If it works without NM, it means NetworkManager is not reading the configuration file. Can you try to stop NM service and run it manually with --no-daemon and --log-level=debug and find dhcp-related debug lines?

The debug output shows:

NetworkManager[13871]: <debug> [1347544624.999019] [nm-dhcp-dhclient.c:529] dhclient_start(): running: /sbin/dhclient -d -4 -sf /usr/libexec/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/dhclient-em1.pid -lf /var/lib/dhclient/dhclient-3d1804bd-ccc7-4bbe-a5f3-b098843ebeec-em1.lease -cf /var/run/nm-dhclient-em1.conf em1

...where the /var/run/nm-dhclient-em1.conf has:

 Created by NetworkManager
# Merged from /etc/dhclient-em1.conf

prepend domain-search "virt.alatyr.brq.redhat.com";
prepend domain-name-servers 192.168.122.1;
send host-name "alatyr"; # added by NetworkManager

option rfc3442-classless-static-routes code 121 = array of unsigned integer 8;
option ms-classless-static-routes code 249 = array of unsigned integer 8;
option wpad code 252 = string;

also request rfc3442-classless-static-routes;
also request ms-classless-static-routes;
also request wpad;
also request ntp-servers;

So it seems it merges the config just fine, though it's not used correctly somehow. Any clue what could be wrong? (I can send the whole debug output if needed).

BTW, another issue I came across is with VPN on - the "search" as well as "nameserver" settings in /etc/resolv.conf that should be preferred as defined by the "prepend" keyword in the /etc/dhclient-em1.conf are put *after* VPN nameservers and search domains. I'd expect that once I give priority with the "prepend" keyword, this should be prepended first and then all the rest, including VPN records coming after.

If the generated configuration is correct, than this might be a problem with dhclient itself or with the way NetworkManager takes information from dhlclient.

(In reply to comment #0)
> Description of problem:
> Using additional dhclient options in /etc/dhclient-em1.conf:
> 
> prepend domain-search "b.net";
> prepend domain-name-servers 192.168.122.1;
> 
If you want to prepend a domain name use:
prepend domain-name "b.net ";
instead of
prepend domain-search "b.net";

Here's how it works now:
There is a discrepancy in behaviour between dhclient (run by initscripts) and
NetworkManager, in regard to 'domain-name' and 'domain-search' DHCP options.

initscripts call dhclient that modify /etc/resolv.conf by means of
/usr/sbin/dhclient-script. The script just puts "search" resolv.conf's option
that is populated with 'domain-search' option values if there are any.  Else
the "search" option is populated with values from 'domain-name' DHCP option
(even if multiple domains in this option is deprecated). But when both 'domain-search' and 'domain-name' are present, 'domain-name' is simply ignored.

NetworkManager puts the first domain name from 'domain-name' DHCP option into
"domain" resolv.conf's option.  Then NetworkManager concatenates values from
'domain-name' and 'domain-search' and puts these into "search" option
that is written into /etc/resolv.conf  after "domain" option.
This behaviour is to support obsolete/misconfigured servers that still send
multiple domains in 'domain-name' option (e.g. due to clients not supporting
domain-search option (119)).

> NetworkManager puts the first domain name from 'domain-name' DHCP option into
> "domain" resolv.conf's option.  Then NetworkManager concatenates values from
> 'domain-name' and 'domain-search' and puts these into "search" option
> that is written into /etc/resolv.conf  after "domain" option.
> This behaviour is to support obsolete/misconfigured servers that still send
> multiple domains in 'domain-name' option (e.g. due to clients not supporting
> domain-search option (119)).

Can this be fixed in a backwards-compatible manner?

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