Basic Networking Commands

1. Tracert
2. Ping
3. Ipconfig
4. Arp
5. Netstat
6. NSLOOKUP
7. HOSTNAME
8. SYSTEMINFO
 Explained with Examples

tracert
This command is used to diagnose path-related problems. On an IP
network, routers exchange IP packets between the source and the
destination. They take IP packets from the source host and forward them
in a sequence until they reach the destination host. The sequence of
routers between the source and destination is known as the path. A path
consists of all routers in a sequence that IP packets sent from the source
host traverse to reach the destination host.

The tracert command prints the path. If all routers on the path are
functional, this command prints the full path. If a router is down on the
path, this command prints the path up to the last operational router.

The tracert command uses the following syntax.

tracertDestination Name or IP address

The following command traces the path to the host named
www.google.co.in.

tracertwww.google.co.in
The following image shows the output of this command.

The following table lists some important options of

the tracert command.
Opti Description
on

-d Do not resolve the IP addresses of intermediate routers to their names.

-h Specifies the maximum number of hops (routers) to search on the path.

hops.

-w Specifies the amount of time in milliseconds to wait for a reply message

not received within the time-out, an asterisk (*) is displayed. The defaul
seconds).

Ping
The ping command is used to test connectivity between two hosts. It
sends ICMP echo request messages to the destination. The destination
host replies with ICMP reply messages. If the ping command gets a reply
from the destination host, it displays the reply along with round-trip
times.

The ping command uses the following syntax.

pingdestination host IP or name

The following command tests connectivity between the host computer
and Google's server.
pinggoogle.com
The following image shows the output of this command.
If you specify the hostname as an argument, the ping command uses the
configured DNS client service to automatically translate the hostname
into the IP address.

Ipconfig
This command displays all current TCP/IP network configuration values
and refreshes Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain
Name System (DNS) settings. This command is mainly used to view the
IP addresses on the computers that are configured to obtain their IP
address automatically.

The following image shows the sample output of this command.

The following table lists some important options of

the ipconfig command.

Used Displays the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for a
without
parameters

/all Displays the full TCP/IP configuration for all adapters.

/renew Renews DHCP configuration for all adapters (if an adapter is not
[Adapter] specific adapter if the Adapter parameter is included.

/release Sends a DHCPRELEASE message to the DHCP server to release t

[Adapter] configuration and discard the IP address configuration for either
adapter is not specified) or for a specific adapter if the Adapter p
included.

/flushdns Flushes and resets the contents of the DNS client resolver cache

Arp
To send IP packets, a computer needs two addresses. These addresses
are the MAC address and the IP address. A MAC address is the physical
or hardware address of the NIC. An IP address is the logical or software
address of NIC. If a computer knows the IP address of the destination
computer but it does not know the MAC address of the destination
computer, it uses the ARP protocol to know the MAC address of the
destination computer.

The ARP protocol broadcasts a given IP address over a local network. The
corresponding host responds to the broadcast with its MAC address. To
avoid repetition, ARP stores the answer in a table known as ARP table.
ARP maintains a separate ARP table for each NIC.

To view the ARP table, you can use the following command.

arp
By default, this command displays the ARP table of the active NIC. If
multiple NICs are installed on the computer, you can use the -a option
with this command. If the -a option is used, the ARP command displays
all ARP tables.

The following image shows the output of the arp command when used
with the -a option.
To display the ARP cache entry for a specific IP address, specify the IP
address with the -N option. For example, the following command
displays the ARP cache table for the interface that is assigned the IP
address 192.168.42.171.

Arp -a -N 192.168.42.171
The following image shows the output of the above command.

Netstat
This command displays active connections, ports on which the computer
is listening, Ethernet statistics, the IP routing table, and IP statistics.

The output of this command is organized in rows and columns. Each row
represents a new connection or an entry in the output. It contains four
columns. These columns provide the following information about the
row.

Proto: - This column displays the name of the protocol (TCP or UDP).

Local Address: - This column displays the IP address of the local

computer and the port number being used. If the port is not yet
established, the port number is shown as an asterisk (*).

Foreign Address: - This column displays the IP address and port

number of the remote computer to which the port is connected.

State: - This column displays the status of the connection.

The following image shows the sample output of this command.

Options and parameters

The following table lists some common options of the netstat command.
Opti Description
on

-a Displays all active TCP connections and the TCP and UDP ports on which
listening.

-e Displays Ethernet statistics, such as the number of bytes and packets se

-n Displays active TCP connections, however, addresses and port numbers

numerically and no attempt is made to determine names.

-o Displays active TCP connections and includes the process ID (PID) for ea

-p Shows connections for the protocol specified by Protocol. In this case, th

TCP, UDP, tcpv6, or udpv6.

-s Displays statistics by protocol. By default, statistics are shown for the TC

IP protocols.

-r Displays the contents of the IP routing table.

NSLOOKUP
The NSLOOKUP command is used to troubleshoot network connectivity issues in
the system. Using the nslookup command, we can access the information related
to our system’s DNS server, i.e., domain name and IP address.

Command to enter in Prompt - nslookup

HOSTNAME

The HOSTNAME command displays the hostname of the system. The hostname
command is much easier to use than going into the system settings to search for it.
Command to enter in Prompt - hostname

SYSTEMINFO
Using the SYSTEMINFO command, we can access the system’s hardware and
software details, such as processor data, booting data, Windows version, etc.

Command to enter in Prompt - systeminfo