netstat – 10 Most common usage with examples

netstat is one of the most commonly used command to print the network information, However the output of netstat may be difficult to understand with lots of rows and columns of data. With examples in this article you will be able to to use right option to get the right information along with complete understanding of the netstat command output.


netstat is a powerful command line utility in Unix, Linux and Unix like systems to print information about network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships.

By default, netstat displays a list of open sockets of all configured address families , tcp , udp etc.
netstat provide very extensive network details and here are the top netstat usage with different options to get you the just the information you need.

1. netstat -a , netstat –all

This is most common and widely used option and it show listening, non-listening. Sockets. For tcp sockets it shows listening ,established and waiting connections.

Usually this option is used with grep to find out if an application is listening on a particular port and if a particular socket is open

For example

$netstat -a
 Active Internet connections (servers and established)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 tcp 0 0 localhost.localdom:ipp 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
 tcp 0 1 localhost.localdo:59158 cdptpa-roadrunner-:smtp SYN_SENT
 tcp 0 1 localhost.localdo:59159 cdptpa-roadrunner-:smtp SYN_SENT
 tcp6 0 0 [::]:http [::]:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:ipp [::]:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 localhost.localdo:34783 streamerapi1.fina:https ESTABLISHED
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:45869 0.0.0.0:* 0

Active UNIX domain sockets (servers and established)
 Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node Path
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 26063 @/tmp/.ICE-unix/1878
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 27048 @/tmp/dbus-l8k8jj8iie
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 11237 /run/lvm/lvmetad.socket
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 17941 /var/run/abrt/abrt.socket
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 20711 @/tmp/.X11-unix/X0
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 21513 @/tmp/dbus-CAKbkgq3
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 25640 /run/user/1000/keyring-tPMcRg/control
 ...
 ...
 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 34145 /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket
 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 15302
 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17179
 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 45922 @/tmp/.X11-unix/X0
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 20568

To see only tcp details,
use t option along with -a and it will show all tcp connection detail

$ netstat -at
 Active Internet connections (servers and established)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 tcp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:ipp 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
 tcp 0 1 localhost.localdo:59171 cdptpa-roadrunner-:smtp SYN_SENT
 tcp 0 1 localhost.localdo:59170 cdptpa-roadrunner-:smtp SYN_SENT
 tcp6 0 0 [::]:http [::]:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:ipp [::]:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 localhost.localdo:34783 streamerapi1.fina:https ESTABLISHED

To see only udp details
use u option along with -a and it will show all udp connection detail

$ netstat -au
 Active Internet connections (servers and established)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:45869 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:mdns 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:55209 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:bootpc 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:ntp 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:323 0.0.0.0:*
 udp6 0 0 [::]:filenet-rmi [::]:*
 udp6 0 0 [::]:ntp [::]:*
 udp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:323 [::]:*

2. netstat -l, netstat –listening

-l, –listening option in netstat shows just the listening ports, very useful when debugging connectivity issues and you wants to check if a particular port is up and listening or not.

$ netstat -l
 Active Internet connections (only servers)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 tcp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:ipp 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 [::]:http [::]:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:ipp [::]:* LISTEN
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:45869 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:mdns 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:55209 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:bootpc 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:ntp 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:323 0.0.0.0:*
 udp6 0 0 [::]:filenet-rmi [::]:*
 udp6 0 0 [::]:ntp [::]:*
 udp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:323 [::]:*
 raw6 0 0 [::]:ipv6-icmp [::]:* 7
 Active UNIX domain sockets (only servers)
 Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node Path
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 26063 @/tmp/.ICE-unix/1878
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 27048 @/tmp/dbus-l8k8jj8iie
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 11237 /run/lvm/lvmetad.socket
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 17941 /var/run/abrt/abrt.socket
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 20711 @/tmp/.X11-unix/X0
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 21513 @/tmp/dbus-CAKbkgq3

Filter listening ports information by protocol
using additional flag lets you see the listening port information for specific protocol only

A. Display tcp sockets information only

$ netstat -lt
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State 
tcp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:ipp 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 
tcp6 0 0 [::]:http [::]:* LISTEN 
tcp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:ipp [::]:* LISTEN

B. Display Unix sockets information only

 $ netstat -lx
 Active UNIX domain sockets (only servers)
 Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node Path
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 26063 @/tmp/.ICE-unix/1878
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 27048 @/tmp/dbus-l8k8jj8iie
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 11237 /run/lvm/lvmetad.socket
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 17941 /var/run/abrt/abrt.socket
 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 20711 @/tmp/.X11-unix/X0

C. Display udp sockets information only

$ netstat -au
 Active Internet connections (servers and established)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:45610 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:4979 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:mdns 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:bootpc 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:ntp 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:323 0.0.0.0:*
 udp6 0 0 [::]:31159 [::]:*
 udp6 0 0 [::]:ntp [::]:*
 udp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:323 [::]:*

3. -s , –statistics

-s or  –statistics  option display summary statistics for each protocol. Very important option to monitor the network health of a system or  to debug network related issues. Few parameters to monitor are the number of packets , connections , timeout,time_wait, dropped

