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.\" @(#)ifconfig.8 6.8 (Berkeley) %G%
ifconfig \- configure network interface parameters
is used to assign an address
to a network interface and/or configure
network interface parameters.
must be used at boot time to define the network address
of each interface present on a machine; it may also be used at
a later time to redefine an interface's address
or other operating parameters. The
parameter is a string of the form ``name unit'', e.g. ``en0''.
Since an interface may receive transmissions in differing protocols,
each of which may require separate naming schemes, it is necessary
which may change the interpretation of the remaining parameters.
The address families currently supported are ``inet'', ``iso'', and ``ns''.
For the DARPA-Internet family,
the address is either a host name present in the host name data
or a DARPA Internet address expressed in the Internet standard
For the Xerox Network Systems(tm) family,
is the assigned network number (in decimal),
and each of the six bytes of the host number,
are specified in hexadecimal.
The host number may be omitted on 10Mb/s Ethernet interfaces,
which use the hardware physical address,
and on interfaces other than the first.
For the ISO family, addresses are specified as a long hexadecimal string,
as in the Xerox family. However, two consecutive dots imply a zero
byte, and the dots are optional, if the user wishes to (carefully)
count out long strings of digits in network byte order.
The following parameters may be set with
Mark an interface ``up''.
This may be used to enable an interface after an ``ifconfig down.''
It happens automatically when setting the first address on an interface.
If the interface was reset when previously marked down,
the hardware will be re-initialized.
Mark an interface ``down''. When an interface is
marked ``down'', the system will not attempt to
transmit messages through that interface.
If possible, the interface will be reset to disable reception as well.
This action does not automatically disable routes using the interface.
Request the use of a ``trailer'' link level encapsulation when
If a network interface supports
the system will, when possible, encapsulate outgoing
messages in a manner which minimizes the number of
memory to memory copy operations performed by the receiver.
On networks that support the Address Resolution Protocol (see
currently, only 10 Mb/s Ethernet),
this flag indicates that the system should request that other
systems use trailers when sending to this host.
Similarly, trailer encapsulations will be sent to other
hosts that have made such requests.
Currently used by Internet protocols only.
Disable the use of a ``trailer'' link level encapsulation.
Enable the use of the Address Resolution Protocol in mapping
between network level addresses and link level addresses (default).
This is currently implemented for mapping between DARPA Internet
addresses and 10Mb/s Ethernet addresses.
Disable the use of the Address Resolution Protocol.
Set the routing metric of the interface to
The routing metric is used by the routing protocol
Higher metrics have the effect of making a route
less favorable; metrics are counted as addition hops
to the destination network or host.
Enable driver dependent debugging code; usually, this turns on
extra console error logging.
Disable driver dependent debugging code.
Specify how much of the address to reserve for subdividing
networks into sub-networks.
The mask includes the network part of the local address
and the subnet part, which is taken from the host field of the address.
The mask can be specified as a single hexadecimal number
with a leading 0x, with a dot-notation Internet address,
or with a pseudo-network name listed in the network table
The mask contains 1's for the bit positions in the 32-bit address
which are to be used for the network and subnet parts,
and 0's for the host part.
The mask should contain at least the standard network portion,
and the subnet field should be contiguous with the network
Specify the address of the correspondent on the other end
of a point to point link.
Specify the address to use to represent broadcasts to the
The default broadcast address is the address with a host part of all 1's.
This is used to specify an Internet host who is willing to receive
ip packets encapsulating packets bound for a remote network.
For the NS case, an apparent point to point link is constructed, and
the address specified will be taken as the NS address and network
For the ISO case, the eon
interface must be specified, the supplied iso address must
conform to RFC1070, IP address will indicate the status bits.
Establish an additional network address for this interface.
This is sometimes useful when changing network numbers, and
one wishes to accept packets addressed to the old interface.
Remove the network address specified.
This would be used if you incorrectly specified an alias, or it
If you have incorrectly set an NS address having the side effect
of specifying the host portion, removing all NS addresses will
allow you to respecify the host portion.
displays the current configuration for a network interface
when no optional parameters are supplied.
If a protocol family is specified,
Ifconfig will report only the details specific to that protocol family.
Only the super-user may modify the configuration of a network interface.
Messages indicating the specified interface does not exit, the
requested address is unknown, or the user is not privileged and
tried to alter an interface's configuration.
netstat(1), netintro(4), rc(8)