The netstat command is used on Linux systems at the terminal. This information was obtained from a Kali Linux distribution using man netstat. To see how this command is used on Windows systems, please refer to this page.
NAME
netstat – Print network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships.
SYNOPSIS
netstat [address_family_options] [--tcp|-t] [--udp|-u]
[--udplite|-U] [--sctp|-S] [--raw|-w] [--l2cap|-2] [--rfcomm|-f]
[--listening|-l] [--all|-a] [--numeric|-n] [--numeric-hosts]
[--numeric-ports] [--numeric-users] [--symbolic|-N]
[--extend|-e[--extend|-e]] [--timers|-o] [--program|-p]
[--verbose|-v] [--continuous|-c] [--wide|-W]
netstat {--route|-r} [address_family_options]
[--extend|-e[--extend|-e]] [--verbose|-v] [--numeric|-n]
[--numeric-hosts] [--numeric-ports] [--numeric-users]
[--continuous|-c]
netstat {--interfaces|-i} [--all|-a] [--extend|-e[--extend|-e]]
[--verbose|-v] [--program|-p] [--numeric|-n] [--numeric-hosts]
[--numeric-ports] [--numeric-users] [--continuous|-c]
netstat {--groups|-g} [--numeric|-n] [--numeric-hosts]
[--numeric-ports] [--numeric-users] [--continuous|-c]
netstat {--masquerade|-M} [--extend|-e] [--numeric|-n]
[--numeric-hosts] [--numeric-ports] [--numeric-users]
[--continuous|-c]
netstat {--statistics|-s} [--tcp|-t] [--udp|-u] [--udplite|-U]
[--sctp|-S] [--raw|-w]
netstat {--version|-V}
netstat {--help|-h}
address_family_options:
[-4|--inet] [-6|--inet6]
[--protocol={inet,inet6,unix,ipx,ax25,netrom,ddp,bluetooth, ... }
] [--unix|-x] [--inet|--ip|--tcpip] [--ax25] [--x25] [--rose]
[--ash] [--bluetooth] [--ipx] [--netrom] [--ddp|--appletalk]
[--econet|--ec]
NOTES
This program is mostly obsolete. Replacement for netstat is ss. Replacement for netstat -r is ip route. Replacement for netstat -i is ip -s link. Replacement for netstat -g is ip maddr.
DESCRIPTION
Netstat prints information about the Linux networking subsystem. The type of information printed is controlled by the first argument, as follows:
(none) By default, netstat displays a list of open sockets. If you don’t specify any address families, then the active sockets of all configured address families will be printed.
– – route, -r Display the kernel routing tables. See the description in route(8) for details. netstat -r and route -e produce the same output.
–groups, -g Display multicast group membership information for IPv4 and IPv6.
–interfaces, -i Display a table of all network interfaces and their respective reception and transmission errors counters.
–masquerade, -M Display a list of masqueraded connections.
–statistics, -s Display summary statistics for each protocol.
OPTIONS
| Option | Purpose |
|---|---|
| --verbose, -v | Tell the user what is going on by being verbose. Especially print some useful information about unconfigured address families. |
| --wide, -W | Do not truncate IP addresses by using output as wide as needed. This is optional for now to not break existing scripts. |
| --numeric, -n | Show numerical addresses instead of trying to determine symbolic host, port or user names. |
| --numeric-hosts | Shows numerical host addresses but does not affect the resolution of port or user names. |
| --numeric-ports | Shows numerical port numbers but does not affect the resolution of host or user names. |
| --numeric-users | Shows numerical user IDs but does not affect the resolution of host or port names. |
| --protocol=family, -A | Specifies the address families (perhaps better described as low level protocols) for which connections are to be shown. family is a comma (',') separated list of address family keywords like inet, inet6, unix, ipx, ax25, netrom, econet, ddp, and bluetooth. This has the same effect as using the --inet|-4, --inet6|-6, --unix|-x, --ipx, --ax25, --netrom, --ddp, and --bluetooth options.The address family inet (Iv4) includes raw, udp, udplite and tcp protocol sockets.The address family bluetooth (Iv4) includes l2cap and rfcomm protocol sockets. |
| -c, --continuous | This will cause netstat to print the selected information every second continuously. |
| -e, --extend | Display additional information. Use this option twice for maximum detail. |
| -o, --timers | Include information related to networking timers. |
| -p, --program | Show the PID and name of the program to which each socket belongs. |
| -l, --listening | Show only listening sockets. (These are omitted by default.) |
| -a, --all | Show both listening and non-listening sockets. With the --interfaces option, show interfaces that are not up |
| -F | Print routing information from the FIB. (This is the default.) |