$ netstat -s
 Ip:
 5749 total packets received
 1 with invalid addresses
 0 forwarded
 0 incoming packets discarded
 3315 incoming packets delivered
 3861 requests sent out
 16 outgoing packets dropped
 Icmp:
 44 ICMP messages received
 0 input ICMP message failed.
 ICMP input histogram:
 destination unreachable: 44
 847 ICMP messages sent
 0 ICMP messages failed
 ICMP output histogram:
 destination unreachable: 847
 IcmpMsg:
 InType3: 44
 OutType3: 847
 Tcp:
 91 active connections openings
 0 passive connection openings
 0 failed connection attempts
 5 connection resets received
 0 connections established
 1987 segments received
 2019 segments send out
 24 segments retransmited
 0 bad segments received.
 47 resets sent
 Udp:
 1318 packets received
 44 packets to unknown port received.
 0 packet receive errors
 761 packets sent
 0 receive buffer errors
 0 send buffer errors
 UdpLite:
 TcpExt:
 44 TCP sockets finished time wait in fast timer
 57 delayed acks sent
 Quick ack mode was activated 10 times
 901 packet headers predicted
 448 acknowledgments not containing data payload received
 81 predicted acknowledgments
 1 congestion windows recovered without slow start after partial ack
 4 other TCP timeouts
 TCPLossProbes: 13
 TCPLossProbeRecovery: 4
 9 DSACKs sent for old packets
 3 DSACKs received
 21 connections reset due to unexpected data
 1 connections aborted due to timeout
 TCPDSACKIgnoredNoUndo: 1
 TCPRcvCoalesce: 783
 TCPAutoCorking: 26
 TCPSynRetrans: 1
 TCPOrigDataSent: 505
 IpExt:
 InMcastPkts: 1553
 OutMcastPkts: 462
 InBcastPkts: 7
 InOctets: 2131885
 OutOctets: 460653
 InMcastOctets: 260539
 OutMcastOctets: 45631
 InBcastOctets: 1784
 InNoECTPkts: 5749

4. -p, –program

-p, –program option show the PID and name of the program to which each socket belongs. Superuser can see all the processes and others can see only the processes they own. Additionally to see only tcp or udp protocol information you can use -pt or -pu options.

This is useful when you want to see the program associated ports and addresses

$ netstat -p

Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name
 tcp 0 1 localhost.localdo:59184 cdptpa-roadrunner-:smtp SYN_SENT -
 tcp 0 1 localhost.localdo:59187 cdptpa-roadrunner-:smtp SYN_SENT -
 tcp6 0 0 localhost.localdo:56122 sfo07s13-in-x0e.1:https ESTABLISHED 2527/firefox
 tcp6 0 0 localhost.localdo:56121 sfo07s13-in-x0e.1:https ESTABLISHED 2527/firefox
 tcp6 0 0 localhost.localdo:34783 streamerapi1.fina:https ESTABLISHED 2527/firefox
 Active UNIX domain sockets (w/o servers)
 Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node PID/Program name Path
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 25650 1805/systemd @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify/1523525770317678118
 unix 8 [ ] DGRAM 9044 - /run/systemd/journal/socket
 unix 25 [ ] DGRAM 9046 - /dev/log
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 10232 - @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify

5. -n, –numeric

–numeric , -n option show numerical addresses instead of trying to determine symbolic host, port or user names. In a busy network environment name resolution can slow down netstat output and this option can be used to skip name resolutions.

There are some specific options for different requirements :

-n, --numeric don't resolve names
 --numeric-hosts don't resolve host names
 --numeric-ports don't resolve port names
 --numeric-users don't resolve user names
$ netstat -n
 Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 tcp 0 1 192.168.10.118:59188 107.14.166.10:25 SYN_SENT
 tcp 0 1 192.168.10.118:59189 107.14.166.10:25 SYN_SENT
 tcp6 0 0 2601:641:8000:2fa:34783 2001:4998:c:e33::51:443 ESTABLISHED
 Active UNIX domain sockets (w/o servers)
 Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node Path
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 25650 @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify/1523525770317678118
 unix 8 [ ] DGRAM 9044 /run/systemd/journal/socket
 unix 25 [ ] DGRAM 9046 /dev/log
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 10232 @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 21565 @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify/962567391553538543
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 29662 @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify/8538180728495578430
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 11200 /run/systemd/shutdownd

6. -I ,  –interfaces=iface , -I=iface

-I ,  –interfaces=iface , -I=iface option in netstat display a table of all network interfaces and connections, or the specified interface .

A. Display all network interfaces

$netstat -I
 Kernel Interface table
 Iface MTU RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
 enp1s0 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 BMU
 lo 65536 274 0 0 0 274 0 0 0 LRU
 wlp2s0 1500 20317 0 0 0 7477 0 0 0 BMRU

B. Display specific network interfaces

$netstat -I=wlp2s0
 Kernel Interface table
 Iface MTU RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
 wlp2s0 1500 21016 0 0 0 7581 0 0 0 BMRU

7. -r , –route

-r,  –route options display the kernel routing tables.  netstat -r and route -e produce the same output.

