Re: Network Manager

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005, David Donnelly wrote:
> However, having the ability to view multiple choices means that I can
> see all my neighbour's as well. I am just wondering if there is a way to
> specify a "preferred" network. My SSID is not encrypted but does not
> broadcast either. I can connect if I specify the SSID. I also would like

NetworkManager stores the ESSID and address of access points you've connected to 
before. In that sense, those networks are "preferred".  NetworkManager will 
notice your home access point during the wireless scans, and attempt to connect 
to it automatically when you start up your laptop.  If it cannot see your home 
access point (wireless scanning won't show every access point every time) it 
will search for another one, or wait until it can see yours.

Non-ESSID broadcasting access points are a bit harder to work with, but not 
impossible.  A scan will always show the access point's MAC (ethernet) address, 
but not the ESSID.  Therefore, if you've used "Connect to other wireless 
network" from the applet at least once, NM stores the MAC address of the access 
point and can connect automatically to it as well, even if its not broadcasting 
its ESSID.

So to deal with your problem, don't connect to neighbors (you may need to clear 
out the GConf keys for your neighbors' access points), and connect to yours at 
least once using the menu.  NM should automatically connect thereafter.

> to know if I can automate the connection process on boot that it trys to
> connect to my SSID. The Network Manager Daemon starts but I need to run
> "NetworkManagerInfo" from the console to start a scan. I would like this
> process to start automatically if possible. When I do run the command,
> it connects to my neighbour even though I was last connected to my own
> access point.

NetworkManagerInfo provides NM with the list of "allowed" (preferred) access 
points, without which NM will refuse to connect to any wireless network. The 
best way to do this is to add it to your GNOME session, or to add it to the 
"Startup Programs" tab in the gnome-session-properties application.  NMI should 
then start up automatically each time you log into GNOME.

Also, make sure you're running the latest NetworkManager.  I need to update the 
version that's in FC3 since its a bit old, but the stuff I've just described 
here should work with a recent version of NM.  If you've got any further 
questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,
Dan