Essential Network Commands Every IT Pro Must Know
Master the essential network commands used to troubleshoot real-world connectivity issues on Windows (CMD + PowerShell) and Linux. This guide shows how to quickly validate IP configuration, isolate DNS failures, trace routing paths, identify latency/packet loss, inspect active connections, and review neighbor/route tables—using the tools IT pros rely on every day.
*You’ll learn how to:*
Verify IP settings, gateways, and DNS servers (and spot common misconfigurations)
Test reachability and baseline latency (ICMP) and validate TCP port connectivity
Trace network paths and identify where delays or drops occur
Inspect active connections/ports and correlate traffic to processes
Review neighbor tables (ARP/ND) and routing tables (IPv4/IPv6)
Map classic CMD tools to modern PowerShell cmdlets and Linux equivalents
*Topics Covered:*
Windows *Command Prompt (CMD)* networking commands
Windows *PowerShell* networking cmdlets
Common *Linux* networking commands and equivalents
*Applies to:*
✅ Windows 11
✅ Windows 10
✅ Windows Server 2025
✅ Windows Server 2022
✅ Windows Server 2019
✅ Windows Server 2016
✅ Windows Server 2012 R2 (with WMF 5.1 installed)
✅ Linux: Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE, Debian
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:25 Setup and Environment
2:26 IPCONFIG
4:25 PING
5:36 PATHPING
6:41 NSLOOKUP
7:54 NETSTAT
9:20 TRACERT
10:30 ARP
11:35 ROUTE
12:41 GETMAC
13:18 NETSH (Network Shell)
15:07 SYSTEMINFO
15:50 Thank you for watching
*Glossary:*
AD = Active Directory
ARP = Address Resolution Protocol
BIOS = Basic Input/Output System
CIDR = Classless Inter-Domain Routing
DNS = Domain Name System
ICMP = Internet Control Message Protocol
IF = Interface
IP = Internet Protocol
MAC = Media Access Control
MTR = MyTraceRoute
MTU = Maximum transmission unit
MX = Mail eXchange
NETSH = Network shell
NETSTAT = NETwork STATistics
NSLOOKUP = Name Server Lookup
PING = Packet Internet Groper
SS = Socket Statistics
SSH = Secure Shell
TCP = Transmission Control Protocol
UEFI = Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
WMF = Windows Management Framework
GitHub:
https://github.com/DariensTips/Essent...
*Commands*
Windows CMD:
---------------------------------
ipconfig
ping
pathping
nslookup
netstat
tracert
arp
route
getmac
Windows PowerShell:
---------------------------------
Get-NetIPConfiguration
Test-Connection
Resolve-DnsName
Get-NetTCPConnection
Test-NetConnection
Get-NetNeighbor
Get-NetRoute
Get-NetAdapter
Linux:
---------------------------------
ip address
ping
mtr
dig
ss
traceroute
ip neighbor
ip route
**Links & Resources**:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/pow...
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/pow...
https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/...
https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/deprec...
https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/...
https://www.linux.org/docs/man8/ip-ne...
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/pow...
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/win...
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerSh...
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• PowerShell
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• Linux
#windows #linux #powershellscripting #linuxcommandline