20 Netstat Commands for Linux Network Management

Ravi SaiveJuly 3, 2020 CentOS, Fedora, Linux Commands, Linux Distros, Monitoring Tools, RedHat 18 Comments

netstat (network statistics) is a command line tool for monitoring network connections both incoming and outgoing as well as viewing routing tables, interface statistics etc.

netstat is available on all Unix-like Operating Systems and also available on Windows OS as well. It is very useful in terms of network troubleshooting and performance measurement. netstat is one of the most basic network service debugging tools, telling you what ports are open and whether any programs are listening on ports.

Update: The Linux netstat command is replaced by new ss command, which is capable of displaying more information about network connections and it is much faster than the older netstat command.

This tool is very important and much useful for Linux network administrators as well as system administrators to monitor and troubleshoot their network-related problems and determine network traffic performance. This article shows usages of netstat command with their examples which may be useful in daily operation.

You might also be interested in following article

35 Practical Examples of Linux Find Command

1. Listing all the LISTENING Ports of TCP and UDP connections

Listing all ports (both TCP and UDP) using netstat -a option.

# netstat -a | more

Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
tcp        0      0 *:sunrpc                    *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0     52 192.168.0.2:ssh             192.168.0.1:egs             ESTABLISHED
tcp        1      0 192.168.0.2:59292           www.gov.com:http            CLOSE_WAIT
tcp        0      0 localhost:smtp              *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:59482                     *:*                         LISTEN
udp        0      0 *:35036                     *:*
udp        0      0 *:npmp-local                *:*

Active UNIX domain sockets (servers and established)
Proto RefCnt Flags       Type       State         I-Node Path
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     16972  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-76b-0-6fa08790553d6
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     17149  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-794-0-7058d584166d2
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     17161  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-792-0-546fe905321cc
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     15938  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-74b-0-415135cb6aeab

2. Listing TCP Ports connections

Listing only TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) port connections using netstat -at.

# netstat -at

Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
tcp        0      0 *:ssh                       *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost:ipp               *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost:smtp              *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0     52 192.168.0.2:ssh             192.168.0.1:egs             ESTABLISHED
tcp        1      0 192.168.0.2:59292           www.gov.com:http            CLOSE_WAIT

3. Listing UDP Ports connections

Listing only UDP (User Datagram Protocol ) port connections using netstat -au.

# netstat -au

Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
udp        0      0 *:35036                     *:*
udp        0      0 *:npmp-local                *:*
udp        0      0 *:mdns                      *:*

4. Listing all LISTENING Connections

Listing all active listening ports connections with netstat -l.

# netstat -l

Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
tcp        0      0 *:sunrpc                    *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:58642                     *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:ssh                       *:*                         LISTEN
udp        0      0 *:35036                     *:*
udp        0      0 *:npmp-local                *:*

Active UNIX domain sockets (only servers)
Proto RefCnt Flags       Type       State         I-Node Path
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     16972  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-76b-0-6fa08790553d6
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     17149  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-794-0-7058d584166d2
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     17161  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-792-0-546fe905321cc
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     15938  /tmp/orbit-root/linc-74b-0-415135cb6aeab

5. Listing all TCP Listening Ports

Listing all active listening TCP ports by using option netstat -lt.

# netstat -lt

Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
tcp        0      0 *:dctp                      *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:mysql                     *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:sunrpc                    *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:munin                     *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:ftp                       *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost.localdomain:ipp   *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost.localdomain:smtp  *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:http                      *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:ssh                       *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:https                     *:*                         LISTEN

6. Listing all UDP Listening Ports

Listing all active listening UDP ports by using option netstat -lu.

