Configure network interface in Wicked

Table of Contents

In this tutorial we will not be using YaST, YaST should be pretty self explanitory as it is a GUI interface. Instead we will focus on setting up interfaces via the command line. We will focus on creating a static and dynamic configuration for a wired interface. The subnet i will be using will be 172.16.32.0/29 with the gateway of 172.16.32.6.

1. Lets go into the directory where WICKED stores network interface configurations.

				
					cd /etc/sysconfig/network/
				
			

2. Lets first get the name of our interface by running the below command.

				
					ip addr
				
			

On my openSUSE machine i get 2 interfaces listed below as lo and eth0, it may be different for you. For now, im interested in eth0 so we will use that as the name.

				
					  1: lo: mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
  link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00 inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope
  host lo valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever inet6 ::1/128 scope host
  valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever 2: eth0: mtu 1500 qdisc noop state
  DOWN group default qlen 1000 link/ether 52:54:00:e7:e5:a2 brd
  ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
				
			

3. Still in the /etc/sysconfig/network/ directory, using your favorite text editor you will create a new file using the format ifcfg-<interface name>, Ex. ifcfg-eth0.

				
					sudo vim ifcfg-eth0
				
			

In our new config, add the following as a template:

				
					BOOTPROTO=''
STARTMODE=''
ZONE=''
IPADDR=''
NETMASK=''
				
			

Static Configuration

1. Using our template, for a static configuration you will need to setup the variables as such:

				
					BOOTPROTO='static'
STARTMODE='hotplug'
ZONE='public'
IPADDR='172.16.32.5'
NETMASK='255.255.255.248'
				
			

NOTE: The ZONE variable applies to a zone in your firewall that supports firewal extension scripts such as firewalld. I am using firewalld and my zone would be public.

Save Changes.

2. Next we need to create a configuration file to put our routes for the interface.

There are 2 configuration files you can create, either a global configuration that will contain routes for all interfaces or interface specific routes. Both configuration files use the same format for routes. We will be adding an interface specific configuration. The configuration file format for the 2 are as follows:

  • Global Routes: routes
  • Interface Specific: ifroute-<interface name>

The format of the routes are as follows:

				
					Destination   [Gateway]     -         Interface
				
			

Using your favorite text editor, create the file ifroute-eth0 but using your interface name. 

				
					sudo vim ifroute-eth0
				
			

Since my default route will be 172.16.32.6, my route file will look as follows:

				
					default 172.16.32.6 - eth0
				
			

If you need to add a route for a specific host or network, instead of using default you will use the CIDR of the network:

				
					192.168.0.0/24 172.16.32.6 - eth0
				
			

Save Changes

3. Now to apply changes we need to restart the wickedd service to load the new configuration files and then bring the interface up using the wicked command.

				
					sudo systemctl restart wickedd.service
				
			

Check the status of wickedd to make sure there were no errors in the configuration file.

				
					sudo systemctl status wickedd.service
				
			

If no issues appeared, lets proceed to enabling the interface.

				
					sudo wicked ifup eth0
				
			

4. Lets see if our IP Address applied by checking our interfaces again using the ip addr command.

				
					linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> ip addr
<Omitted--Output Omitted-->;
2: eth0: mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
  link/ether 52:54:00:e7:e5:a2 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
  inet 172.16.32.5/29 brd 172.16.32.7 scope global eth0
    valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
  inet6 fe80::5054:ff:fee7:e5a2/64 scope link
    valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
				
			

Here we see that the interface state is UP and our static IP Address has been applied. Now lets check the routes using the ip route command.

				
					linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> ip route
default via 172.16.32.6 dev eth0
				
			

If everything seems good so far, lets attempt to ping an address outside of our network to make sure we have internet access. I will be pinging CloudFare’s DNS IP Address.

				
					linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> ping -c 4 1.1.1.1
PING 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=35.7 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=39.4 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=40.2 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=52 time=46.2 ms

--- 1.1.1.1 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 35.763/40.411/46.201/3.752 ms
				
			

5. So far we have everything working except out DNS Server. In the same location as we are now, using your favorite text editor, edit the file config.

				
					sudo vim config
				
			

In this file, search for the line NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SERVERS="", and add your preferred DNS Server in the quotes.

				
					NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SERVERS="1.1.1.1"
				
			

Restart wickedd.

				
					sudo systemctl restart wickedd.service
				
			

Now lets try to resolve Google.com with our DNS Server added.

				
					  linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> nslookup google.com Server:
  1.1.1.1 Address: 1.1.1.1#53 Non-authoritative answer: Name: google.com
  Address: 172.217.9.174 Name: google.com Address:
  2607:f8b0:4000:806::200e
				
			

DHCP Configuration

1. Using our template, for a DHCP configuration you will need to setup the variables as such:

				
					BOOTPROTO='dhcp' 
STARTMODE='hotplug' 
ZONE='public' 
IPADDR='' 
NETMASK=''
				
			

NOTE: The ZONE variable applies to a zone in your firewall that supports firewal extension scripts such as firewalld. I am using firewalld and my zone would be public.

Save Changes.

2. Now to apply changes we need to restart the wickedd service to load the new configuration files and then bring the interface up using the wicked command.

				
					sudo systemctl restart wickedd.service
				
			

Check the status of wickedd to make sure there were no errors in the configuration file.

				
					sudo systemctl status wickedd.service
				
			

If no issues appeared, lets proceed to enabling the interface.

				
					sudo wicked ifup eth0
				
			

3. Lets see if we received an IP Address by checking our interfaces again using the ip addr command.

				
					  linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> ip addr <--Output Omitted--> 2:
  eth0: mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000 link/ether
  52:54:00:e7:e5:a2 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff inet 172.16.32.2/29 brd 172.16.32.7
  scope global eth0 valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever inet6
  fe80::5054:ff:fee7:e5a2/64 scope link valid_lft forever preferred_lft
  forever
				
			

Here we see that the interface state is UP and our DHCP Server has leased an IP Address to our interface. Now lets check the routes using the ip route command.

				
					  linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> ip route default via 172.16.32.6
  dev eth0
				
			

If everything seems good so far, lets attept to ping an address outside of our network to make sure we have internet access. I will be pinging CloudFare’s DNS IP Address.

				
					 linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> ping -c 4 1.1.1.1 PING 1.1.1.1
  (1.1.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52
  time=35.7 ms 64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=39.4 ms 64 bytes
  from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=40.2 ms 64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=4
  ttl=52 time=46.2 ms --- 1.1.1.1 ping statistics --- 4 packets transmitted, 4
  received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev =
  35.763/40.411/46.201/3.752 ms
				
			

4. So far we have everything working except our DNS Server. In the same location as we are now, using your favorite text editor, edit the file config.

				
					sudo vim config
				
			

In this file, search for the line NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SERVERS="", and add your preferred DNS Server in the quotes.

				
					NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SERVERS="1.1.1.1"
				
			

Restart wickedd.

				
					sudo systemctl restart wickedd.service
				
			

Now lets try to resolve Google.com with our DNS Server added.

				
					  linuxman@linux-m4u5:/etc/sysconfig/network> nslookup google.com Server:
  1.1.1.1 Address: 1.1.1.1#53 Non-authoritative answer: Name: google.com
  Address: 172.217.9.174 Name: google.com Address:
  2607:f8b0:4000:806::200e
				
			

This concludes the configuration of a new interface in Wicked. For more configuration variables and interface types, reference the man pages.

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