How do I display a list of all network cards under Linux operating systems?

You can use any one of the following command to list network cards installed under Linux operating systems. Please note that the ifconfig and ip commands will also display interfaces information about vpn, loopback, and other configured interfaces.

• lspci command : List all PCI devices.
• lshw command : List all hardware.
• dmidecode command : List all hardware data from BIOS.
• ifconfig command : Outdated network config utility.
• ip command : Recommended new network config utility.
• lspci command

Type the following command:

# lspci | egrep -i --color 'network|ethernet'

Sample outputs:

09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5761e Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 10)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300

lshw command

The lshw command can extract detailed information on the hardware configuration of the machine including network cards. Type the following command:

# lshw -class network

Sample outputs:

  *-network DISABLED      
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 00
       serial: 00:21:6a:ca:9b:10
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 firmware=8.83.5.1 build 33692 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
       resources: irq:46 memory:f1ffe000-f1ffffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetXtreme BCM5761e Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 10
       serial: b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5
       size: 1GB/s
       capacity: 1GB/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.121 duplex=full firmware=5761e-v3.71 ip=192.168.1.5 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1GB/s
       resources: irq:48 memory:f1be0000-f1beffff memory:f1bf0000-f1bfffff

ifconfig and ip command

To see all configured network devices, enter:

# ifconfig -a

OR

# ip link show

OR

# ip a

Sample outputs:

1: lo:  mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN 
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0:  mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.5/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global eth0
    inet6 fe80::baac:6fff:fe65:31e5/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlan0:  mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:21:6a:ca:9b:10 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: pan0:  mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN 
    link/ether 92:0a:e7:31:e0:83 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: vmnet1:  mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.121.1/24 brd 192.168.121.255 scope global vmnet1
    inet6 fe80::250:56ff:fec0:1/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
6: vmnet8:  mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.179.1/24 brd 192.168.179.255 scope global vmnet8
    inet6 fe80::250:56ff:fec0:8/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

/proc/net/dev

The dev pseudo-file contains network device status information. This gives the number of received and sent packets, the number of errors and collisions and other basic statistics.

$ cat /proc/net/dev

Sample outputs:

Inter-|   Receive                                                |  Transmit
 face |bytes    packets errs drop fifo frame compressed multicast|bytes    packets errs drop fifo colls carrier compressed
    lo:   20097     179    0    0    0     0          0         0    20097     179    0    0    0     0       0          0
vmnet8:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0        0      33    0    0    0     0       0          0
  pan0:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0        0       0    0    0    0     0       0          0
 wlan0:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0        0       0    0    0    0     0       0          0
  eth0: 592509534  623058    0    0    0     0          0      1053 122269656  401567    0    0    0     0       0          0
vmnet1:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0