Networking on MeerStory

Mastering tcpdump on Ubuntu: Packet Capture & Traffic Analysis

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 01:21:13 +0900

Overview

Diagnosing network anomalies and inspecting packet flows are foundational skills for any Linux systems administrator. While digging through exhaustive man pages can be tedious, this hands-on walkthrough cuts straight to the core capabilities of tcpdump. You will learn how to discover network adapters, filter real-time traffic streams, and export raw packet payloads into PCAP files for deep inspection.

Installing tcpdump & Discovering Network Interfaces

To set up our packet analysis workbench, we first provision the necessary utilities by pulling tcpdump alongside curl via the package manager.

Linux bridge Command Guide: Inspecting Network Bridges on Ubuntu

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 01:45:51 +0900

Overview

Managing virtual switching fabrics in Linux requires robust diagnostic utilities, and the bridge tool from the modern iproute2 suite serves as the definitive administrative utility for layer-2 fabrics. This hands-on guide details how to stand up a test software bridge, audit member port links, examine MAC forwarding tables (FDB), and evaluate VLAN filtering configurations using clear command outputs.

1. Setting Up a Test Bridge and Inspecting Port Bindings (bridge link)

Before experimenting with software bridges, make sure the core networking suite is present on your Ubuntu host by installing iproute2.

Say Goodbye to ifconfig: Master the Linux ip Command on Ubuntu

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 01:51:29 +0900

Executive Overview

Modern Linux distributions have long deprecated the legacy net-tools suite in favor of the much more capable iproute2 package. Central to this modernized stack is the ip utility—a unified, high-performance tool designed to inspect, manipulate, and monitor network interfaces, routing tables, and neighbor discovery. This hands-on walkthrough breaks down practical usage patterns, showing you how to dissect network telemetry, verify IP assignments, trace routing paths, and diagnose interface-level bottlenecks on Ubuntu systems.