In this guide we’ll take a look at the functions of the Netstat Command within Linux and how it can be used to effectively monitor your network services. Before you can use Netstat properly though, you need to understand what it is and how it works.
What is Netstat?
Netstat is a tool in Linux which can be used to monitor and report information on network services. Netstat is actually a series of commands designed to report statistics on various aspects of your network, including which processes are using which ports.
Using the Netstat Command
Typically, Netstat displays all the ports in use by all processes, however, by adding the grep command, you can limit those results to only a specific designated port.
For example, if you wish to see which service is running on port 80, you just need to execute the following command:
netstat -ant | grep 80
Next, if you want to check the number of connections on port 80, you can use the command:
netstat -an |grep :80 |wc –l
Lastly, if you only want to see which ports your server is listening on, enter the following:
netstat -ant | grep LISTEN
And there you have it!
