NetworkManager

NetworkManager is a program that provides automatic detection and configuration for systems to connect to networks.

Installation

NetworkManager comes with a command line interface and a curses-based interface, nmcli and nmtui respectively or you can use a additional gui interface:

plasma-nm for Plasma integration and applet
network-manager-applet for a GTK system tray applet

After installation start NetworkManager:

# rc-service networkmanager start

Also your user needs to be in the plugdev group:

# adduser <YourUsername> plugdev

Note: you will need to log out for the new group to take effect

Wireless networks

wpa_supplicant backend

Todo: (KDE Plasma Desktop) find out if it is possible to prevent requesting the password for KDE Wallet on login

Follow: Wi-Fi#wpa_supplicant and Wi-Fi#Automatic_Configuration_on_System_Boot

Note: wpa_supplicant configuration might not be required, if it isnt it may be a good idea to have it setup just as a fallback

Now open /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf in a text editor and change it to something like this:

Contents of /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

[main] 
dhcp=internal
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile

[ifupdown]
managed=true

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=yes
wifi.backend=wpa_supplicant

Note: if these options dont work on your system you can change them as necessary

Now you need to stop conflicting services:

# rc-service networking stop

# rc-service wpa_supplicant stop

Now restart NetworkManager:

# rc-service networkmanager restart

Now connect to a network using one of the interfaces mentioned in Installation

If that connects and stays connected with no issues enable the networkmanager service and disable the networking and wpa_supplicant boot services:

# rc-update add networkmanager

# rc-update del networking boot

# rc-update del wpa_supplicant boot

iwd backend

NetworkManager supports wireless networks through iwd, however, consider existing issues before using it. After installation, enable the server and restart NetworkManager:

rc-service iwd start
rc-service networkmanager restart

To use iwd though, you've have to edit NetworkManager's configuration because it still defaults to wpa_supplicant instead. Add the following to /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf:

[device]
wifi.backend=iwd

VPN support

Since version 1.16, NetworkManager has support for Wireguard[1].

Support for other VPN types is provided by plugins. They are provided in the following packages:

networkmanager-openvpn for OpenVPN