On Sat, Aug 27, 2022 at 09:07:49PM +0800, Jeremy Ardley wrote: > Further to my longer reply on this list, there are three separate network > configuration & management services that can be running at the same time on > a debian system > > * networking.service > * systemd-networkd.service > * NetworkManager.service > > The usual mode of operation under systemd has > > * networking.service always enabled > * NetworkManager.service is usually enabled by default > * systemd-networkd.service may or may not be enabled by default, but > usually has no meaningful configuration > > My experience is to leave networking.service handling loopback and then have > either systemd-networkd.service to manage the more complex stuff, or have > NetworkManager.service do this.
For the record, NetworkManager.service is typically only installed if you select a Desktop Environment (GNOME, KDE, etc.). On a system without one of those beasts installed: unicorn:~$ systemctl status NetworkManager.service Unit NetworkManager.service could not be found. In which case, network interface configuration is probably handled exclusively by networking.service (a.k.a. /etc/network/interfaces). None of these configurations is "right" or "wrong". All that matters is getting one of them to work for you. If you prefer NM, then by all means use NM -- even if you have to install it separately. If you prefer interfaces(5), then use that.
