ip-link(8)
Show and manipulate network device properties and state.
Synopsis
ip link { add | del | set | show | help } [DEVICE]Description
The ip link command manages network interfaces on Linux systems. It displays detailed information about network devices, changes their state (up/down), modifies MTU and other properties, and creates or deletes virtual network interfaces.
This is the modern replacement for the deprecated ifconfig command and provides much finer control over network interface configuration.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
show | Display information about all network interfaces (default action) |
show DEVICE | Show details for a specific interface (e.g., eth0, wlan0) |
set DEVICE up | Bring a network interface up (enable it) |
set DEVICE down | Bring a network interface down (disable it) |
set DEVICE mtu MTU | Change the Maximum Transmission Unit size for a device |
set DEVICE promisc on|off | Enable or disable promiscuous mode (receive all packets) |
add type vlan | Create a virtual LAN interface |
add type bridge | Create a bridge interface |
del DEVICE | Delete a virtual network interface |
-s, --stats | Show interface statistics (packets, bytes, errors) |
-br, --brief | Brief output format, one interface per line |
Examples
List all network interfaces with full details including MAC addresses and MTU
ip link showDisplay information for the eth0 interface only
ip link show eth0Bring up (enable) the eth0 interface
sudo ip link set eth0 upBring down (disable) the eth0 interface
sudo ip link set eth0 downChange eth0's MTU to 9000 bytes for jumbo frames
sudo ip link set eth0 mtu 9000Display detailed statistics for eth0 (packets sent/received, errors, dropped)
ip -s link show eth0Create a VLAN interface (eth0.100) on eth0 with VLAN ID 100
sudo ip link add link eth0 name eth0.100 type vlan id 100Show brief summary of all interfaces in compact format
ip link -br show