nm-initrd-generator: NetworkManager Reference Manual

nm-initrd-generator

nm-initrd-generator — early boot NetworkManager configuration generator

Synopsis

nm-initrd-generator [OPTIONS...] -- [CMDLINE...]

Description

nm-initrd-generator scans the command line for options relevant to network configuration and creates configuration files for an early instance of NetworkManager run from the initial ramdisk during early boot.

Options

-c | --connections-dir path

Output connection directory.

-i | --initrd-data-dir path

Output directory for initrd data (e.g. hostname).

-d | --sysfs-dir path

The sysfs mount point.

-r | --run-config-dir path

Output directory for config files.

-s | --stdout

Dump connections to standard output. Useful for debugging.

CMDLINE

The options that appear on the kernel command line. The following options are recognized:

ip

rd.route

bridge

bond

team

vlan

ib.pkey

bootdev

nameserver

rd.peerdns

rd.bootif

rd.ethtool

rd.net.timeout.dhcp

rd.net.timeout.carrier

rd.znet

BOOTIF

Please consult the dracut.cmdline(7) manual for the documentation of the precise format of the values supported.

Differences from the network-legacy dracut module

nm-initrd-generator generates a set of connections that are then configured by the NetworkManager instance running in the initrd. There are some differences in behavior compared to the network-legacy dracut module:

When an interface is configured with a static address and a gateway, the network-legacy module waits that the gateway responds to arping requests before proceeding, while NetworkManager doesn't.
network-legacy configures interfaces one by one in the order in which they are announced by udev. If multiple interfaces specify a hostname (from command line or from DHCP), the one from the last interface activated wins. With NetworkManager, hostnames from command line have higher precedence over ones from DHCP, and the last that appears in the command line wins.
NetworkManager supports the ib.pkey=PARENT.PKEY argument to set up an Infiniband partition on IPoIB parent device PARENT using the specified partition key PKEY. The partition key must be in hexadecimal notation without leading "0x", for example "ib.pkey=ib0.8004".
NetworkManager supports the rd.ethtool=INTERFACE:AUTONEG:SPEED kernel command line option to set up ethtool NIC configuration parameters AUTONEG and SPEED. The INTERFACE being configured must be specified, and the other parameters are optional and can be left blank. When SPEED is set, duplex mode is automatically set to 'full'. INTERFACE accepts string values, AUTONEG accepts boolean values (true and false / on or off / 0 or 1), and SPEED accepts positive integer values.

Exit Status

nm-initrd-generator exits with status 0. It ignores unrecognized options and prints an error message if it encounters a malformed option.