Can't avoid installing NetworkManager through kickstart on RHEL7

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Hi,

I referred to the solution from https://access.redhat.com/solutions/102823. adding "-NetworkManager" does not work. What would make it skip installing NetworkManager during installation through kickstart method? Any help is appreciated.

Regards,

AS
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Responses

James Radtke's picture Red Hat Guru 7081 points
13 May 2015 5:21 PM

This has been discussed a few times on the forum. However, I do not know if we really came to any concrete conclusion.

https://access.redhat.com/discussions/644133

I believe that the consensus was that it was necessary, even it seemed as though it was not
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/sec-NetworkManager_and_the_Network_Scripts.html
"Although NetworkManager provides the default networking service,"

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/Network
"Anaconda is communicating with NetworkManager mostly with ifcfg files " -- It is inconclusive if that means that NM has to be there, or not.

SW Red Hat Guru 4022 points
14 May 2015 7:11 AM

Hello

Note that the solution linked to in the OP is tagged as RHEL5 and 6, not 7. Note also that the developers have made many improvements to NetworkManager for RHEL7 to make it less intrusive.

I know almost nothing about Anaconda, but in RHEL7 I was told there is a kick start file command:

services --disabled=NetworkManager --enabled=network

which does:

systemctl disable NetworkManager
systemctl enable network

That would not prevent it being restarted over D-Bus, for that you would need:

systemctl mask NetworkManager

I believe that in scripts you should add the ".service"

R. Hinton's picture Guru 6827 points
14 May 2015 10:00 AM

Thanks Stephen...

I am curious what others in a larger setting have experienced with potentially using (or not using) Network Manager.

ES Community Member 47 points
27 May 2015 1:43 PM

We are using NetworkManager in our RHEL 7 installs, though they are just being rolled out and so are not yet a "larger setting". It is much improved over the RHEL6 version (read: usable). The biggest issue I have is around static configurations with backend interfaces. By default, if the interface with the default route is brought down, the default route is moved to another interface (a backend in this case). To avoid this, you must be sure to set ipv4.never-default "yes" (ugh, double negative) or DEFROUTE=no in the ifcfg on all backend interfaces. I have a support request to be able to modify the default behavior instead.

Otherwise the experience has been good. Admins can continue to edit the ifcfgs (once created), so the learning curve is low.

AS Newbie 15 points
14 May 2015 1:29 PM

Thanks for this info, Stephen. I had had not read about services option. Will try that out and let you know if that worked. :)

Should I be using mask command in the %post section of kickstart?

SW Red Hat Guru 4022 points
14 May 2015 2:02 PM

Hello

1]
".services" is not an option, it is just part of the command, but you no longer have to enter it on the command line. In the past you did.

See Managing System Services

2]
Many do not, but test it anyway.

AS Newbie 15 points
14 May 2015 2:22 PM

:) The 'services' I mentioned was not about systemctl/services command. But that of kickstart file. Sorry for not mentioning it and creating confusion.

R. Hinton's picture Guru 6827 points
27 May 2015 2:48 PM

Disturbingly, I was able to make a bonded NIC through the gui (but that of course won't work on a server) in my own lab using RHEL workstation. I'd use the non-graphical methods that were also presented in the Red Hat class I attended for a bonded NIC for RHEL 7.

da Active Contributor 145 points
2 June 2015 6:53 PM

Add yum -y remove networkmanager in your kickstart post.

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