Useful in finding default route for interfaces and network mask.

$ netstat -r
 Kernel IP routing table
 Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
 default TEW-731BR 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 wlp2s0
 192.168.10.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wlp2s0

8. -v, –verbose

-v , –verbose options in netstat shows Active Internet connections and Active UNIX domain sockets without server information.

This option is  useful in printing out  information about un-configured address families.

$netstat -v
 Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 netstat: no support for `AF INET (sctp)' on this system.
 Active UNIX domain sockets (w/o servers)
 Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node Path
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 10093 /run/systemd/shutdownd
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 11274 @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify
 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 36823 @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify/6818248509316349566
 unix 8 [ ] DGRAM 7836 /run/systemd/journal/socket
 unix 26 [ ] DGRAM 7838 /dev/log

...
 ...
 ...
 netstat: no support for `AF INET (sctp)' on this system.
 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

9. -c, –continuous

-c, –continuous  option will cause netstat to print the selected information every second continuously.

Default value of one second can be changed by specifying a number after c

$netstat -c

Continuous display with a delay of 5 seconds.

$netstat -c 5

10. -e -ee -extend

-e . -ee , -extend  options when used along with other options provides additional  information.

-ee option provides maximum available information for the option

Examples :

Normal output

$ netstat -a
 Active Internet connections (servers and established)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
 tcp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:ipp 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 [::]:http [::]:* LISTEN
 tcp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:ipp [::]:* LISTEN
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:50121 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:mdns 0.0.0.0:*
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:40351 0.0.0.0:*

Extended information

$ netstat -ae
 Active Internet connections (servers and established)
 Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State User Inode
 tcp 0 0 localhost.localdoma:ipp 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN root 28015
 tcp6 0 0 [::]:http [::]:* LISTEN root 20222
 tcp6 0 0 localhost6.localdom:ipp [::]:* LISTEN root 28014
 udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:50121 0.0.0.0:* avahi 19614

Another example to get the routing information

This is a normal output

$ netstat -r
 Kernel IP routing table
 Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
 default TEW-731BR 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 wlp2s0
 192.168.10.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wlp2s0

maximum information output with -ee option

$ netstat -ree
 Kernel IP routing table
 Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface MSS Window irtt
 default TEW-731BR 0.0.0.0 UG 1024 0 0 wlp2s0 0 0 0
 192.168.10.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wlp2s0 0 0 0

Adiitional netstat information with usage , syntax and explanation

usage:

netstat [-vWeenNcCF] [] -r netstat {-V|–version|-h|–help}
netstat [-vWnNcaeol] [ …]
netstat { [-vWeenNac] -I[] | [-veenNac] -i | [-cnNe] -M | -s [-6tuw] } [delay]

-r, –route display routing table
-I, –interfaces= display interface table for
-i, –interfaces display interface table
-g, –groups display multicast group memberships
-s, –statistics display networking statistics (like SNMP)
-M, –masquerade display masqueraded connections

-v, –verbose be verbose
-W, –wide don’t truncate IP addresses
-n, –numeric don’t resolve names
–numeric-hosts don’t resolve host names
–numeric-ports don’t resolve port names
–numeric-users don’t resolve user names
-N, –symbolic resolve hardware names
-e, –extend display other/more information
-p, –programs display PID/Program name for sockets
-o, –timers display timers
-c, –continuous continuous listing

-l, –listening display listening server sockets
-a, –all display all sockets (default: connected)
-F, –fib display Forwarding Information Base (default)
-C, –cache display routing cache instead of FIB
-Z, –context display SELinux security context for sockets

={-t|–tcp} {-u|–udp} {-U|–udplite} {-w|–raw} {-x|–unix}
–ax25 –ipx –netrom
=Use ‘-6|-4’ or ‘-A ‘ or ‘–‘; default: inet
List of possible address families (which support routing)
inet (DARPA Internet), inet6 (IPv6), ax25 (AMPR AX.25), netrom (AMPR NET/RO

The state of the socket.

Since there are no states in raw mode and usually no
states used in UDP and UDPLite, this column may be left blank. Normally this can
be one of several values:

ESTABLISHED
The socket has an established connection.

SYN_SENT
The socket is actively attempting to establish a connection.

SYN_RECV
A connection request has been received from the network.

FIN_WAIT1
The socket is closed, and the connection is shutting down.

FIN_WAIT2
Connection is closed, and the socket is waiting for a shutdown from the
remote end.

TIME_WAIT
The socket is waiting after close to handle packets still in the network.

CLOSE The socket is not being used.

CLOSE_WAIT
The remote end has shut down, waiting for the socket to close.

LAST_ACK
The remote end has shut down, and the socket is closed. Waiting for
acknowledgement.

LISTEN The socket is listening for incoming connections. Such sockets are not
included in the output unless you specify the –listening (-l) or –all
(-a) option.

CLOSING
Both sockets are shut down but we still don’t have all our data sent.

UNKNOWN
The state of the socket is unknown.

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