Network Interface Profile Manager (NIPM)

NIPM (Network Interface Profile Manager) is a CLI tool for Linux that allows you to manage network interfaces and their connections (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) through profiles. It supports the creation, maintenance, and automatic switching between network profiles in a dynamic and secure way, without relying on a resident daemon, providing greater control and flexibility over interfaces. A personal script developed with minimalist environments in mind, and for users who don't want to manually configure network service configuration files, such as: wpa_supplicant and dhcpcd. And don't want daemons that forcibly control network interfaces that regularly change mode (managed -> monitor). Low CPU and memory usage.

Important

Make sure no other network daemons or services are running (e.g., iwd or NetworkManager) before executing the program.

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Overview

NIPM works directly with standard Linux networking tools:

• dhcpcd
• wpa_supplicant
• iw
• ip

It automates the creation and updating of these configuration files, ensuring compliance with official syntax and reducing manual errors.

NIPM prioritizes network interfaces based on user-defined metrics and automatically reconnects in case of failure, ensuring a reliable connection experience.

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Main Features

• Profile creation and updates: with the create-profile command, you can define SSID, password (PSK), and priority (metric) for each interface. The lower the interface metric, the higher its priority.
• Centralized management: keeps all configurations organized in the user profile directory (~/.config/nipm), which is only accessible with root permissions for security reasons.
• Multiple interface support: dynamically switches between active interfaces, always maintaining the highest-priority connection.
• Continuous monitoring: background mode (-b) checks interface availability and automatically reconnects in case of failure. You can also define the interval for each check using the (-s) option followed by the value in seconds.
• Easy profile removal: remove individual profiles or all profiles at once.
• Compatibility: uses standard Linux tools (dhcpcd, wpa_supplicant) without complex external dependencies.

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Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/gusprojects008/nipm.git
cd nipm

Make sure you have Python 3.13+, dhcpcd, and wpa_supplicant installed.

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Usage

# Show help
sudo python3 nipm.py --help

# Create or update a network profile
sudo python3 nipm.py create-profile

# List all saved profiles
sudo python3 nipm.py list-profiles

# Remove a specific profile
sudo python3 nipm.py remove-profile <interface>

# Remove all profiles
sudo python3 nipm.py remove-profiles

# Start connection with interface monitoring (background)
sudo python3 nipm.py start -b

# Start connection without monitoring (single-run mode)
sudo python3 nipm.py start

During profile creation, you will be prompted for:

• Interface name (e.g., wlan0)
• Network SSID
• Network password (PSK)
• Metric (interface priority, default = 100)

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Configuration Structure

• User configuration directory: ~/.config/nipm/

• Main profile file: nipm-config.json

• Generated configuration files for each interface:

  • wpa-supplicant-<ifname>.conf
  • dhcpcd-<ifname>.conf

All files and directories are created with restricted permissions (740) for enhanced security.

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Requirements

• Python 3.13+
• dhcpcd
• wpa_supplicant
• Administrator privileges (sudo)