Command Line Tools for Networking

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Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2025 08:26:00 GMT
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  "name": "Network Routing Management",
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Command Line Tools for Networking

Network Configuration and Interface Management

  • ip: Configure IP addresses, routes, and manage network interfaces.

  • ifconfig: View and configure network interfaces (deprecated on some systems, replaced by ip).

  • netsh: Configure and manage network settings on Windows.

  • nmcli: Control NetworkManager and configure network connections on Linux.

  • iwd/wpa/iw/connman: Network management tools

  • route: Manage IP routing tables.
Command Line Tools for Networking

Connection Testing and Diagnostics

  • ping: Test reachability of hosts and measure round-trip time.

  • traceroute / tracert (Windows): Trace the path packets take to a destination.

  • mtr: Combines ping and traceroute for continuous network diagnostics.

  • telnet: Test connectivity and basic communication with TCP ports.

  • nc (Netcat): Send and receive data over TCP/UDP; useful for testing ports.

  • curl / wget: Retrieve data from URLs, test HTTP/HTTPS connections.
Command Line Tools for Networking

Network Analysis and Troubleshooting

  • arp: Display or manipulate the ARP cache (used to map IPs to MAC addresses).

  • tcpdump: Capture and analyze packets on a network interface.

  • Wireshark (CLI: tshark): Network protocol analyzer for in-depth packet analysis.

  • ss: Display socket statistics and details for active connections.

  • nmap: Network discovery and security auditing, includes port scanning.

  • nslookup / dig: Query DNS servers for information about hostnames and IPs.

  • host: Simple tool for DNS lookups.
Command Line Tools for Networking

Performance Monitoring and Statistics

  • netstat: View network connections, routing tables, interface stats, and more.

  • iftop: Monitor bandwidth usage on a specific interface.

  • nload: Visualize network traffic in real-time.

  • bmon: Bandwidth monitor and rate estimator.

  • iperf3: Measure network bandwidth between two hosts.

  • vnstat: Network traffic monitor and logger.
Command Line Tools for Networking

Network File Transfer and Communication

  • scp: Securely copy files between hosts over SSH.

  • sftp: Secure File Transfer Protocol, similar to ftp but encrypted with SSH.

  • rsync: Sync files and directories locally or across networks efficiently.

  • ftp: Transfer files using the File Transfer Protocol (less secure than SFTP).

  • tftp: Transfer files over Trivial File Transfer Protocol (often used in PXE environments).
Command Line Tools for Networking

Firewall and Security Management

  • ufw: Simple command-line interface for managing firewall on Linux.

  • iptables / nftables: Configure firewall rules and manage packet filtering.

  • firewalld: A service to manage firewall on Linux, often used with firewall-cmd.
Command Line Tools for Networking

VPN and Tunnel Management

  • openvpn: Connect to OpenVPN-compatible VPNs.

  • ssh: Secure Shell for encrypted connections and tunneling.

  • sshd: SSH daemon, runs on servers to allow SSH access.

  • stunnel: Provides TLS encryption for arbitrary TCP connections.

  • ipsec / strongSwan: Manage IPsec VPN connections.
Command Line Tools for Networking

nmcli

nmcli is the command-line tool for managing network connections with NetworkManager. It can handle both wired and wireless connections.

# List all connections
nmcli connection show

# Connect to a Wi-Fi network
nmcli device wifi connect "SSID" password "password"

# Disconnect a connection
nmcli connection down id "ConnectionName"

# Display device status
nmcli device status
Command Line Tools for Networking

iwd (Internet Wireless Daemon)

iwd is a lightweight Wi-Fi management daemon developed by Intel, offering WPA2 and WPA3 support.

# Start interactive mode to manage Wi-Fi connections
iwctl

# Inside iwctl:
# List available Wi-Fi networks
> station wlan0 get-networks

# Connect to a Wi-Fi network
> station wlan0 connect "SSID"

# Disconnect from a network
> station wlan0 disconnect
Command Line Tools for Networking

wpa_supplicant

wpa_supplicant is a Wi-Fi management daemon often used to connect to WPA and WPA2 protected networks.

# Start wpa_supplicant with a configuration file
wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

# Connect interactively using wpa_cli
wpa_cli -i wlan0

# Within wpa_cli:
# Connect to a network by SSID and passphrase
> add_network
> set_network 0 ssid ""SSID""
> set_network 0 psk ""password""
> enable_network 0
Command Line Tools for Networking

nmap

Nmap (“Network Mapper”) is an open source tool for network exploration and security auditing.

  • Ping Scan



  • OS detection



  • experiment with others...


nmap -sp 192.168.1.1/24



nmap -O 192.51.155.0/24


nmap --help

man nmap
Command Line Tools for Networking

wifi modes

  • mode
    • infrastructure: This is the most common mode, used for connecting to standard Wi-Fi networks with an access point.

    • ap: Used to set up the device as an access point.

    • adhoc: Used for ad-hoc networks where devices connect directly to each other without an access point. (No router needed!)

    • monitor: This mode is used for passive monitoring of Wi-Fi traffic. It allows the device to capture packets without actively participating in the network.

    • mesh: Used for mesh networking, where devices communicate with each other to form a network without a central access point.

    • p2p: Peer-to-peer mode, used for direct communication between devices, similar to ad-hoc but with different underlying mechanisms.