systemd-networkd.service - Man Page

systemd-networkd​.service

/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd

systemd-networkd is a system service that manages networks​. It detects and configures network devices as they appear, as well as creating virtual network devices​.

Certain low-level settings of physical network devices (e​.g​. device names and altnames) as well as the creation of SR-IOV virtual functions on physical network interfaces may be managed by systemd-udevd(8) according to the contents of systemd.link(5) files​.

systemd-networkd will create "virtual" network devices (e​.g​. bridges and tunnels) based on the configuration in systemd.netdev(5) files, respecting the [Match] sections in those files​.

systemd-networkd will manage network addresses and routes for any link for which it finds a ​.network file with an appropriate [Match] section, see systemd.network(5)​. For those links, it will flush existing network addresses and routes when bringing up the device (except when directed not to)​. Any links not matched by one of the ​.network files will be ignored​. It is also possible to explicitly tell systemd-networkd to ignore a link by using the Unmanaged=yes option, see systemd.network(5)​.

When systemd-networkd exits, it generally leaves existing network devices and configuration intact​. This makes it possible to transition from the initrd and to restart the service without breaking connectivity​. This also means that when configuration is updated and systemd-networkd is restarted, netdev interfaces for which configuration was removed will not be dropped, and may need to be cleaned up manually​.

systemd-networkd may be introspected and controlled at runtime using networkctl(1)​.

See org.freedesktop.network1(5) and org.freedesktop.LogControl1(5) for a description of the D-Bus API​.

The configuration files are read from the files located in the system network directory /usr/lib/systemd/network, the volatile runtime network directory /run/systemd/network and the local administration network directory /etc/systemd/network​.

Networks are configured in ​.network files, see systemd.network(5), and virtual network devices are configured in ​.netdev files, see systemd.netdev(5)​.

networkctl(1), systemd(1), systemd.link(5), systemd.network(5), systemd.netdev(5), systemd-networkd-wait-online.service(8), systemd-network-generator.service(8), org.freedesktop.network1(5)