11

I can't seem to be able to Google this easily and I'm not exactly sure where to find more information.

I'm using Ubuntu 16.04 and my Systemd shows both network-manager.service and NetworkManager.service. Are both of these based on the network-manager program or is this something else?

enter image description here

Rtsne42
  • 1,217

1 Answers1

9

There is no difference.

The unit file for network-manager.service is a symlink to NetworkManager.service.

$ file $(locate network-manager.service)
/lib/systemd/system/network-manager.service: symbolic link to NetworkManager.service

The "two" services are the same process:

$ systemctl status NetworkManager
● NetworkManager.service - Network Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2017-05-28 06:51:58 BST; 25min ago
     Docs: man:NetworkManager(8)
 Main PID: 667 (NetworkManager)
   CGroup: /system.slice/NetworkManager.service
           ├─ 667 /usr/sbin/NetworkManager --no-daemon
           └─1277 /sbin/dhclient -d -q -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-helper -pf /var/run/dhclient-wlan0.pid -lf /var/lib/NetworkManager/dhclient

$ systemctl status network-manager
● NetworkManager.service - Network Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2017-05-28 06:51:58 BST; 25min ago
     Docs: man:NetworkManager(8)
 Main PID: 667 (NetworkManager)
   CGroup: /system.slice/NetworkManager.service
           ├─ 667 /usr/sbin/NetworkManager --no-daemon
           └─1277 /sbin/dhclient -d -q -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-helper -pf /var/run/dhclient-wlan0.pid -lf /var/lib/NetworkManager/dhclient

The name network-manager remains simply for compatibility, so people can use old style commands like sudo service network-manager restart (sympathy for our muscle memory).

Zanna
  • 72,471
  • Thanks for the answer, but I seem to be getting a different result. sudo systemctl status network-manager.service returns active while sudo systemctl status NetworkManager.service returns inactive(dead) – Rtsne42 May 28 '17 at 06:38
  • o.O mind blown. Do you want to paste your full results? – Zanna May 28 '17 at 06:42
  • I was just in the process of reinstalling the network manager so that's most likely why it shows as inactive(dead) Screenshot . – Rtsne42 May 28 '17 at 06:46
  • thanks for the update @Rtsne42 my tranquility is restored :D – Zanna May 28 '17 at 06:57
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    It seems that this can not be used anymore:

    $ sudo service network-manager restart

    Failed to restart network-manager.service: Unit network-manager.service not found.

     – Good Pen May 19 '23 at 09:37