ip addr basics

When you run ip a in your terminal, you get something like this,

wlo1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 3c:55:76:1b:e3:03 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    altname wlp3s0
    inet 192.168.219.8/24 brd 192.168.219.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlo1
       valid_lft 2466sec preferred_lft 2466sec
    inet6 2409:4042:2c85:9bce:4425:fcde:9b5a:cbfd/64 scope global temporary dynamic 
       valid_lft 1866sec preferred_lft 1866sec
    inet6 2409:4042:2c85:9bce:c6ef:6241:395a:a53b/64 scope global dynamic mngtmpaddr noprefixroute 
       valid_lft 1866sec preferred_lft 1866sec
    inet6 fe80::fe03:1ae9:17a9:163e/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

This output is showing the network interface named “wlo1” and its current configuration. Here’s what each thing represents:

conf	Description
wlo1:	This is the name of the network interface.
<BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>:	These are the flags indicating the current state of the interface. In this case, it’s up and running, and able to send and receive broadcast messages.
mtu 1500:	This is the maximum transmission unit (MTU) for this interface, which is the largest packet size it can handle.
qdisc noqueue:	This indicates that there is no queuing discipline set up for this interface.
state UP:	This indicates that the interface is currently active and able to send and receive packets.
group default:	This indicates the group that this interface belongs to.
qlen 1000:	This is the maximum length of the transmit queue for this interface.
link/ether 3c:55:76:1b:e3:03 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:	This is the MAC address of the interface and the broadcast MAC address.
altname wlp3s0:	This is an alternate name for the interface.
inet 192.168.219.8/24:	This is the IPv4 address assigned to the interface. In this case, it’s a dynamic address assigned through DHCP, and the subnet mask is /24.
brd 192.168.219.255:	This is the broadcast address for the network that the interface is on.
scope global:	This indicates that this IP address is a global IP address that can be reached from anywhere on the network.
dynamic noprefixroute:	This indicates that this is a dynamic IP address assigned through DHCP, and that there is no specific route set up for it.
valid_lft 2466sec preferred_lft 2466sec:	These are the valid and preferred lifetimes for the IPv4 address. In this case, the address will expire in 2466 seconds, and it’s the preferred address until it expires.
inet6:	These are the IPv6 addresses assigned to the interface.
fe80::fe03:1ae9:17a9:163e/64:	This is the link-local IPv6 address for the interface.
scope link noprefixroute:	This indicates that this is a link-local address, and that there is no specific route set up for it.

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