ethtool

Ethtool

Ethtool is a powerful command-line utility used to display and modify settings of network interface cards (NICs) on Linux systems. It provides detailed information about the NIC’s configuration, statistics, and capabilities.

The use of ethtool can vary depending on the specific task you want to accomplish:

  • Displaying NIC information: ethtool -i displays general information about the NIC.
  • Checking NIC status: ethtool -S shows detailed statistics for the NIC.
  • Setting NIC parameters: ethtool -s allows you to modify settings such as speed, duplex mode, and flow control.

Some special hacks with ethtool include:

  • Forcing a network interface to use a specific speed or duplex mode: ethtool -s | grep „speed“ (for example) will show the current speed setting. You can then modify this value by piping it back into ethtool, like so: echo „speed 1000“ | ethtool -s
  • Enabling or disabling specific features on some NICs, such as Wake-on-LAN or jumbo frames.

This command is suitable for Linux users at an intermediate to advanced level (around 5-7 on a scale of 1-10). While beginners can learn about ethtool and its basic uses, the more complex tasks and hacks mentioned above require a good understanding of Linux networking fundamentals and some experience working with network interfaces.

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