Nmcli
nmcli is a powerful command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager and reporting network status. It can be used as a replacement for graphical network management tools, especially on servers, headless machines, and terminals where no GUI is available.
Main usages
- Network Connection Management: Create, display, edit, delete, activate, and deactivate network connections.
- Device Control: Monitor and control network device status.
- Script Automation: Utilize NetworkManager via
nmcliinstead of managing network connections manually. - Server Administration: Control NetworkManager without a GUI, including creating, editing, starting and stopping network connections.
- Network Status Monitoring: View detailed information about network connections and devices.
Command line examples
This section presents some basic nmcli usages.
Check NetworkManager status
nmcli general status
This displays the overall status of NetworkManager, including connectivity state and hardware status.
View network connections
nmcli connection show
Lists all network connections that NetworkManager has configured.
View only active connections
nmcli connection show --active
Shows only the currently active network connections.
View network devices status
nmcli device status
Displays all network devices recognized by NetworkManager and their current state.
Turn Wi-Fi on or off
nmcli radio wifi on
Or to turn it off:
nmcli radio wifi off
Connect to a Wi-Fi network
nmcli dev wifi connect "SSID_Name" password "wifi_password" name "Connection_Name"
Creates a new connection profile and connects to the specified Wi-Fi network.
Activate an existing connection
nmcli con up id "Connection_Name"
Or using the connection's UUID:
nmcli con up uuid 6b028a27-6dc9-4411-9886-e9ad1dd43761
Disconnect a device
nmcli dev disconnect iface eth0
Disconnects the connection on the specified interface and marks the device as unavailable for auto-connecting.
View available Wi-Fi networks
nmcli dev wifi
Lists all available Wi-Fi access points known by the NetworkManager.
View detailed information about a specific connection
nmcli con show id "Connection_Name"
Displays all details of the connection with the specified name.
Useful options
This section presents some useful nmcli options:
-t, --terse: Output in terse mode (better for script processing)
-p, --pretty: Output in pretty mode (human-readable, aligned values)
-f, --fields: Specify which fields to display (e.g., NAME,UUID,TYPE)
-h, --help: Display help information