# 56 Linux Networking commands and scripts

February 6, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog Linux

Today, I wanted to test network throughput via command line with at least 3 tools. For the life of me, I could not remember iperf. We can all relate. It was a bit frustrating, so I decided to create a network tools go-to-list for myself. Then, I thought, why not turn the list into a blog post? So I spent another hour or two compiling this ongoing list of Linux Networking Commands and Scripts. I look forward mostly to suggestions, because I know there’s always something missing or a new script out there to try.

## Linux Networking commands and scripts

This list of Linux Networking commands and scripts, will receive ongoing updates, similar to the other lists on this blog…

1. arpwatch – Ethernet Activity Monitor.
2. bmon – bandwidth monitor and rate estimator.
3. bwm-ng – live network bandwidth monitor.
4. curl – transferring data with URLs. (or try httpie)
5. darkstat – captures network traffic, usage statistics.
6. dhclient – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Client
7. dig – query DNS servers for information.
8. dstat – replacement for vmstat, iostat, mpstat, netstat and ifstat.
9. ethtool – utility for controlling network drivers and hardware.
10. gated – gateway routing daemon.
11. host – DNS lookup utility.
12. hping – TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer.
13. ibmonitor – shows bandwidth and total data transferred.
14. ifstat – report network interfaces bandwidth.
15. iftop – display bandwidth usage.
16. ip (PDF file) – a command with more features that ifconfig (net-tools).
17. iperf3 – network bandwidth measurement tool. (above screenshot Stacklinux VPS)
18. iproute2 – collection of utilities for controlling TCP/IP.
19. iptables – take control of network traffic.
20. IPTraf – An IP Network Monitor.
21. iputils – set of small useful utilities for Linux networking.
22. jwhois (whois) – client for the whois service.
23. “lsof -i” – reveal information about your network sockets.
24. mtr – network diagnostic tool.
25. net-tools – utilities include: arp, hostname, ifconfig, netstat, rarp, route, plipconfig, slattach, mii-tool, iptunnel and ipmaddr.
26. ncat – improved re-implementation of the venerable netcat.
27. netcat – networking utility for reading/writing network connections.
28. nethogs – a small ‘net top’ tool.
29. Netperf – Network bandwidth Testing.
30. netsniff-ng – Swiss army knife for daily Linux network plumbing.
31. netstat – Print network connections, routing tables, statistics, etc.
32. netwatch – monitoring Network Connections.
33. ngrep – grep applied to the network layer.
34. nload – display network usage.
35. nmap – network discovery and security auditing.
36. nslookup – query Internet name servers interactively.
37. ping – send icmp echo_request to network hosts.
38. route – show / manipulate the IP routing table.
39. slurm – network load monitor.
40. snort – Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention System.
41. smokeping – keeps track of your network latency.
42. socat – establishes two bidirectional byte streams and transfers data between them.
43. speedometer – Measure and display the rate of data across a network.
44. speedtest-cli – test internet bandwidth using speedtest.net
45. ss – utility to investigate sockets.
46. ssh – secure system administration and file transfers over insecure networks.
47. tcpdump – command-line packet analyzer.
48. tcptrack – Displays information about tcp connections on a network interface.
49. telnet – user interface to the TELNET protocol.
50. tracepath – very similar function to traceroute.
51. traceroute – print the route packets trace to network host.
52. vnStat – network traffic monitor.
53. websocat – Connection forwarder from/to web sockets to/from usual sockets, in style of socat.
54. wget – retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS.
55. Wireless Tools for Linux – includes iwconfig, iwlist, iwspy, iwpriv and ifrename.
56. Wireshark – network protocol analyzer.

Last updated: February 6th 2019

Add your suggestions to the comments section below, or contact me directly.

### Tags: commandline, DNS, networking, scripts, sysadmins

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