What is netstat commonly used for?

What is netstat commonly used for?

• A. Display routing tables
• B. Display ARP table
• C. Display firewall rules
• D. Display active connections, listening ports, and statistics

Answer: (D)

Netstat is used to inspect the host’s current network state. It shows active connections and listening ports, plus protocol statistics. This makes it ideal for verifying which services are listening on which ports, who your machine is connected to, and how network traffic is behaving. For troubleshooting, you can see if a service isn’t listening where you expect, detect unexpected open ports, and check the state of connections (such as established versus listening or waiting states). The statistics give a quick view of traffic and errors by protocol. While you can use netstat to view routing tables or the ARP cache with certain options, its primary purpose is to reveal active connections, listening ports, and overall protocol statistics.

Netstat is used to inspect the host’s current network state. It shows active connections and listening ports, plus protocol statistics. This makes it ideal for verifying which services are listening on which ports, who your machine is connected to, and how network traffic is behaving. For troubleshooting, you can see if a service isn’t listening where you expect, detect unexpected open ports, and check the state of connections (such as established versus listening or waiting states). The statistics give a quick view of traffic and errors by protocol. While you can use netstat to view routing tables or the ARP cache with certain options, its primary purpose is to reveal active connections, listening ports, and overall protocol statistics.