Managing wired and wireless networks using profiles.

Problem:

In a system with both a wired LAN and WiFi, only one interface is usually connected at a time. To facilitate this, the operating system can be configured to use network profiles to control which interface is activated at boot time.

Distributions:

Fedora Core 4

Solution:

The following steps assume that the wired and WiFi interfaces have already been configured.

  1. Click on KDE Menu->System Settings->Network
  2. Click on Profile->New
  3. Type a profile name for the wired network, ie: LAN
  4. Make sure the wired adapter is checked (eth0)
  5. Uncheck the wireless adapter (eth1)
  6. Click on Profile->New
  7. Type a profile name for the wireless network, ie: WIFI
  8. Check the wireless adapter (eth1)
  9. Uncheck the wired adapter (eth0)
  10. Click on File->Save
  11. Click on File->Quit

After the profiles are created, modify /etc/grub.conf to use them during boot. For example: 

default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (LAN) (2.6.12-6_FC4asl)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.12-6_FC4asl ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet netprofile=LAN
        initrd /initrd-2.6.12-6_FC4asl.img
title Fedora Core (WIFI) (2.6.12-6_FC4asl)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.12-6_FC4asl ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet netprofile=WIFI
        initrd /initrd-2.6.12-6_FC4asl.img