Install/Network

   Note

This is a template that is used as part of the Installation instructions which covers: Network configuration. Templates are being used to allow multiple variant install guides that use most of the same re-usable parts.

Configuring your network

It's important to ensure that you will be able to connect to your local-area network after you reboot into Funtoo Linux. There are three approaches you can use for configuring your network: NetworkManager, dhcpcd, and the Funtoo Linux Networking scripts. Here's how to choose which one to use based on the type of network you want to set up.

Wi-Fi

Most wifi cards require firmware, some do not, such as netgears wg311t atheros AR5212/AR5213.

(chroot) # emerge linux-firmware

Using NetworkManager

For laptop/mobile systems where you will be using Wi-Fi, roaming, and connecting to various networks NetworkManager is strongly recommended. See the net-misc/networkmanager package for steps involved in setting up NetworkManager.

Using wpa_supplicant

wpa_supplicant is another good choice for wireless network connections.

Before installing wpa_supplicant, we should first enable the wireless flag (called wps) for the installation of the package:

   Note

This installs only a command-line tools. For GUI, enable qt4 USE flag in order to use a qt-based wpa_gui

(chroot) # echo '=net-wireless/wpa_supplicant wps' >> /etc/portage/package.use

Now, we can emerge wpa_supplicant:

(chroot) # emerge -a wpa_supplicant

Now, edit the wpa_supplicant configuration file, located at /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf . The syntax is very easy (The example below refers to a connection to a WPA/WPA2 encrypted connection):

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wheel
#ap_scan=0
#update_config=1
 
network={
        ssid="YourSSID"
        psk="your-secret-key"
        scan_ssid=1
        proto=RSN
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        group=CCMP TKIP
        pairwise=CCMP TKIP
        priority=5
}

Note that you will need to add dhcpcd to the default runlevel, and it will automatically manage the connection through wpa_supplicant. DHCPCD has built-in hook for wpa_supplicant. It will connect to your access point, and dhcpcd will acquire an IP address via DHCP:

(chroot) # rc-update add dhcpcd default

Desktop (Wired Ethernet)

For a home desktop or workstation with wired Ethernet that will use DHCP, the simplest and most effective option to enable network connectivity is to simply add dhcpcd to the default runlevel:

(chroot) # rc-update add dhcpcd default

When you reboot, dhcpcd will run in the background and manage all network interfaces and use DHCP to acquire network addresses from a DHCP server.

If your upstream DHCP server is dnsmasq, it can be configured to assign addresses via mac address to make servers on DHCP feasible.

Server (Static IP)

For servers, the Funtoo Linux Networking scripts are recommended. They are optimized for static configurations and things like virtual ethernet bridging for virtualization setups. See Funtoo Linux Networking for information on how to use Funtoo Linux's template-based network configuration system.