NAME
ifconfig - configure network interface parameters
SYNOPSIS
ifconfig [-L] [-m] interface [create] [address_family]
[address[/prefixlength] [dest_address]] [parameters]
ifconfig interface destroy
ifconfig -a [-L] [-d] [-m] [-u] [address_family]
ifconfig -l [-d] [-u] [address_family]
ifconfig [-L] [-d] [-m] [-u]
DESCRIPTION
Ifconfig is used to assign an address to a network interface and/or con-
figure network interface parameters. Ifconfig must be used at boot time
to define the network address of each interface present on a machine; it
may also be used at a later time to redefine an interface's address or
other operating parameters.
The following options are available:
address
For the DARPA-Internet family, the address is either a host name
present in the host name data base, hosts(5), or a DARPA Internet
address expressed in the Internet standard ``dot notation''.
It is also possible to use the CIDR notation (also known as the
slash notation) to include the netmask. That is, one can specify
an address like 192.168.0.1/16.
address_family
Specify the address family which affects interpretation of the
remaining parameters. Since an interface can receive transmis-
sions in differing protocols with different naming schemes, spec-
ifying the address family is recommended. The address or proto-
col families currently supported are ``inet'', ``inet6'',
dest_address
Specify the address of the correspondent on the other end of a
point to point link.
there is more, but this is likely beyond what's needed