my-docs/Linux/Basic Administration/22-netstat.md

🌐 netstat and ss Command Documentation

This guide provides essential usage examples for the netstat and ss commands to monitor network connections, listening ports, and socket statistics in Linux.

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📡 netstat – Network Statistics

netstat is a legacy tool used for displaying network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships.

⚠️ netstat may be deprecated on some systems. Consider using ss as a modern replacement.

🔍 Show All Active Network Connections

netstat

• Displays all active sockets (both listening and non-listening).
• Includes TCP, UDP, UNIX domain sockets, etc.

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🎧 Show Listening Ports

netstat -l

• Lists all listening ports (TCP and UDP).
• Useful for checking which services are waiting for incoming connections.

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🔒 Show Listening TCP Ports

netstat -lt

• Lists only TCP ports in the listening state.

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📡 Show Listening UDP Ports

netstat -lu

• Lists only UDP ports in the listening state.

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🧠 Show Listening TCP/UDP Ports with Process Info

netstat -tulpn

• Shows all listening TCP/UDP ports.
• Includes process ID (PID) and program name.
• Useful for identifying which service is using a specific port.

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⚡ ss – Socket Statistics (Modern Alternative)

ss is a faster and more powerful alternative to netstat for displaying socket statistics.

Common ss Options

Option	Description
-t	Show TCP sockets
-u	Show UDP sockets
-l	Show only listening sockets
-n	Show numerical addresses (no DNS resolution)
-p	Show process using the socket
-a	Show all sockets

Example – Show Listening TCP/UDP with Process Info

ss -tulpn

• Equivalent to netstat -tulpn
• Recommended for modern Linux distributions.

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✅ Summary

Task	netstat Command	ss Equivalent
Show all connections	netstat	ss -a
Show listening ports	netstat -l	ss -l
Show listening TCP ports	netstat -lt	ss -lt
Show listening UDP ports	netstat -lu	ss -lu
Show listening TCP/UDP with process	netstat -tulpn	ss -tulpn