> from the HP Procurv AP that covers the whole of the first floor.
>
> A key point I thought I had included in the OP is that this is mostly a
> problem on startup.  It does sometimes drop off during use, but mainly the
> problem  is not being able to activate it on startup.
>
> I am a traditionalist and long for the days before NetworkManager when
> networks were much simpler to admin, and much more stable.
>
> Is it possible to remove NetworkManager and go back to the good old days,
> and still have WIFI work properly?
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos


-- 
Kahlil (Kal) Hodgson                       GPG: C9A02289
Chief Technology Officer                   (m) +61 (0) 4 2573 0382
Direct Pricing Exchange Pty Ltd

Suite 1415
401 Docklands Drive
Docklands VIC 3008 Australia

"All parts should go together without forcing.  You must remember that
the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you.  Therefore,
if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason.  By all
means, do not use a hammer."  -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925

On Tuesday 10 January 2017 20:59:12 Eliezer Croitoru
wrote:
> NetworkManger should work pretty nice and good as required.
> Just run the right cronjob every minute to make sure the connection is up
> or down and find out if it's possible to reconnect.
> NetworkManager is kind of does all you need automatically so you should not
> do anything unless there is a technical issue.
>
> Eliezer
Thank you for your reply, but surely the fact that I will need a cron job to 
fix a problem that never existed before NetworkManager implies that there is 
a problem with NetworkManager

Do you have any suggestions as to what the conjob should contain, presumably a 
sequence of nmcli commands.

I haven't used nmcli yet, only nmtui. The problem i have is that when I have
problems with the WIFI, the connection disappears from nmtui.