đź“– ~1 min read
Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
Server loses network configuration after reboot, causing service downtime.
Environment & Reproduction
Profile was created temporarily and not saved to disk.
nmcli connection show
reboot
Root Cause Analysis
Connection is marked volatile or ifcfg/keyfile did not persist due permissions or tooling mismatch.
Quick Triage
Inspect active and persistent NM profiles.
nmcli -f NAME,UUID,TYPE,DEVICE connection show
ls -l /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Check NetworkManager logs and profile file ownership.
journalctl -u NetworkManager -b --no-pager
stat /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*

Solution – Primary Fix
Recreate profile persistently and reload NetworkManager.
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sudo nmcli connection add type ethernet ifname ens160 con-name prod-lan ipv4.addresses 10.10.10.20/24 ipv4.gateway 10.10.10.1 ipv4.method manual
sudo chmod 600 /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*.nmconnection
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Solution – Alternative Approaches
Manage network profiles via nmstate or Ansible for repeatability.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
Connection auto-activates after reboot and routes are correct.
nmcli connection show --active
ip route
Rollback Plan
Restore previous profile backup and restart NetworkManager.
Prevention & Hardening
Prohibit ad hoc temporary profiles on production nodes and enforce config-as-code.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
Can coincide with DHCP lease issues, interface renaming, and cloud-init overrides.
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for oracle-linux-10.
View all oracle-linux-10 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
NetworkManager and nmcli administration references for RHEL.
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