Insufficient control over disabling/enabling network connection in the NM applet

[Adrian Maier <syraxes googlemail com>]

Hello people,

I am trying to find the best way to use the Network Manager for
controlling the network connections.
Perhaps I am not fully understanding how is the NM meant to be used,
so I am opening this thread hoping to get some hint or advice.

In short, my main problem is that I am expecting to have some easily
accessible "Enable" , "Disable", "Properties"   buttons for each
network interface. The NM applet does enable/disable my 3G connection
when clicking on it . But there is no way to control the Ethernet card
!

Perhaps I should explain exactly what I want .  I need 2 network profiles :
- Ethernet connection (DHCP)
- 3G modem (for internet)  +  Ethernet connection (static IP)
I need this because at work I want to browse the web via the 3G  , but
at the same time still be able to still access some internal servers
via the Ethernet card.

As far as I can see,  when enabling the 3G connection  the Network
Manager automatically disables the Ethernet . And there seems to be no
way to prevent this ?  I am also not seeing the ability to switch to
alternate configurations of the "wired" connection inside the NM
applet.

Is is possible  to :
- define multiple configurations for the Ethernet card ?
- and,  easily switch the configuration of the Ethernet card
(preferably with the NM applet)  , even if there is a 3G connection
enabled ?

By the way,  the OS is Ubuntu Linux 10.04 ,  with NetworkManager 0.8.

I remember that some time ago in Ubuntu there used to be a connections
configuration tool that allowed the creation of several network
"profiles".  I'm wondering what is the replacement of that concept in
the current "Edit connection" of the NetworkManager.


Thanks,
Adrian M.