IP command Cheat Sheet

Several of the most used Linux commands/tools such as ifconfig, netstat, route is deprecated. It’s time to start using the versatile ip command line utility.

 

Ip command line utility provided by the ‘net-tools’ package is used for various network administration tasks on Linux nodes.

 

Syntax of the ip command line utility:

 

# ip [ OPTIONS ] OBJECT { COMMAND | help}

 

OPTIONS are used to define global parameters. Commonly used ones being:

-4 -> shows IPv4 specific details only.

-6 -> shows IPv6 specific details only.

-s -> shows statistics of the various network interfaces.

-t -> display current time when using monitor option.

 

 

OBJECTS are the items the command would action on.

Commonly used OBJECTS are the follows:

 

OBJECT	Abbreviation	Used for
address	a, addr	IP address on the device
link	l	Network device
route	r	Routing table entry
rule	ru	Rule in the routing policy database
neighbour	n, neigh	Manage ARP/NDSC cache entries
maddress	m, maddr	Multicast address
monitor		Watch netlink messages

 

 

This cheat sheet offers a concise overview of the ip command and its available options. It serves as a valuable resource for troubleshooting network and system issues."

 

NOTE: The commands have certain parameters mentioned in capital letters like ‘INTERFACE’, this needs to be changed depending on your use case.

1. Displaying Network Information:

• ip address show or ip a : Show information about all network interfaces.
• ip link show or ip l : Display link layer information.
• ip route show or ip r : Display the routing table.

2. Managing Network Interfaces:

• ip link set dev INTERFACE up/down : Enable or disable a network interface.
• ip link set dev INTERFACE name NEW_NAME : Rename a network interface.
• ip link set dev INTERFACE mtu MTU_VALUE : Set the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for an interface.
• ip link add link INTERFACE name NEW_INTERFACE type TYPE : Create a new virtual interface based on an existing one.

3. Configuring IP Addresses:

• ip address add IP_ADDRESS/NETMASK dev INTERFACE : Assign an IP address to an interface.
• ip address delete IP_ADDRESS/NETMASK dev INTERFACE : Remove an IP address from an interface.
• ip address show dev INTERFACE : Display IP address information for a specific interface.

4. Managing Routes:

• ip route add NETWORK via GATEWAY : Add a static route.
• ip route delete NETWORK : Delete a static route.
• ip route show : Display the routing table.
• ip route flush cache : Clear the routing cache.

5. Managing ARP Cache:

• ip neigh show : Display the ARP cache.
• ip neigh add IP_ADDRESS lladdr MAC_ADDRESS dev INTERFACE : Add an ARP cache entry manually.
• ip neigh delete IP_ADDRESS dev INTERFACE : Delete an entry from the ARP cache.

6. Managing VLANs (Virtual LANs):

• ip link add link INTERFACE name VLAN_NAME type vlan id VLAN_ID : Create a VLAN interface.
• ip link show VLAN_NAME : Display information about a VLAN interface.

7. Managing Bridge Interfaces:

• ip link add name BRIDGE_NAME type bridge : Create a bridge interface.
• ip link set dev INTERFACE master BRIDGE_NAME : Add an interface to a bridge.
• ip link set dev INTERFACE nomaster : Remove an interface from a bridge.
• ip link show BRIDGE_NAME : Display information about a bridge.

8. Managing Tunnels:

• ip tunnel add TUNNEL_NAME mode MODE remote REMOTE_IP local LOCAL_IP : Create a tunnel interface.
• ip tunnel delete TUNNEL_NAME : Delete a tunnel interface.
• ip tunnel show : Display information about tunnel interfaces.

9. Managing QoS and Traffic Control:

• ip link set dev INTERFACE qlen QUEUE_LENGTH : Set the length of the transmit queue.
• ip link set dev INTERFACE txqueuelen QUEUE_LENGTH : Set the length of the transmit queue.
• tc : Use the tc command for advanced traffic control and QoS configuration.

10. Managing Multicast:

• ip maddr show : Display multicast group memberships.
• ip maddr add IP_ADDRESS dev INTERFACE : This adds the INTERFACE to the membership of the multicast group with an  IPv4 address of IP_ADDRESS.
• ip maddr delete IP_ADDRESS dev INTERFACE : Leave the INTERFACE from the multicast group with ip address IP_ADDRESS.

This ip command cheat sheet should provide you with a quick reference for managing network configurations and interfaces in Linux.

Remember to replace INTERFACE, IP_ADDRESS, NETMASK, NETWORK, GATEWAY, VLAN_NAME, BRIDGE_NAME, TUNNEL_NAME, REMOTE_IP, LOCAL_IP, QUEUE_LENGTH, and other placeholders with your specific values when using the commands.