Network utilities

By Sachin
March 24, 2012

Few network configuration which can be performed using CLI, this post covers examples with syntax.

(Updated on Aug 09, 2018)

Note: You must be root or sudo user to run following commands. Note: ifconfig has been deprecated in favor of ip

Assign IP address

Syntax

ifconfig <INTERFACE> <IP-ADDRESS> netmask <NETMASK>

# or

ip addr add <IP-ADDRESS/CIDR> dev <INTERFACE>

Example

ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.11 netmask 255.255.255.0

# or

ip addr add 192.168.1.11/24 dev eth0

Add gateway/route

Syntax

route add default gw <GATEWAY-IP> <INTERFACE>

# or

ip route add default via <GATEWAY-IP> dev <INTERFACE>

Example

route add default gw 192.168.1.1 eth0

# or

ip route add default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0

Temporary spoof MAC address

Syntax

ip link set down dev DEVICE_NAME
ip link set dev DEVICE_NAME address AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
ip link set up dev DEVICE_NAME

Example

ip link set down dev enp0s21
ip link set dev enp0s21 address AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
ip link set up dev enp0s21

Set DNS address

Optionally DNS can be entered in the file /etc/resolv.conf in following format

# /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4

All the above changes will be temporary(unless you reboot the system)

Additional scenario

  • You want 10.10.10.x address space to bypass default gateway of the network. You can reach network range of 10.10.10.0/24 via 192.168.1.11 on device eth0

    ip route add 10.10.10.0/24 via 192.168.1.11 dev eth0
    

Make routes persistent(on Fedora/RHEL)

Add following entry into the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/route-DEVICE_NAME

10.10.10.0/24 via 192.168.1.11 dev DEVICE_NAME

CLI to control NetworkManager

  • Check overall status

    nmcli general status
    
  • Show all connections

    nmcli connection
    
  • Show details for specific connection

    # Syntax
    nmcli connection show <GENERAL.NAME>
    
    # Example
    nmcli connection show my-dsl-conn
    
  • Connect using connection name

    # Syntax
    nmcli connection up <GENERAL.NAME>
    
    # Example
    nmcli connection up my-dsl-conn