| -C | Print routing information from the route cache. |
OUTPUT
| Field | Description or Value |
|---|---|
| Active Internet connections | (TCP, UDP, UDPLite, raw) |
| Proto | The protocol (tcp, udp, udpl, raw) used by the socket. |
| Recv-Q | Established: The count of bytes not copied by the user program connected to this socket. Listening: Since Kernel 2.6.18 this column contains the current syn backlog. |
| Send-Q | Established: The count of bytes not acknowledged by the remote host. Listening: Since Kernel 2.6.18 this column contains the maximum size of the syn backlog. |
| Local Address | Address and port number of the local end of the socket. Unless the --numeric (-n) option is specified, the socket address is resolved to its canonical host name (FQDN), and the port number is translated into the corresponding service name. |
| Foreign Address | Address and port number of the remote end of the socket. Analogous to "Local Address". |
| State | 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. |
| User | The username or the user id (UID) of the owner of the socket. |
| PID/Program name | Slash-separated pair of the process id (PID) and process name of the process that owns the socket. --program causes this column to be included. You will also need superuser privileges to see this information on sockets you don't own. This identification information is not yet available for IPX sockets. |
| Timer | (this needs to be written) |
| Active UNIX domain Sockets | |
| Proto | The protocol (usually unix) used by the socket. |
| RefCnt | The reference count (i.e. attached processes via this socket). |
| Flags | The flags displayed is SO_ACCEPTON (displayed as ACC), SO_WAITDATA (W) or SO_NOSPACE (N). SO_ACCECPTON is used on unconnected sockets if their corresponding processes are waiting for a connect request. The other flags are not of normal interest. |
| Type | There are several types of socket access: SOCK_DGRAM The socket is used in Datagram (connectionless) mode. SOCK_STREAM This is a stream (connection) socket. SOCK_RAW The socket is used as a raw socket. SOCK_RDM This one serves reliably-delivered messages. SOCK_SEQPACKET This is a sequential packet socket. SOCK_PACKET Raw interface access socket. UNKNOWN Who ever knows what the future will bring us - just fill in here 🙂 |
| State | This field will contain one of the following Keywords: FREE The socket is not allocated LISTENING The socket is listening for a connection request. Such sockets are only included in the output if you specify the --listening (-l) or --all (-a) option. CONNECTING The socket is about to establish a connection. CONNECTED The socket is connected. DISCONNECTING The socket is disconnecting. (empty) The socket is not connected to another one. UNKNOWN This state should never happen. |
| PID/Program name | Process ID (PID) and process name of the process that has the socket open. More info available in Active Internet connections section written above. |
| Path | This is the path name as which the corresponding processes attached to the socket. |
| Active IPX sockets | (this needs to be done by somebody who knows it) |
| Active NET/ROM sockets | (this needs to be done by somebody who knows it) |
| Active AX.25 sockets | (this needs to be done by somebody who knows it) |
FILES Â Â
/etc/services -- The services translation file
/proc -- Mount point for the proc filesystem, which gives access to kernel status information via the following files.
/proc/net/dev -- device information
/proc/net/raw -- raw socket information
/proc/net/tcp -- TCP socket information
/proc/net/udp -- UDP socket information
/proc/net/igmp -- IGMP multicast information
/proc/net/unix -- Unix domain socket information
/proc/net/ipx -- IPX socket information
/proc/net/ax25 -- AX25 socket information
/proc/net/appletalk -- DDP (appletalk) socket information
/proc/net/nr -- NET/ROM socket information
/proc/net/route -- IP routing information
/proc/net/ax25_route -- AX25 routing information
/proc/net/ipx_route -- IPX routing information
/proc/net/nr_nodes -- NET/ROM nodelist
/proc/net/nr_neigh -- NET/ROM neighbours
/proc/net/ip_masquerade -- masqueraded connections
/proc/net/snmp -- statistics
BUGS
Occasionally strange information may appear if a socket changes as it is viewed. This is unlikely to occur.
AUTHORS
The netstat user interface was written by Fred Baumgarten, the man page basically by Matt Welsh. It was updated by Alan Cox, updated again by Tuan Hoang. The man page and the command included in the net-tools package is totally rewritten by Bernd Eckenfels. UDPLite options were added by Brian Micek.