Linux Mint

How to List Network Interfaces on Linux Mint 21

Network interface means a communication between a system and a network. In simple terms, how a system connects a software network to the hardware device is called network interface. In the Linux system, network interface has two categories, physical network interface and virtual network interface.

Physical network interface means a connection of a network with hardware devices such as Ethernet whereas a virtual network doesn’t create a connection with hardware devices but linked with it such as VLANs.

How to List Network Interfaces on Linux Mint 21

The best thing about being a Linux user is, it always provides several interesting ways to work with it. Similarly, to check present network interfaces on Linux Min 21 can be found using multiple command-line tools.

Following are some popular command-line utilities to find list of network interfaces on system:

  1. ip command tool
  2. nmcli command tool
  3. tcpdump command tool
  4. netstat command tool
  5. if config command tool

Let’s start with how they work:

How to List Network Interfaces on Linux Mint 21 using ip Command

The ip command-line tool is used as a network administrator to configure network interfaces. Use the following command to list down network interfaces on the system:

$ ip link show

How to List Network Interfaces on Linux Mint 21 using nmcli Command

The nmcli command tool works to control Network Manager as it reports and prints complete network status.

To display network interfaces using this tool, follow the command:

$ nmcli device status

How to List Network Interfaces on Linux Mint 21 using netstat Command

As the name describes, netstat (network statistics) is used to report network-related issues like connections, protocol statistics, and routing. When executing a netstat command on a Linux system, it generates a report that prints system network statistics on the terminal.

Type in terminal:

$ netstat -i

How to List Network Interfaces on Linux Mint 21 using tcpdump Command

The tcpdump command is an analyzer tool that captures network traffic of a system. It’s a versatile packet sniffing tool that inspects system connectivity issues and filters them.

Run the mentioned command to check its working:

$ tcpdump --list-interface

How to List Network Interfaces on Linux Mint 21 using ifconfig Command

The ifconfig command-line utility is used to configure network interfaces and assign them addresses. Following is the command executed below to display network interfaces:

$ /sbin/ifconfig -a

Conclusion

Network interface of any system means a software network connection to the hardware device. There are two categories of network interface i-e physical and virtual. We have seen multiple command-line options in this article to list down network details of the updated version Linux mint 21. Some of popular and easiest one commands are ip command, netstat command, nmcli, if_config and tcpdump command.

About the author

Syeda Wardah Batool

I am a Software Engineer Graduate and Self Motivated Linux writer. I also love to read latest Linux books. Moreover, in my free time, i love to read books on Personal development.