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Chapter 1-3: Network Management

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tkokhing
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Chapter 1-3: Network Management

Network management is a critical skill for administrators and users alike. Whether configuring network interfaces, checking open ports, or managing firewall settings, both Windows and Linux provide powerful tools for network monitoring and management.

This chapter compares the commands used on each system to manage networks, with clear explanations of output, best practices, and troubleshooting tips.

7. Manage Network Interfaces

🎯 Purpose

To view or configure network interface settings such as IP address, gateway, and network adapters.

💻 Windows

ipconfig

🧾 Sample Output

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b6f1:84cf:1c9f:ff0a%5
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.10
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

🐧 Linux

ifconfig

🧾 Sample Output

enp0s3: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.10  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 fe80::b6f1:84cf:1c9f:ff0a  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 08:00:27:dc:8a:89  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 123456  bytes 123456789 (123.4 MB)
        TX packets 12345  bytes 12345678 (12.3 MB)
💡 Tip:
In modern Linux distros, ip a is often used instead of ifconfig.
📝 Note:
If ifconfig isn't available, install it via:
sudo apt install net-tools

8. View Network Connections

🎯 Purpose

To list all active network connections, listening ports, and associated IP addresses.

💻 Windows

netstat

🧾 Sample Output

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State
  TCP    192.168.1.10:135      0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    192.168.1.10:445      0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    192.168.1.10:5060     192.168.1.5:5075       ESTABLISHED

🐧 Linux

netstat

🧾 Sample Output

Active Internet connections (w/o servers)

Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State
tcp        0      0 192.168.1.10:445        0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 192.168.1.10:135        0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 192.168.1.10:8080       192.168.1.5:5075        ESTABLISHED
⚠️ Alert:
netstat is commonly available, but it’s being replaced by ss in some modern distros. You can check active connections with ss -tuln.

9. Check Open Ports

🎯 Purpose

To list all open ports on the system and identify services listening on specific ports.

💻 Windows

netstat -an

🧾 Sample Output

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State
  TCP    0.0.0.0:80             0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    192.168.1.10:443       0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING

🐧 Linux

ss -tuln

🧾 Sample Output

State      Recv-Q    Send-Q     Local Address:Port     Peer Address:Port
LISTEN     0         128        0.0.0.0:80             0.0.0.0:*
LISTEN     0         128        0.0.0.0:443            0.0.0.0:*
📝 Note:
ss -tuln shows open ports with state information (e.g., LISTEN, ESTABLISHED).

10. Manage Firewall

🎯 Purpose

To configure and manage the system firewall, allowing or blocking specific ports or addresses.

💻 Windows

netsh advfirewall

🧾 Sample Output

netsh firewall set opmode disable
⚠️ Alert:
Disabling the firewall (e.g., netsh firewall set opmode disable) can make your system vulnerable. Always ensure you’re following best practices for security.

🐧 Linux

sudo ufw status

🧾 Sample Output

Status: active

To                         Action      From
--                         ------      ----
80                         ALLOW       Anywhere
443                        ALLOW       Anywhere
💡 Tip:
To enable a firewall if it's not already enabled:
sudo ufw enable

✅ Coming Up Next

Every network engineer will want to monitor CPU, memory, and disk performance to optimise performance. This is where Part 4: System Monitoring and Performance comes in. Using command-line tools, I will demonstrate the difference between Linux and Windows.

Stay tuned.