Monthly Archive for November, 2024

Monitoring network connections on Linux

Here is a great TCP/UDP Port finder tool.   This was useful for finding out which port “cbt” was in my Iftop listing.  It was 7777, which was in use for the Unreal Engine on an Ark: Survival Evolved game server. Iftop is the best real time network monitoring tool for Linux that has graced my system to date — or so it seems until one finds Iptraf. Iptraf is another excellent tool for monitoring network traffic in real time.  The Iptraf manual is here.  Netstat wasn’t suitable for this purpose due to the use of UDP as the main protocol.  Netstat is certainly useful, but no switches that I could locate would enable the program to show the UDP traffic in real time and the associated addresses of those connected to the server.  Iptraf shows the UDP traffic in a rapidly updating scroll box.  Iftop shows the traffic in an easy to read display that includes the address and hostname of the connected system.

This list doesn’t relate to more in depth management tools. This list is for easy console monitoring of a server running such games as ARK Survival Evolved.