NetworkManager removes *STATIC* IP address from interface when link down

[Graham <gcnmlist crowie net>]

Hi,

    I am having trouble with NetworkManager where all my connections to a particular IP address stop working when the physical link goes down.

Firstly... Yes, I am aware that unplugging the link will stop data flowing, however the connections that stop working are not using that link, just the IP address. Such as the following...

 - Connections within that machine. Instead of using "localhost" they are using the IP address assigned to eth1, which just loops back anyway. This breaks when NetworkManager deconfigures the eth1 IP address.

 - Connections to a dual homed host, coming in via eth2 but using eth1's IP address. There should be no reason why unplugging eth1's network cable should affect these connections, except that NetworkManager decides to deconfigure all IP addresses on eth1 when the link goes down.


Both of the above scenarios continue to work without issue when using network-scripts. Network-scripts just dumbly configured the static IP address on bootup and never touches it again, but this is what I would expect for a static IP address.

How do I stop NetworkManager from deconfiguring the IP address when a physical link goes down? And how do I configure NetworkManager to configure an IP address on bootup if the link is down?

Is there some hidden config option to ignore the link state?


Thank you

Graham