Ubuntu seems to provide at least two network "toolsets" (for lack of a better term). I'm running into conflicts between these two.
- Network Manager
- Something which is more like the traditional network tools (e.g. ifconfig, 'ifup', /etc/network/interfaces
I am often running into conflicts between these different sets of tools. For example, I'm running Ubuntu Desktop at home and I'm using software like KVM/libvirt which recommends that I disable Network Manager, but disabling Network Manager causes other things to break.
What is the difference between Network Manager and the traditional network tools? Can these two suites run side-by-side or must I stick with one or the other? Is there a document which summarizes the difference between these different tools? I have been unable to find one.
(Forgive the vagueness of this question. I've searched and searched for an answer, but I have only found many vague answers which don't seem relevant to Ubuntu 10.04/Lucid, and I may not fully understand the purpose of NetworkManager. However, this seems to be a frequently asked question. If you have advice for clarifying this question, please post a comment.)