ifconfig(8) CLIX ifconfig(8)
NAME
ifconfig - Configures network interface parameters
SYNOPSIS
/etc/ifconfig interface-name [address-family [address]] [option ... ]
DESCRIPTION
The ifconfig command is the network interface configuration utility. The
command is run at boot time to define the Department of Defense (DoD)
Internet address as well as other attributes for each physical network
interface configured to use the DoD Internet Protocol (IP) suite.
The interface-name parameter is a string consisting of the device name of
an interface device, such as /dev/et0.
The default value of the address-family parameter is inet, the Internet
Protocol family, which is the only address family currently supported.
The address parameter may be a hostname present in /etc/hosts or a DoD
Internet address in standard dot notation, such as 129.135.200.7.
The following are valid options:
up Marks an interface as ``up'' (enables transmission and reception of
Internet datagrams).
down Marks an interface as ``down'' (disables transmission and reception
of Internet datagrams).
metric n
Sets the routing metric of the interface to n. The default is one.
The routing metric is used in determining the number of hops a
datagram may take before reaching its final destination.
netmask mask
Specifies the portion of the Internet address to reserve for
dividing networks into subnetworks. The mask parameter is a 32-bit
mask in which the set bits specify the bits of the Internet address
to be treated as the network and subnetwork fields. The subnetwork
field consists of bits that would ordinarily, according to the
address class definition, belong to the host field. Clear bits in
mask represent the host field. The mask parameter can be specified
as a single hexadecimal number with a leading 0x, as an Internet
address in standard dot notation, or with a network name listed in
the network database, /etc/networks. If mask is +, or if this
option is not used on the command line, the /etc/netmasks file is
checked for a subnet mask matching the Internet address to be
configured. If the /etc/netmasks file does not exist or if a
matching entry does not exist, ifconfig will attempt to obtain the
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ifconfig(8) CLIX ifconfig(8)
subnet mask information from the network with an ICMP Address Mask
Request issued on the interface being configured. If so, the
subnet mask will be set based on the first response received from
the network (the Internet address of the node that set your
subnetwork mask will display on the console when your system
boots).
broadcast bcast_addr
Specifies the address to be used as the broadcast address on the
network. The default value of bcast_addr is the network portion of
the local address with all ones for the host portion.
maskrep
Authorizes this host to reply to ICMP address mask requests
received on this interface.
-maskrep
Disallows this host from replying to ICMP address mask requests.
If options are not supplied, ifconfig displays the current configuration
of interface-name.
NOTES
Only the superuser may modify the configuration of a network interface.
DIAGNOSTICS
Messages indicating that the specified interface does not exist, the
requested address is unknown, the given parameter is not supported, or the
user is not privileged to perform the specified operation are displayed if
such conditions are encountered.
RELATED INFORMATION
Functions: inet(3)
Files: inet(7), ip(7), hosts(4), networks(4), netmasks(4)
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