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. iw – a new nl80211 based CLI configuration utility for wireless devices.
23. jwhois (whois) – client for the whois service.
24. “lsof -i” – reveal information about your network sockets.
25. mtr – network diagnostic tool.
26. net-tools – utilities include: arp, hostname, ifconfig, netstat, rarp, route, plipconfig, slattach, mii-tool, iptunnel and ipmaddr.
27. ncat – improved re-implementation of the venerable netcat.
28. netcat – networking utility for reading/writing network connections.
29. nethogs – a small ‘net top’ tool.
30. Netperf – Network bandwidth Testing.
31. netsniff-ng – Swiss army knife for daily Linux network plumbing.
32. netstat – Print network connections, routing tables, statistics, etc.
33. netwatch – monitoring Network Connections.
34. ngrep – grep applied to the network layer.
35. nload – display network usage.
36. nmap – network discovery and security auditing.
37. nmcli – a command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager and reporting network status.
38. nmtui – provides a text interface to configure networking by controlling NetworkManager.
39. nslookup – query Internet name servers interactively.
40. ping – send icmp echo_request to network hosts.
41. route – show / manipulate the IP routing table.
42. slurm – network load monitor.
43. snort – Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention System.
44. smokeping –  keeps track of your network latency.
45. socat – establishes two bidirectional byte streams and transfers data between them.
46. speedometer – Measure and display the rate of data across a network.
47. speedtest-cli – test internet bandwidth using speedtest.net
48. ss – utility to investigate sockets.
49. ssh –  secure system administration and file transfers over insecure networks.
50. tcpdump – command-line packet analyzer.
51. tcptrack – Displays information about tcp connections on a network interface.
52. telnet – user interface to the TELNET protocol.
53. tracepath – very similar function to traceroute.
54. traceroute – print the route packets trace to network host.
55. vnStat – network traffic monitor.
56. websocat – Connection forwarder from/to web sockets to/from usual sockets, in style of socat.
57. wget –  retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS.
58. Wireless Tools for Linux – includes iwconfig, iwlist, iwspy, iwpriv and ifrename.
59. Wireshark – network protocol analyzer.