15 Useful “ifconfig” Commands
The “ifconfig” command with no arguments will display all the active interfaces details. The ifconfig command also used to check the assigned IP address of an server.
1. View All Network Setting
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0B:CD:1C:18:5A
inet addr:172.16.25.126 Bcast:172.16.25.63 Mask:255.255.255.224
inet6 addr: fe80::20b:cdff:fe1c:185a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2341604 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2217673 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:293460932 (279.8 MiB) TX bytes:1042006549 (993.7 MiB)
Interrupt:185 Memory:f7fe0000-f7ff0000
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:5019066 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5019066 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:2174522634 (2.0 GiB) TX bytes:2174522634 (2.0 GiB)
tun0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
inet addr:10.1.1.1 P-t-P:10.1.1.2 Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
2. Display Information of All Network Interfaces
The following ifconfig command with -a argument will display information of all active or inactive network interfaces on server. It displays the results for eth0, lo, sit0 and tun0.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0B:CD:1C:18:5A
inet addr:172.16.25.126 Bcast:172.16.25.63 Mask:255.255.255.224
inet6 addr: fe80::20b:cdff:fe1c:185a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2344927 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2220777 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:293839516 (280.2 MiB) TX bytes:1043722206 (995.3 MiB)
Interrupt:185 Memory:f7fe0000-f7ff0000
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:5022927 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5022927 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:2175739488 (2.0 GiB) TX bytes:2175739488 (2.0 GiB)
sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
tun0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
inet addr:10.1.1.1 P-t-P:10.1.1.2 Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
3. View Network Settings of Specific Interface
Using interface name (eth0) as an argument with “ifconfig” command will display details of specific network interface.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0B:CD:1C:18:5A
inet addr:172.16.25.126 Bcast:172.16.25.63 Mask:255.255.255.224
inet6 addr: fe80::20b:cdff:fe1c:185a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2345583 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2221421 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:293912265 (280.2 MiB) TX bytes:1044100408 (995.7 MiB)
Interrupt:185 Memory:f7fe0000-f7ff0000
4. How to Enable an Network Interface
The “up” or “ifup” flag with interface name (eth0) activates an network interface, if it is not in active state and allowing to send and receive information. For example, “ifconfig eth0 up” or “ifup eth0” will activate the eth0 interface.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 up OR [root@tecmint ~]# ifup eth0
5. How to Disable an Network Interface
The “down” or “ifdown” flag with interface name (eth0) deactivates the specified network interface. For example, “ifconfig eth0 down” or “ifdown eth0” command deactivates theeth0 interface, if it is in active state.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 down OR [root@tecmint ~]# ifdown eth0
6. How to Assign a IP Address to Network Interface
To assign an IP address to an specific interface, use the following command with an interface name (eth0) and ip address that you want to set. For example, “ifconfig eth0 172.16.25.125” will set the IP address to interface eth0.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 172.16.25.125
7. How to Assign a Netmask to Network Interface
Using the “ifconfig” command with “netmask” argument and interface name as (eth0) allows you to define an netmask to an given interface. For example, “ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.224” will set the network mask to an given interface eth0.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.224
8. How to Assign a Broadcast to Network Interface
Using the “broadcast” argument with an interface name will set the broadcast address for the given interface. For example, “ifconfig eth0 broadcast 172.16.25.63” command sets the broadcast address to an interface eth0.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 broadcast 172.16.25.63
9. How to Assign a IP, Netmask and Broadcast to Network Interface
To assign an IP address, Netmask address and Broadcast address all at once using “ifconfig” command with all arguments as given below.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 172.16.25.125 netmask 255.255.255.224 broadcast 172.16.25.63
10. How to Change MTU for an Network Interface
The “mtu” argument set the maximum transmission unit to an interface. The MTU allows you to set the limit size of packets that are transmitted on an interface. The MTU able to handle maximum number of octets to an interface in one single transaction. For example, “ifconfig eth0 mtu 1000” will set the maximum transmission unit to given set (i.e. 1000). Not all network interfaces supports MTU settings.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 mtu 1000
11. How to Enable Promiscuous Mode
What happens in normal mode, when a packet received by a network card, it verifies that the packet belongs to itself. If not, it drops the packet normally, but in the promiscuous mode is used to accept all the packets that flows through the network card.
Most of the today’s network tools uses the promiscuous mode to capture and analyze the packets that flows through the network interface. To set the promiscuous mode, use the following command.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 promisc
12. How to Disable Promiscuous Mode
To disable promiscuous mode, use the “-promisc” switch that drops back the network interface in normal mode.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 -promisc
13. How to Add New Alias to Network Interface
The ifconfig utility allows you to configure additional network interfaces using alias feature. To add alias network interface of eth0, use the following command. Please note that alias network address in same sub-net mask. For example, if your eth0 network ip address is172.16.25.125, then alias ip address must be 172.16.25.127.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0:0 172.16.25.127
Next, verify the newly created alias network interface address, by using “ifconfig eth0:0” command.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0:0
eth0:0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:01:6C:99:14:68
inet addr:172.16.25.123 Bcast:172.16.25.63 Mask:255.255.255.240
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
Interrupt:17
14. How to Remove Alias to Network Interface
If you no longer required an alias network interface or you incorrectly configured it, you can remove it by using the following command.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0:0 down
15. How to Change the MAC address of Network Interface
To change the MAC (Media Access Control) address of an eth0 network interface, use the following command with argument “hw ether“. For example, see below.
[root@tecmint ~]# ifconfig eth0 hw ether AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
These are the most useful commands for configuring network interfaces in Linux, for more information and usage of ifconfig command use the manpages like “man ifconfig” at the terminal. Check out some other networking utilities below.