# netstat -lu

Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
udp        0      0 *:39578                     *:*
udp        0      0 *:meregister                *:*
udp        0      0 *:vpps-qua                  *:*
udp        0      0 *:openvpn                   *:*
udp        0      0 *:mdns                      *:*
udp        0      0 *:sunrpc                    *:*
udp        0      0 *:ipp                       *:*
udp        0      0 *:60222                     *:*
udp        0      0 *:mdns                      *:*

7. Listing all UNIX Listening Ports

Listing all active UNIX listening ports using netstat -lx.

# netstat -lx

Active UNIX domain sockets (only servers)
Proto RefCnt Flags       Type       State         I-Node Path
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     4171   @ISCSIADM_ABSTRACT_NAMESPACE
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5767   /var/run/cups/cups.sock
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     7082   @/tmp/fam-root-
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     6157   /dev/gpmctl
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     6215   @/var/run/hald/dbus-IcefTIUkHm
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     6038   /tmp/.font-unix/fs7100
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     6175   /var/run/avahi-daemon/socket
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     4157   @ISCSID_UIP_ABSTRACT_NAMESPACE
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     60835836 /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     4645   /var/run/audispd_events
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5136   /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     6216   @/var/run/hald/dbus-wsUBI30V2I
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5517   /var/run/acpid.socket
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5531   /var/run/pcscd.comm

8. Showing Statistics by Protocol

Displays statistics by protocol. By default, statistics are shown for the TCP, UDP, ICMP, and IP protocols. The -s parameter can be used to specify a set of protocols.

# netstat -s

Ip:
    2461 total packets received
    0 forwarded
    0 incoming packets discarded
    2431 incoming packets delivered
    2049 requests sent out
Icmp:
    0 ICMP messages received
    0 input ICMP message failed.
    ICMP input histogram:
    1 ICMP messages sent
    0 ICMP messages failed
    ICMP output histogram:
        destination unreachable: 1
Tcp:
    159 active connections openings
    1 passive connection openings
    4 failed connection attempts
    0 connection resets received
    1 connections established
    2191 segments received
    1745 segments send out
    24 segments retransmited
    0 bad segments received.
    4 resets sent
Udp:
    243 packets received
    1 packets to unknown port received.
    0 packet receive errors
    281 packets sent

9. Showing Statistics by TCP Protocol

Showing statistics of only TCP protocol by using option netstat -st.

# netstat -st

Tcp:
    2805201 active connections openings
    1597466 passive connection openings
    1522484 failed connection attempts
    37806 connection resets received
    1 connections established
    57718706 segments received
    64280042 segments send out
    3135688 segments retransmited
    74 bad segments received.
    17580 resets sent

10. Showing Statistics by UDP Protocol

# netstat -su

Udp:
    1774823 packets received
    901848 packets to unknown port received.
    0 packet receive errors
    2968722 packets sent

11. Displaying Service name with PID

Displaying service name with their PID number, using option netstat -tp will display “PID/Program Name”.

# netstat -tp

Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State       PID/Program name
tcp        0      0 192.168.0.2:ssh             192.168.0.1:egs             ESTABLISHED 2179/sshd
tcp        1      0 192.168.0.2:59292           www.gov.com:http            CLOSE_WAIT  1939/clock-applet

12. Displaying Promiscuous Mode

Displaying Promiscuous mode with -ac switch, netstat print the selected information or refresh screen every five second. Default screen refresh in every second.

# netstat -ac 5 | grep tcp

tcp        0      0 *:sunrpc                    *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:58642                     *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:ssh                       *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost:ipp               *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost:smtp              *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        1      0 192.168.0.2:59447           www.gov.com:http            CLOSE_WAIT
tcp        0     52 192.168.0.2:ssh             192.168.0.1:egs             ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 *:sunrpc                    *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:ssh                       *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost:ipp               *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 localhost:smtp              *:*                         LISTEN
tcp        0      0 *:59482                     *:*                         LISTEN

13. Displaying Kernel IP routing

Display Kernel IP routing table with netstat and route command.

