As you probably know, Netstat (network statistics) is a command line tool that can be used to check the network configuration and activity. The netcat command is not available in the minimal installation of RHEL 8, 7 and it's clones like CentOS 8 and 7. This brief tutorial describes how to get the netstat command working in CentOS 7, RHEL 7 systems.
An important note:
As one of our reader has pointed out in the comment section below, many of the old Linux networking commands have been deprecated in favor of their iproute2 counterparts. Netstat in particular has been replaced by the “ss” command which is available by default. If you still use netstat for any reason, this tip might help.
Table of Contents
netstat command not found in CentOS 7/8 And RHEL 7/8
First we will see how to fix this error in CentOS 8 and RHEL 8 server editions.
Fix "netstat command not found" Error in CentOS 8 & RHEL 8
First, we need to find which package provides 'netstat' command using the following command:
# dnf provides */netstat
Or,
# dnf whatprovides */netstat
Sample output from my CentOS 8 server:
net-tools-2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8.x86_64 : Basic networking tools Repo : BaseOS Matched from: Filename : /usr/bin/netstat
As you can see, the "net-tools" package provides "netstat" command.
So, let us install net-tools package as root user using the following command as root user:
# dnf install net-tools
Sample output:
CentOS-8 - AppStream 1.5 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:02
CentOS-8 - Base 4.5 kB/s | 3.8 kB 00:00
CentOS-8 - Extras 1.7 kB/s | 1.5 kB 00:00
Dependencies resolved.
==========================================================================================================================================================================
Package Architecture Version Repository Size
==========================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
net-tools x86_64 2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8 BaseOS 323 k
Transaction Summary
==========================================================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Total download size: 323 k
Installed size: 1.0 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
net-tools-2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8.x86_64.rpm 253 kB/s | 323 kB 00:01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 170 kB/s | 323 kB 00:01
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : net-tools-2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8.x86_64 1/1
Running scriptlet: net-tools-2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8.x86_64 1/1
Verifying : net-tools-2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8.x86_64 1/1
Installed:
net-tools-2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8.x86_64
Complete!Now you can use netstat command on your CentOS 8 system.
Fix "netstat command not found" Error in CentOS 7 & RHEL 7
First, we should find out which package provides 'netstat' command.
To find out that, run:
$ yum provides */netstat
Or,
$ yum whatprovides */netstat
Sample output:
yum provides */netstat
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: mirror.nbrc.ac.in
* extras: mirror.nbrc.ac.in
* updates: mirror.nbrc.ac.in
net-tools-2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7.x86_64 : Basic networking tools
Repo : base
Matched from:
Filename : /bin/netstatAs you see in the above output, we need to install net-tools package in order to get netstat command.
So, let us install net-tools command using the following command from the Terminal:
$ sudo yum install net-tools
Sample output:
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: mirror.nbrc.ac.in
* extras: mirror.nbrc.ac.in
* updates: mirror.nbrc.ac.in
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package net-tools.x86_64 0:2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
========================================================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
========================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
net-tools x86_64 2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7 base 304 k
Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Total download size: 304 k
Installed size: 917 k
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
net-tools-2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7.x86_64.rpm | 304 kB 00:00:05
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
Installing : net-tools-2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7.x86_64 1/1
Verifying : net-tools-2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7.x86_64 1/1
Installed:
net-tools.x86_64 0:2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7
Complete!That's it. Now you can use the 'netstat' command.
$ netstat
Sample output:
Active Internet connections (w/o servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State tcp 0 0 server.ostechnix.com:ssh sk:54534 ESTABLISHED Active UNIX domain sockets (w/o servers) Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node Path unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 10304 /run/systemd/shutdownd unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 10242 @/org/freedesktop/systemd1/notify unix 5 [ ] DGRAM 6104 /run/systemd/journal/socket unix 13 [ ] DGRAM 6106 /dev/log unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 14013 /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 24798 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17856 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17874 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 15064 [...] unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17878 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17832 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17841 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 14010 /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 14710 /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 11594 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 16500 /run/systemd/journal/stdout unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17809 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17836 unix 2 [ ] DGRAM 13906 unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 17845
Hope this helps.
Suggested read:
- How To Find Which Service Is Listening On A Particular Port
- How To Find Available Network Interfaces On Linux
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6 comments
This is just another really stupid thing that RH have done (again).
WHY would they not include one of the most basic tools for setting up a system in the minimum install?
This is minimum install so I don’t expect much, but I can configure a nic to ping out and in, but don’t have one of the most basic tools available to check the default route, or listening ports.
It’s not like RH are concerned about disk space, so it must be that they are just a bunch of wankers!
Many of the old Linux networking commands have been deprecated in favor of their iproute2 counterparts. Netstat in particular has been replaced by the “ss” command which is available by default.
Yeah, nestat is deprecated. I have added a note in the guide.
In my humble opinion this is a bad advice. On newer Linux (Redhat, Ubuntu,…) there is equivalent command “ss” with most of the switches are the same as “netstat”. Why is there no “netstat” anymore, because in rare cases it does not work correctly. But because some tools are expecting the “netstat” output new command “ss” was developed to work in all even rare conditions, but breaks backward compatibility with “netstat”. In my humble opinion “netstat” should only be installed for the users that have some old tool installed that is dependent on original “netstat” behaviour. This is almost non of the users.
Yes, you’re right. Some people still use netstat.
My daily work I work on enterprise AIX systems, HPUX and Solaris. They ALL run netstat. Then I come over to CentOS 7 and no netstat which is a PITA. I also support a CentOS 4 system which is running a medium sized business. Is a pleasure to work with, has all the standard UNIX tool sets, including netstat, and does not have all the bloatware in current RHES versions. So yes, Some people still use netstat.