NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       ifup - bring a network interface up

       ifdown - take a network interface down

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       ifup [-sinv] [--interfaces=file] [--no-act] [--verbose] [-a|ifaces]

       ifdown [-sinv] [--interfaces=file] [--no-act] [--verbose] [-a|ifaces]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       The  ifup  and  ifdown  commands  may be used to configure (or, respectively,
 deconfigure) network interfaces, based on descriptions  of  the
       interfaces entered into the file /etc/network/interfaces.

OPTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

       These  programs	follow	the  usual  GNU command line syntax, with long
       options starting with two  dashes  (`-').   A  summary  of  options  is
       included below.

       -h, --help
	      Show summary of options.

       -V, --version
	      Show copyright and version information.

       -a, --all
	      Affect all interfaces marked auto.

       -i file, --interfaces file
	      Read interface definitions from a different file.

       -v, --verbose
	      Show commands being executed.

       -n, --no-act
	      Don't  actually  execute the commands (this doesn't disable mappings,
 however)

       --no-mappings
	      Don't run any mappings.

       --force
	      Force de/configuration of interface.

NOTES    [Toc]    [Back]

       The ifup and ifdown programs don't actually know anything about configuring
  interfaces  themselves  but instead invoke lower-level utilities
       such as ifconfig and route to do the actual dirtywork. The main	advantages
 to using ifup and ifdown instead of calling the lower-level utilities
 directy is the ability to keep all your interface	specifications
       in  a  single  (easily parsable) file, and to not have to deal with the
       various idiosyncracies of the lower-level commands.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

       /etc/network/interfaces
	      Descriptions of all the network interfaces the system has.

       /etc/network/ifstate
	      Current state of network interfaces.

AUTHOR    [Toc]    [Back]

       The ifupdown suite written by Anthony Towns <[email protected]>.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

       interfaces(5), ifconfig(8),



			       February 13, 2000		   ifupdown(8)