# netstat -r

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags   MSS Window  irtt Iface
192.168.0.0     *               255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 eth0
link-local      *               255.255.0.0     U         0 0          0 eth0
default         192.168.0.1     0.0.0.0         UG        0 0          0 eth0

14. Showing Network Interface Transactions

Showing network interface packet transactions including both transferring and receiving packets with MTU size.

# netstat -i

Kernel Interface table
Iface       MTU Met    RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR    TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
eth0       1500   0     4459      0      0      0     4057      0      0      0 BMRU
lo        16436   0        8      0      0      0        8      0      0      0 LRU

15. Showing Kernel Interface Table

Showing Kernel interface table, similar to ifconfig command.

# netstat -ie

Kernel Interface table
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0C:29:B4:DA:21
          inet addr:192.168.0.2  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::20c:29ff:feb4:da21/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:4486 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4077 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:2720253 (2.5 MiB)  TX bytes:1161745 (1.1 MiB)
          Interrupt:18 Base address:0x2000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:480 (480.0 b)  TX bytes:480 (480.0 b)

16. Displaying IPv4 and IPv6 Information

Displays multicast group membership information for both IPv4 and IPv6.

# netstat -g

IPv6/IPv4 Group Memberships
Interface       RefCnt Group
--------------- ------ ---------------------
lo              1      all-systems.mcast.net
eth0            1      224.0.0.251
eth0            1      all-systems.mcast.net
lo              1      ff02::1
eth0            1      ff02::202
eth0            1      ff02::1:ffb4:da21
eth0            1      ff02::1

17. Print Netstat Information Continuously

To get netstat information every few second, then use the following command, it will print netstat information continuously, say every few seconds.

# netstat -c

Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg007.shr.prod.s:36944 TIME_WAIT
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg010.shr.prod.s:42110 TIME_WAIT
tcp        0    132 tecmint.com:ssh    115.113.134.3.static-:64662 ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   crawl-66-249-71-240.g:41166 TIME_WAIT
tcp        0      0 localhost.localdomain:54823 localhost.localdomain:smtp  TIME_WAIT
tcp        0      0 localhost.localdomain:54822 localhost.localdomain:smtp  TIME_WAIT
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg010.shr.prod.s:42091 TIME_WAIT
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg007.shr.prod.s:36998 TIME_WAIT

18. Finding non supportive Address

Finding un-configured address families with some useful information.

# netstat --verbose

netstat: no support for `AF IPX' on this system.
netstat: no support for `AF AX25' on this system.
netstat: no support for `AF X25' on this system.
netstat: no support for `AF NETROM' on this system.

19. Finding Listening Programs

Find out how many listening programs running on a port.

# netstat -ap | grep http

tcp        0      0 *:http                      *:*                         LISTEN      9056/httpd
tcp        0      0 *:https                     *:*                         LISTEN      9056/httpd
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg008.shr.prod.s:35248 TIME_WAIT   -
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg007.shr.prod.s:57783 TIME_WAIT   -
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg007.shr.prod.s:57769 TIME_WAIT   -
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg008.shr.prod.s:35270 TIME_WAIT   -
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg009.shr.prod.s:41637 TIME_WAIT   -
tcp        0      0 tecmint.com:http   sg2nlhg009.shr.prod.s:41614 TIME_WAIT   -
unix  2      [ ]         STREAM     CONNECTED     88586726 10394/httpd

20. Displaying RAW Network Statistics

# netstat --statistics --raw

Ip:
    62175683 total packets received
    52970 with invalid addresses
    0 forwarded
Icmp:
    875519 ICMP messages received
        destination unreachable: 901671
        echo request: 8
        echo replies: 16253
IcmpMsg:
        InType0: 83
IpExt:
    InMcastPkts: 117

That’s it, If you are looking for more information and options about netstat command, refer netstat manual docs or use man netstat command to know all the information. If we’ve missed anything in the list, please inform us using our comment section below. So, we could keep updating this list based on your comments.

Linux 20 Netstat Commands for Linux Network Management