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Accepted
Zhen
Asked: 2012-12-18 00:52:32 +0800 CST

Should I quit using Ifconfig?

  • 772

With the servers that mount Infiniband cards, when I use the ifconfig command, I get this warning:

Ifconfig uses the ioctl access method to get the full address 
information, which limits hardware addresses to 8 bytes.
Because Infiniband address has 20 bytes, only the first 8 bytes 
are displayed correctly.
Ifconfig is obsolete! For replacement check ip.

Should I quit using ifconfig? Is it deprecated in favor of the ip command? Or will it be updated in the near future?

Note: This question and answers are in regards to GNU/Linux's "major" distributions. It should not be assumed that the information applies to all distributions, and especially not other OSes.

linux

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Quoting Thomas Pircher's website (cc-by-sa):

    ifconfig vs ip

    The command /bin/ip has been around for some time now. But people continue using the older command /sbin/ifconfig. Let's be clear: ifconfig will not quickly go away, but its newer version, ip, is more powerful and will eventually replace it.

    The man page of ip may look intimidating at first, but once you get familiar with the command syntax, it is an easy read. This page will not introduce the new features of ip. It rather features a side-by-side comparison if ifconfig and ip to get a quick overview of the command syntax.

    Show network devices and configuration 

    ifconfig

ip addr show
ip link show

    Enable a network interface

    ifconfig eth0 up
ip link set eth0 up

    A network interface is disabled in a similar way:

    ifconfig eth0 down
ip link set eth0 down
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  2. Yes, ifconfig is deprecated in favor of iproute2 (the ip command) on Linux.

    Similarly, the arp, route and netstat commands are also deprecated.

    However, iproute2 is Linux specific, when some other Unixes use ifconfig, so it may help to know/remember how it works if you're ever going to use another Unix...

    To learn the "new way", I suggest you to look at those 3 links :

    According to the last link, ifconfig has not been maintained for +15 years:

    Except for the patch mass that Debian accumulated, the net-tools package has not seen any upstream development after version 1.60, released sometime about April 15 2001.

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  3. ifconfig is deprecated for many years now, time to switch, especially in a case like yours.

    • 20

  4. ip has been the replacement for ifconfig for a while, probably at some point ifconfig will update, however I wouldn't wait for it and learn to work with ip as well. Its supported on all linux distri's

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