[NTLUG:Discuss] Ethernet Not Working On Boot - Solved -- Question to Red Hat / Fedora

[Dennis Rice]

On a followup to my previous request for help on the Ethernet interface 
not coming up during the boot process, one of my students gave me the 
reason and the problem has been solved - but not to my satisfaction.

I had previously configured the interface to work using Network 
Configurator, not Network Manager.  It appears that when Fedora boots, 
it looks t the Network Manager to see if the interface is to be 
configured.  Since that app has been disabled, Fedora ignores the 
standard network files and does not activate the interface.

I wish to direct this to the Red Hat / Fedora staff that read this 
list.   WHY is the boot process looking at the Network Manager rather 
than the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX file, and the other 
network files for bringing up the network?  If it is not used, why are 
you even waisting everyones time and effort.  I have observed that if 
the user changes hardware, as is done in a classroom environment, that a 
new ifcfg-ethX file is NOT created, but someplace deeply hidden the data 
is maintained.  What standards are we working against?

These are issues that make the system difficult to comprehend and 
teach.  You want users to know how to administer the system, yet it is 
not being maintained in a consistent manner and appears, at least to my 
usage and teaching, to not conform to the standard operating practices.

I am not a software engineer, rather a telecommunications engineer that 
goes out to make things work.  These changes are not supporting the 
requirements to know how the system operates, rather they are keeping 
things hidden in the background.  Please show a reasoning to the changes 
and how one can track the system operation.

Dennis