What replaced ifconfig and route?

The iproute2 ip command replaced the deprecated net-tools ifconfig, route, arp and netstat. ip addr shows interfaces, ip route shows the routing table, and ip neigh shows the ARP/neighbour cache, all with consistent syntax.

How do I add a default gateway?

Run ip route add default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0. This installs a 0.0.0.0/0 route through that gateway. Use ip route del default to remove it. These changes are not persistent across reboots.

How do I bring an interface up or down?

Use ip link set dev eth0 up or ip link set dev eth0 down. ip link can also set the MTU, MAC address (address) and other layer-2 properties of the device.

Are ip changes persistent?

No. Commands run with ip take effect immediately but are lost on reboot. Persist them with your distro's network manager such as netplan, NetworkManager, or systemd-networkd config files.

ip rule manages the policy routing database, deciding which routing table a packet consults based on source, destination, firewall mark or interface. It enables policy-based routing beyond a single main table.

What is the Linux ip Command Reference?

Reference for the Linux iproute2 ip command — address, route, link, neighbour and rule objects — with their common subcommands, options and equivalent legacy net-tools commands. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Linux ip Command Reference

Name: Linux ip Command Reference
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Get one useful tool a week

Like this tool? Enter your email and we'll send you one genuinely useful Gera tool a week — plus a link to come back to this one. No spam, one-click unsubscribe any time.

Look up Linux ip (iproute2) commands quickly

The ip command from iproute2 is the modern way to inspect and configure Linux networking, replacing ifconfig, route and arp. This reference groups its common subcommands under the address, route, link, neighbour and rule objects, showing options and the legacy command each replaces. It runs entirely in your browser.

Object → command structure

The general form is ip [OPTIONS] OBJECT { COMMAND }. The object is addr, route, link, neigh or rule, and the command is usually show, add, del or set. Read operations work as any user; modifying state needs root:

ip addr show dev eth0
sudo ip addr add 10.0.0.5/24 dev eth0
sudo ip route add default via 10.0.0.1 dev eth0
sudo ip link set dev eth0 mtu 1400 up

Legacy equivalents

Old (net-tools)	Modern iproute2 equivalent
`ifconfig eth0`	`ip addr show dev eth0`
`ifconfig eth0 up`	`ip link set dev eth0 up`
`route -n`	`ip route show`
`arp -n`	`ip neigh show`
`netstat -r`	`ip route show`

The net-tools package (ifconfig, route, arp) is no longer installed by default on many modern distributions. The ip command is the consistent replacement across all of them.

Diagnostics: route tracing and interface state

To see exactly which route and source address the kernel would choose to reach a host, use ip route get:

ip route get 8.8.8.8
# 8.8.8.8 via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0 src 192.168.1.50

To get a concise summary of all interfaces and their addresses:

ip -br -c addr
# lo      UNKNOWN  127.0.0.1/8
# eth0    UP       192.168.1.50/24

Tips

Abbreviations work: ip a, ip r and ip l expand to ip addr, ip route and ip link, which is handy interactively.
Add -j to get JSON output on any ip subcommand, then pipe to jq for scripting.
ip route get 1.1.1.1 shows exactly which route and source address the kernel would use — invaluable for debugging routing or VPN split-tunnel issues.
Changes made with ip are runtime-only; persist them in netplan, NetworkManager or systemd-networkd configuration files so they survive a reboot.

Common troubleshooting scenarios

Cannot reach a host: ip route get <target> to see which interface and gateway the kernel selects. ip addr show to confirm the expected interface has an address assigned.

Interface is down after reboot: The ip link set up command is not persistent. Write the configuration into your distro’s network manager so it is applied on boot.

VPN routing conflict: ip route show table all lists every routing table including policy routes. VPN clients add routes that can interfere with regular traffic; this command reveals them all in one view.