Table of contents
- Ping – Check Connectivity
- Traceroute – Trace the Path of Network Traffic
- Netstat – View Active Network Connections
- ifconfig / ip – Check and Configure Network Interfaces
- nslookup / dig – Troubleshoot DNS Resolution
- curl / wget – Test HTTP Requests and Downloads
- ip route – View and Manipulate Routing Tables
- netcat (nc) – Network Troubleshooting and Testing
- iptables / ufw – Manage Firewall Rules
- arp – View and Manipulate ARP Cache
- Conclusion
In DevOps, managing distributed systems, automating workflows, and ensuring reliable communication between different environments are important to build scalable and efficient infrastructure. To do this well, understanding networking is essential. As a DevOps engineer, you’ll often work with tools that rely on strong network connections, within local environments and in the cloud.
In this blog, let’s explore some of the most essential networking commands every DevOps engineer should know. These commands will help you monitor, troubleshoot, and configure networks, making it easier to ensure smooth deployments and operations across your infrastructure.
Ping – Check Connectivity
Command: ping
It is a simple yet powerful tool for checking whether a remote server or service is reachable over the network. In DevOps, you’ll use it to verify network connectivity between your machines, services, or containers.
Example: ping google.com
Traceroute – Trace the Path of Network Traffic
Command: traceroute (Linux/macOS) / tracert (Windows)
It tracks the route packets from your system to a remote destination, showing each hop and the time it takes to reach each point. This is invaluable for DevOps engineers when troubleshooting network delays or failures in multi-cloud or hybrid.
Example: traceroute google.com
Netstat – View Active Network Connections
Command: netstat
It provides detailed information about active network connections, open ports, and the status of services listening for traffic. It helps understand the state of services in your infrastructure and detects any unusual activity.
Example: netstat -tuln
ifconfig / ip – Check and Configure Network Interfaces
Command: ifconfig (Linux Older Versions) / ip a (Linux Newer Versions)
These commands allow you to view and configure network interfaces. In DevOps, you may use them to troubleshoot connectivity issues, configure IP addresses, or troubleshoot network interfaces on virtual machines, containers, or servers.
Example: ip a
nslookup / dig – Troubleshoot DNS Resolution
Command: nslookup / dig
Both are used for querying DNS (Domain Name System) records, allowing you to look up the IP address associated with a domain name. In DevOps, they are crucial for diagnosing issues with domain resolution and ensuring that services are correctly resolving names to IP addresses.
Example: nslookup google.com / dig google.com
curl / wget – Test HTTP Requests and Downloads
Command: curl / wget
Both are used to fetch data from a server over various protocols, including HTTP, FTP, and others. In DevOps, they are invaluable for testing HTTP services, downloading files, and automating interactions with REST APIs or cloud services.
Example: curl example.com/demo1
ip route – View and Manipulate Routing Tables
Command: ip route
This command is used to display and manipulate routing tables on Linux systems. In the DevOps context, it is useful for managing network routes in complex multi-cloud or hybrid environments, ensuring traffic is directed correctly.
Example: ip route show
netcat (nc) – Network Troubleshooting and Testing
Command: nc
It is a versatile tool used for testing network connectivity. It can be used to open TCP/UDP connections, listen on ports, and transfer data between systems. It’s essential for debugging and testing network configurations in DevOps workflows.
Example: nc -zv 192.168.1.1 80-443
iptables / ufw – Manage Firewall Rules
Command: iptables / ufw
iptables and ufw(Uncomplicated Firewall) are used to configure and manage firewall rules on Linux systems. Firewalls are essential for securing networks and services in a DevOps environment, especially in containerized or cloud-native infrastructures.
Example: sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
arp – View and Manipulate ARP Cache
Command: arp
It is used to manage the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) cache, which maps IP addresses to MAC addresses. This tool is useful when troubleshooting local network communication issues.
Example: arp -a
Conclusion
As a DevOps engineer, understanding and using networking commands is essential for troubleshooting, configuring, and optimizing network communication in modern, distributed systems. Mastering these essential networking commands allows you to quickly diagnose issues, configure network interfaces, test connectivity, and secure your infrastructure, all of which are fundamental to the success of any DevOps workflow.