What is eth0, wlan0, wlo1?

Question

I always see on Linux, when I type the command ifconfig, a names of type eth0, eno1, lo, wlan1, wlo1. What they mean?

Answer 1

ifconfig, acronym for "Interface Configuration": It is one of the most widely used tools on Linux systems to configure, add, delete and manage system network interfaces.

When you want to display the network settings you type ifconfig and get something like:

[root@linux ~]# ifconfig

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1B:B9:B3:BD:4F
          inet addr:192.168.1.1  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:201 Base address:0xc00

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:9439 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:9439 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:5524963 (5.2 MiB)  TX bytes:5524963 (5.2 MiB)

That means:

• ethX: ethernet network card
• lo: interface loopback

On Linux, wired Ethernet cards are given names such as eth0 (first plaque), eth1 (second plate), eth2 (third board) and so on. In the case of wireless cards, the name changes according to the model and the driver used. Cards configured via ndiswrapper are identified as wlan0, boards with Ralink chipset as ra0 and boards with Intel chipset as eth1, in the same way as a headboard.