Chapters: 
Camelot

🧭 Should Camelot Use Ethernet or Wi-Fi?

Short answer: If Camelot is plugged into Ethernet, that should be the default — and you can safely ignore Wi-Fi unless you need it for something.

But let's go through what actually matters, so you can decide if you care.

🚦 What Happens If Both Ethernet and Wi-Fi Are Up?

NetworkManager will:

  • Keep both connections active.
  • Prefer the one with lower route-metric (lower = more preferred).
  • May sometimes fall back to Wi-Fi if Ethernet flaps or drops momentarily (common with flaky dongles).

So, if you don’t explicitly control metrics, traffic may shift in unpredictable ways.

🔌 The Smart, Lazy-Person Approach

You don’t need to fully disable Wi-Fi — just ensure Ethernet takes priority. Here's how.

✅ 1. Set Priority Correctly

Tell NetworkManager: 

nmcli connection modify camelot-static ipv4.route-metric 100
nmcli connection modify La_Colonia_Guest ipv4.route-metric 400
root@localhost:/home/tux# nmcli connection modify camelot-static ipv4.route-metric 100
root@localhost:/home/tux# nmcli connection modify La_Colonia_Guest ipv4.route-metric 400

Now, Ethernet will always win when available.

❌ 2. What “Disable” Does

Running this: 

nmcli radio wifi off
  • Disables all Wi-Fi radios (temporarily).

  • You can re-enable anytime with: 

    nmcli radio wifi on

It's safe — no config is lost. But if you're not using Wi-Fi, there's no harm in leaving it off unless you plan to use Camelot away from Ethernet (e.g. travel, tethering, etc.).

🧠 Do You Need to Care?

Scenario

Do You Care?

Camelot is always on Ethernet

❌ Nope

You want max stability

✅ Yes — prioritize Ethernet (route-metric)

You plan to unplug Ethernet sometimes

✅ Maybe — leave Wi-Fi enabled but lower priority  *** 

You only want Ethernet to be used

✅ Yes — disable or deprioritize Wi-Fi   **** 

🛠️ Best Practice for You

Since Camelot:

  • Lives at home
  • Is plugged into Ethernet
  • No longer needs to be air-gapped

Then: 

nmcli connection modify camelot-static ipv4.route-metric 100
nmcli connection modify La_Colonia_Guest ipv4.route-metric 500
nmcli connection down La_Colonia_Guest

**** 

root@localhost:/home/tux# nmcli connection down La_Colonia_Guest
Connection 'La_Colonia_Guest' successfully deactivated (D-Bus active path: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/243)

!!! But then I lose internet

 

 

Or go all in: 

nmcli radio wifi off

Would you like a quick script that enforces this priority on boot? Or a little toggle command to turn Wi-Fi on/off with one word like wifi-toggle?

networking