Network Configuration Report
Question: what would be the six key sections of a report given out by the ifconfig command on a linux machine
anonymous
Answer: Typing ifconfig by itself (or with just an interface name) at a command prompt will produce a report on the networking that is configured on the system in question (for the specified interface). On a stand alone system this report might look something like the following:
lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:3924 Metric:1 Rx packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 Tx packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
This is reporting on an inet (tcp/ip) loopback definition set up on a stand alone system. On a networked system you can expect the report to give information about the networking that is set up on the system for example:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:C1:8A:E2:D9 inet addr:127.16.100.1 Bcast:127.16.100.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING PROMISC MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 Rx packets:12347234 errors:12 dropped:98 overruns:0 frame:30 Tx packets:102376 errors:9 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:29 collisions:3460 txqueuelen:100 Interrupt:10 Base address:0x1400
There are six sections in this report when the tcp/ip protocol is used on an ethernet network as it is in the above example:
- the first line lists the interface name, link protocol, and hardware address
- the second line reports on the ip configuration
- the third line lists the flags set for this protocol
- the fourth line reports statistics on received packets
- the fifth and sixth lines report statistics on transmitted packets
- and the last line provides the configuration settings for the network card (and is therefore the line that is missing from the report on a stand alone system which doesn't have a configured network card)
There are six different networking protocols that ifconfig can report on. The protocols that will be reported on are inet (tcp/ip), inet6 (ipv6), ax25 (AMPR Packet Radio - AX25), ddp (AppleTalk), ipx (Novell IPX), and netrom (AMPR Packet Radio - NET/ROM). What appears on the report will vary depending on which of these protocols is used but the types of information supplied should still include each of the above six types of information.
The ifconfig command can also be used to configure four of these six protocols. The two it can't configure are ddp and ipx.
To get more information about the ifconfig command type man ifconfig at the command prompt.
