Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP2 - DEPLOYMENT GUIDE 08-05-2008 Deployment Manual page 645

connections without requiring root privileges. For this reason, NetworkManager is
the ideal solution for a mobile workstation.
Traditional configuration with ifup also provides some ways to switch, stop, or start
the connection with or without user intervention, like user-managed devices, but it always
requires root privileges to change or configure a network device. This is often a
problem for mobile computing, where is not possible to preconfigure all connection
possibilities.
Both traditional configuration and NetworkManager can handle network connections
with a wireless network (with WEP, WPA-PSK, and WPA-Enterprise access), dial-up,
and wired networks both using DHCP and static configuration. They also support con-
nection through VPN.
NetworkManager tries to keep your computer connected at all times using the best
connection available. If available, it uses the fastest wired connection. If the network
cable is accidentally disconnected, it tries to reconnect. It can find a network with the
best signal strength from the list of your wireless connections and automatically use it
to connect. To get the same functionality with ifup, a great deal of configuration effort
is required.
30.5.2 For More Information
Find more information about NetworkManager on the following Web sites and directo-
ries:
• http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/—NetworkMan-
ager project page
• http://en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager—Network-
Manager KNetworkManager project page
Basic Networking 629