I realize that many on this list have likely applauded the
NetworkManager package split that removed wireless stuff into its own
package, NetworkManager-wifi, because for wired workstations and servers
it might be desirable to not have any wifi software installed. And I
believe it was a sound technical decision to do the split.
However, in doing a fresh installation of what most call CentOS 7.2, or
7.2.1511, I ran into a real issue that required a bit of deep-diving to
find, and a simple 'yum install NetworkManager-wifi' to fix. (although
my actual 'yum install' command included the full path to the actual RPM
on the install media.......)
I have a personal workstation at home, a Dell Optiplex 745 with a
Core2Quad Q6600, that is on the other end of the house from the router.
While I could run cat5 to the location, it would involve quite a bit of
labor, and I have a known-supported USB wifi nic based on the ralink
rt3070 (cheap, but works well), so why should I run the cable when wifi
should work well? Especially given that the Dell is not going to be
there for very long it wouldn't make sense to run cable.
Anyway, I configured the wifi network during installation (I actually am
growing to like, even prefer, the hub-and-spoke anaconda), it associated
with the WPA2-protected AP, grabbed an IP address, and all was good.
Did the install; no errors.
I rebooted, and now there is no wireless. At all. Doing a bit of
troubleshooting shows that the kernel sees the NIC, but NetworkManager
shows it as 'unmanaged' ('nmcli d' is the command to use from a shell).
So I warmed up my google-fu on my laptop and finally tracked it to a
post that mentioned having to install NetworkManager-wifi. Sure enough,
on the workstation NetworkManager-wifi was not installed. I mounted the
USB install drive's ISO partition and manually installed it, restarted
NetworkManager, and it now works just fine.
But why did anaconda not select the NetworkManager-wifi package to be
installed if a wireless network connection was configured in the
installer? Anaconda should have some way of forcing the install of the
appropriate NetworkManager modules if those are needed (but only if they
are actually needed) for a configured connection during install.
I can file a bugzilla, but I thought I'd post about it here first to get
an idea of which package in which to file the report, since it's not a
bug in NetworkManager-wifi. Anaconda? (that is my first impression of
the proper place).
So if you have this situation arise where wifi doesn't work after
install of current CentOS 7(1511) but does during install, manually
install NetworkManager-wifi from the install media and that should clear
it up.
_______________________________________________
CentOS mailing list
CentOS@xxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
