1.2. Configuring and Inspecting Network Access

The network access is usually configured during the installation process. However, the installation process does not prompt you to configure network interfaces on some common installation paths. Consequently, it is possible that the network access is not configured after the installation. If this happens, you can configure network access after installation.
For a quickstart to configuring network access during the installation, see Section 1.2.1, “Configuring Network Access During the Installation Process”. To configure network access after the installation, you can use either the nmcli command-line utility, described in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Networking Guide or the nmtui text user interface utility, described in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Networking Guide.
The nmcli and nmtui utilities also enable you to add one or more new network connections, as well as modify and inspect the existing connections. If you want to create and manage network connections with nmcli, see Section 1.2.2, “Managing Network Connections After the Installation Process Using nmcli”. If you want to create and manage network connections with nmtui, see Section 1.2.3, “Managing Network Connections After the Installation Process Using nmtui”.

1.2.1. Configuring Network Access During the Installation Process

Ways to configure network access during the installation proces:
  • The Network & Hostname menu at the Installation Summary screen in the graphical user interface of the Anaconda installation program
  • The Network settings option in the text mode of the Anaconda installation program
  • The Kickstart file
When the system boots for the first time after the installation has finished, any network interfaces which you configured during the installation are automatically activated.
For detailed information on configuration of network access during installation process, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Installation Guide.

1.2.2. Managing Network Connections After the Installation Process Using nmcli

Run the following commands as the root user to manage network connections using the nmcli utility.
To create a new connection: 
~]# nmcli con add type type of the connection "con-name" connection name  ifname ifname interface-name the name of the interface ipv4 address ipv4 address gw4 address gateway address
To modify the existing connection: 
~]# nmcli con mod "con-name"
To display all connections: 
~]# nmcli con show
To display the active connection: 
~]# nmcli con show --active
To display all configuration settings of a particular connection: 
~]# nmcli con show "con-name"
For more information on the nmcli command-line utility, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Networking Guide.

1.2.3. Managing Network Connections After the Installation Process Using nmtui

The NetworkManager text user interface (TUI) utility, nmtui, provides a text interface to configure networking by controlling NetworkManager.
For more information about installing and using the nmtui text interface tool, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Networking Guide.

1.2.4. Managing Networking in Cockpit

In Cockpit, the Networking menu enables you:
  • To display currently received and sent packets
  • To display the most important characteristics of available network interfaces
  • To display content of the networking logs.
  • To add various types of network interfaces (bond, team, bridge, VLAN)
Managing Networking in Cockpit

Figure 1.1. Managing Networking in Cockpit