Linux Networking Commands for DevOps Engineers¶
This page covers essential Linux networking commands used by DevOps engineers to troubleshoot connectivity, inspect network interfaces, and debug service-to-service communication in production systems.
wget Command¶
The wget command is used to download binary or large files (e.g., zip, tar, tar.gz files).
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ pwd
/home/opc
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ mkdir wget-examples
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ cd wget-examples/
[opc@new-k8s wget-examples]$ pwd
/home/opc/wget-examples
[opc@new-k8s wget-examples]$ ll
total 0
[opc@new-k8s wget-examples]$ wget https://dlcdn.apache.org/maven/maven-3/3.9.1/binaries/apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip
--2023-04-17 13:27:27-- https://dlcdn.apache.org/maven/maven-3/3.9.1/binaries/apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip
Resolving dlcdn.apache.org (dlcdn.apache.org)... 151.101.2.132, 2a04:4e42::644
Connecting to dlcdn.apache.org (dlcdn.apache.org)|151.101.2.132|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 9143026 (8.7M) [application/zip]
Saving to: ‘apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip’
100%[=========================================================================================================================>] 9,143,026 24.9MB/s in 0.4s
2023-04-17 13:27:28 (24.9 MB/s) - ‘apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip’ saved [9143026/9143026]
[opc@new-k8s wget-examples]$ ll
total 8932
-rw-rw-r--. 1 opc opc 9143026 Mar 15 10:00 apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip
wget - Quiet Mode¶
-q or --quiet → Quiet mode, will not show any logs or progress bar.
[opc@new-k8s wget-examples]$ wget -q https://dlcdn.apache.org/maven/maven-3/3.9.1/binaries/apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.tar.gz
[opc@new-k8s wget-examples]$ ll -h
total 18M
-rw-rw-r--. 1 opc opc 8.7M Mar 15 10:00 apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.tar.gz
-rw-rw-r--. 1 opc opc 8.8M Mar 15 10:00 apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip
curl Command¶
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ mkdir curl-examples
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ cd curl-examples/
[opc@new-k8s curl-examples]$ pwd
/home/opc/curl-examples
[opc@new-k8s curl-examples]$ ll
total 0
[opc@new-k8s curl-examples]$ curl https://dlcdn.apache.org/maven/maven-3/3.9.1/binaries/apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip -o apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 8928k 100 8928k 0 0 13.4M 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 13.4M
[opc@new-k8s curl-examples]$ ll
total 8932
-rw-rw-r--. 1 opc opc 9143026 Apr 17 13:35 apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip
curl - Silent Mode¶
-s or --silent → Will not show the logs or progress bar.
[opc@new-k8s curl-examples]$ curl -s https://dlcdn.apache.org/maven/maven-3/3.9.1/source/apache-maven-3.9.1-src.tar.gz -o apache-maven-3.9.1-src.tar.gz
[opc@new-k8s curl-examples]$ ll -h
total 12M
-rw-rw-r--. 1 opc opc 8.8M Apr 17 13:35 apache-maven-3.9.1-bin.zip
-rw-rw-r--. 1 opc opc 2.7M Apr 17 13:38 apache-maven-3.9.1-src.tar.gz
ping Command¶
The ping command is the foundational tool for verifying network connectivity to a host using ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets.
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ ping -c 4 google.com
PING google.com (142.250.190.46) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from ord38s28-in-f14.1e100.net (142.250.190.46): icmp_seq=1 ttl=115 time=1.85 ms
64 bytes from ord38s28-in-f14.1e100.net (142.250.190.46): icmp_seq=2 ttl=115 time=1.84 ms
--- google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
ip Command¶
The ip command replaces legacy tools like ifconfig for modern network interface management, IP addresses, and routing.
# Check all IP addresses assigned to this machine
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ ip addr show
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 9001 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
inet 10.0.0.15/24 brd 10.0.0.255 scope global dynamic eth0
ss Command¶
The ss command is the modern replacement for netstat. It dumps socket statistics and allows DevOps engineers to trace open ports and active connections.
# List all active listening TCP ports along with the processes using them
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ sudo ss -tulpn
Netid State Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address:Port Peer Address:Port Process
tcp LISTEN 0 128 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* users:(("sshd",pid=1024,fd=3))
tcp LISTEN 0 511 *:80 *:* users:(("nginx",pid=2048,fd=6))
dig Command¶
The dig (Domain Information Groper) command is an advanced DNS lookup utility used to query DNS nameservers and troubleshoot routing records.
[opc@new-k8s ~]$ dig +short A google.com
142.250.190.46
🧠 Quick Quiz — Networking Commands¶
Which command is most commonly used to test basic network connectivity to a remote host?
📝 Want More Practice?¶
To strengthen your understanding and prepare for interviews, try the full 20-question practice quiz based on this chapter:
👉 Start Networking Commands Quiz (20 Questions)
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