Network command line cheat sheet

Cheat sheet from nixCraft.

You can also use commands to change settings. Please note that these settings are temporary and not the permanent. Use above method to make network changes permanent or GUI tool as described below.

Task: Display network interface information

$ ifconfig

Task: Take down network interface eth0 / take a network interface down

$ sudo ifconfig eth0 downOR $ sudo ifdown eth0

Task: Bring a network interface eth0 up

$ sudo ifconfig eth0 upOR$ sudo ifup eth0

Task: Change IP address and netmask from command line

Activate network interface eth0 with a new IP (192.168.1.50) / netmask:
$ sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.50 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

Task: Display the routing table

$ /sbin/route OR$ /sbin/route -n
Output:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
localnet        *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 ra0
172.16.114.0    *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth0
172.16.236.0    *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth1
default         192.168.1.254   0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 ra0

Task: Add a new gateway

$ sudo route add default gw 172.16.236.0

Task: Display current active Internet connections (servers and established connection)

$ netstat -nat

Task: Display open ports

$ sudo netstat -tulpOR$ sudo netstat -tulpn

Task: Display network interfaces stats (RX/TX etc)

$ netstat -i

Task: Display output for active/established connections only

$ netstat -e
$ netstat -te
$ netstat -tue


Where,

• -t : TCP connections
• -u : UDP connections
• -e : Established

Task: Test network connectivity

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts, routers, servers etc with ping command. This verifies connectivity exists between local host and remote network system:
$ ping router
$ ping 192.168.1.254
$ ping cyberciti.biz

See simple Linux system monitoring with ping command and scripts for more information.

Task: Use GUI (Graphical Configuration) network Tool

If you are new, use GUI configuration tool, type the following command at terminal:
$ network-admin &

Above command is Ubuntu’s GUI for configuring network connections tool.