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How can see active ports with netstat command?
Introduction: Understanding network activity on a system is crucial for system administrators and security professionals. One essential tool for this task is netstat
, a command-line utility that provides information about network connections, routing tables, and listening ports. In this article, we'll delve into the netstat -tuln
command, exploring its components and how it can be used to identify active ports on a system.
Understanding the Command: The netstat -tuln
command is composed of several options:
-t
: Displays TCP connections.-u
: Displays UDP connections.-l
: Shows only listening sockets.-n
: Displays numerical addresses instead of attempting to determine symbolic host or port names.
When executed, this command provides a list of active ports on the system, including TCP and UDP ports that are currently in use and listening for incoming connections.
Exploring Active Ports: Running netstat -tuln
provides valuable insights into the network activity of a system:
- TCP Connections: The
-t
option displays TCP connections. This includes ports that are actively communicating with other systems or services. TCP is commonly used for protocols that require reliable, connection-oriented communication, such as HTTP (port 80) and SSH (port 22). - UDP Connections: The
-u
option displays UDP connections. Unlike TCP, UDP is a…