I wrote this for Novell's Cool
Solutions:http://www.novell.com/communities/node/6782/configure-netconfig-static-domain-search-lists

In SLE11 we have a new (better) way to set up automatic network
configuration.

Its called netconfig (man 8 netconfig). Its a "modular tool to modify
network configuration".

Well in my SLED11 RC1 Box it pretty much worked out of the box. Except:

• When using Modem devices (eg UMTS/G3 via a Phone) DNS Servers where
  not added to /etc/resolv.conf ( see [bnc#429772][] )
• Static search entries did not work / where overwritten by
  NetworkManager

Netconfig uses a bunch of scripts in /etc/netconfig.d to do the actual
work. Its configuration resides in /etc/sysconfig/network/config

The following tries to fully explains what is happening. If you're just
interested in the Solution skip down to Summary.

The Search Domain Problem

If you're just as lazy as me you don't want to type Fully Qualified
Domain Names all the time. Of course you could use /etc/hosts but thats
boring and not very transportable.

So I set up NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SEARCHLIST in
/etc/sysconfig/network/config. But it doesn't work when using
NetworkManager. The NM overwrites the search entries in /etc/resolv.conf
if it finds something in DHCP. Bummer.

What is happening

netconfig uses a bunch of script (modules) to decide what to do in
certain situations. The Modules are configured using the NETCONFIG*
Variables in /etc/sysconfig/network/config.

The variable NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY is used to control how netconfig
should set up Name Servers in /etc/resolv.conf

Excerpt from /etc/sysconfig/network/config (default):

...## Type:        string## Default:     "auto"## Defines the DNS merge policy as documented in netconfig(8) manual page.# Set to "" to disable DNS configuration.#NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY="auto"...

Unfortunately man 8 netconfig only has this to say about
NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY:

NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY -Defines the DNS merge policy.

Nothing about what the actual Values could be.

The /etc/netconfig.d/dns-resolver script is responsible for setting
resolv.conf so we find our possible values here:

Excerpt from /etc/netconfig.d/dns-resolver (SLED 11 RC1 Version):

...# just for the case we need the original value..._NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY="$NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY"if [ "$_NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY" = "auto" ]; then    if [ "x$NETWORKMANAGER" = "xyes" ] ; then        #        # Use NetworkManager policy merged data        #        _NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY='STATIC_FALLBACK NetworkManager'    else        #        # We use static settings and extend them        # with interface specific if available        #        _NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY='STATIC *'    fielif [ "x$_NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY" = "x" ]; then    #    # empty policy means do not touch anything.    # successful exit.    #    exit 0;fi## A * or ? is evaluated in the "for loop", so we need to replace it#_NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY=`echo "$_NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY" | \        sed 's/\*/__ALL__/g' | sed 's/\?/__ONE__/g'`sf=0for POL in $_NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY; do    case "$POL" in    (NetworkManager)        if [ "x$NETWORKMANAGER" = "xyes" ] ; then            debug "Use NetworkManager policy merged settings"            CFG="$STATEDIR/NetworkManager.netconfig"            if [ -r "$CFG" ] ; then                get_dns_settings "$CFG"            fi            break        fi    ;;    (STATIC)        debug "Keep Static"        DNS_SEARCHLIST="$DNS_SEARCHLIST $NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SEARCHLIST"        DNS_SERVERS="$DNS_SERVERS $NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SERVERS"    ;;    (STATIC_FALLBACK)        debug "Static Fallback"        sf=1    ;;    (*)        #        # revert the replacement; now we want the evaluation        #        POL=`echo "$POL" | sed 's/__ALL__/*/g' | sed 's/__ONE__/?/g'`        debug "Other: $POL"        for IFDIR in $STATEDIR/$POL; do            test -d "$IFDIR" -a \                 -d "/sys/class/net/${IFDIR##*/}" || continue            # proceed every interface we find with this match            manage_interfaceconfig  "$IFDIR"        done    ;;    esacdone...

This tells us that we can use the values auto, STATIC,
STATIC_FALLBACK, NetworkManager and /sys/class/net/ Interfaces (
with * and ? wildcards ).

The Cause

What it also tells us is that the default auto is translated to
STATIC_FALLBACK NetworkManager.

STATIC_FALLBACK only uses the value in
NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SEARCHLIST if the NetworkManager does not
provide a value.

Excerpts from /etc/netconfig.d/dns-resolver

...if [ $sf -eq 1 -a -z "$DNS_SEARCHLIST" ]; then    DNS_SEARCHLIST="$NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SEARCHLIST"fi...

The Solution

Change the configuration in NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY from STATIC_FALLBACK
to STATIC

Excerpt from /etc/sysconfig/network/config

NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY="STATIC NetworkManager"

Et voila! Working hostname search.

Summary

To use a static domain search configure your search :

Excerpt from /etc/sysconfig/network/config

NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SEARCHLIST="my.domain.tld"

And then configure netconfig to keep static configurations even when
oder modules provide the information:

Excerpt from /etc/sysconfig/network/config

NETCONFIG_DNS_POLICY="STATIC NetworkManager"