Setting up the network

Before digging through recipes based on networking, it is essential to have a basic understanding of setting up a network, terminologies, and commands for assigning IP address, adding routes, and so on. This recipe will give an overview of different commands used in GNU/Linux for networking and their usages from the basics.

Getting ready

A network interface is used to connect a machine to a network. Usually, Linux denotes network interfaces using names like eth0, eth1 (referring to Ethernet interfaces). Other interfaces, such as usb0, wlan0, and so on are available for USB network interfaces, wireless LAN respectively.

In this recipe, we will use these commands: ifconfig, route, nslookup, and host.

ifconfig is the command that is used to configure and display details about network interfaces, subnet mask, and so on. On a typical system, it should be available at /sbin/ifconfig.

How to do it...

1. List the current network interface configuration:

   $ ifconfig
   lo        Link...