Statice IP via predefined lease - doesn't work with nm

[Stefan Söffing <soeffing gmx de>]

Hi all!

I just found network-manager and can say, this is exactly what I was
still missing. But unfortunately there are still some issues that make
it impossible for me to use it:

The most important thing is: When on wire I use DHCP at home, but I
really need to configure a static IP address at work. Network-manager
seems not to be intended for this case, but there is some way to do
this: dhclient can be configured to use a predefined lease in case it
doesn't get a valid offer from some dhcp server. The problem is,
network-manager doesn't recognize this:

NetworkManager: <information>^IWill activate wired connection 'eth0'
because it now has a link.
NetworkManager: <information>^IWill activate connection 'eth0'.
NetworkManager: <information>^IDevice eth0 activation scheduled...
NetworkManager: <information>^IDeactivating device eth2.
dhclient: There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.eth2.pid with
pid 2805
dhclient: killed old client process, removed PID file
dhclient: DHCPRELEASE on eth2 to 131.246.85.254 port 67
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) started...
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device
Prepare) scheduled...
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device
Prepare) started...
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device
Configure) scheduled...
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device
Prepare) complete.
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device
Configure) starting...
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device
Configure) successful.
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP
Configure Start) scheduled.
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device
Configure) complete.
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP
Configure Start) started...
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Beginning DHCP
transaction.
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP
Configure Start) complete.
NetworkManager: <information>^IDHCP daemon state is now 12 (successfully
started) for interface eth0
NetworkManager: <information>^IDHCP daemon state is now 1 (starting) for
interface eth0
dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
NetworkManager: <information>^IOld device 'eth0' activating, won't change.
// So far, this is okay, but DHCP fails:
dhclient: No DHCPOFFERS received.
dhclient: Trying recorded lease 131.246.234.80
dhclient: bound: renewal in 101143493 seconds.
// This is what I want - DHCP fails an the predefined lease is used, but:
NetworkManager: <information>^IDHCP daemon state is now 8 (timeout) for
interface eth0
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP
Configure Timeout) scheduled...
NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP
Configure Timeout) started...
NetworkManager: <information>^INo DHCP reply received.  Automatically
obtaining IP via Zeroconf.
// Now Network-manager tries to find another IP and kills the above
(working!) settings...

Is there anything I can do to avoid this?

All in all, not needing any configuration is really great for the
beginner - but not providing any possibility to tweak things makes it
hard to work under all circumstances..

If you need more information about the bug above, please let me know.

- Stefan