Inspecting the Status of Network Links with `networkctl`

You can inspect information about network connections by using the networkctl command. This can help you configure networking services and troubleshoot networking problems.

You can progressively add options and arguments to the networkctl command to move from general information about network connections to specific information about a network connection.

networkctl Command Without Options

Run the networkctl command without options to default to the list command:

networkctl
IDX LINK             TYPE               OPERATIONAL SETUP
  1 lo               loopback           carrier     unmanaged
  2 eth0             ether              routable    configured
  3 docker0          ether              routable    unmanaged
 11 vethb0aa7a6      ether              degraded    unmanaged
 4 links listed.

networkctl status Command

Run networkctl with the status command to display the following information:

root@photon-rc [ ~ ]# networkctl status
	*      State: routable
	     Address: 198.51.100.131 on eth0
	              172.17.0.1 on docker0
	              fe80::20c:29ff:fe55:3ca6 on eth0
	              fe80::42:f0ff:fef7:bd81 on docker0
	              fe80::4c84:caff:fe76:a23f on vethb0aa7a6
	     Gateway: 198.51.100.2 on eth0
	         DNS: 198.51.100.2

You can see that there are active network links with IP addresses for not only the Ethernet connection but also a Docker container.

You can add a network link, such as the Ethernet connection, as the argument of the status command to show specific information about the link:

	root@photon-rc [ ~ ]# networkctl status eth0
	* 2: eth0
	       Link File: /usr/lib/systemd/network/99-default.link
	    Network File: /etc/systemd/network/99-dhcp-en.network
	            Type: ether
	           State: routable (configured)
	            Path: pci-0000:02:01.0
	          Driver: e1000
	      HW Address: 00:0c:29:55:3c:a6 (VMware, Inc.)
	             MTU: 1500
	         Address: 198.51.100.131
	                  fe80::20c:29ff:fe55:3ca6
	         Gateway: 198.51.100.2
	             DNS: 198.51.100.2
	        CLIENTID: ffb6220feb00020000ab116724f520a0a77337

networkctl status Command With Docker Option

You can add a Docker container as the argument of the status command to show specific information about the container:

networkctl status docker0
	* 3: docker0
	       Link File: /usr/lib/systemd/network/99-default.link
	    Network File: n/a
	            Type: ether
	           State: routable (unmanaged)
	          Driver: bridge
	      HW Address: 02:42:f0:f7:bd:81
	             MTU: 1500
	         Address: 172.17.0.1
	                  fe80::42:f0ff:fef7:bd81

In the example above, the state of the Docker container is unmanaged because Docker handles managing the networking for the containers without using systemd-resolved or systemd-networkd. Docker manages the container connection by using its bridge drive.

For more information about networkctl commands and options, see https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/networkctl.html.

Last modified August 1, 2024: Merge pull request #1562 from naltanov/photon-hugo (a784a46)