How do I restart Linux network service?

RedHat Linux command to reload or restart network (login as root user):

# service network restart
OR
# /etc/init.d/network restart

To start Linux network service:
# service network start

To stop Linux network service:
# service network stop

Debian Linux command to reload or restart network:
# /etc/init.d/networking restart

To start Linux network service:
# /etc/init.d/networking start

To stop Linux network service:
# /etc/init.d/networking stop

Ubuntu Linux user use sudo command with above Debian Linux command:
# sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

To start Linux network service:
# sudo /etc/init.d/networking start

To stop Linux network service:
# sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop

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26 thoughts on “How do I restart Linux network service?”

  1. service network start ======>to start Network under Redhat Linux
    service network stop ======>to stop Network under Redhat Linux
    service network restart =====> to restart Network under Redhat Linux

  2. I have debian, and I can’t restart any service with the command
    # /etc/init.d/networking restart,
    please help m ewith this, I have heard about a command to do it , something like invoke-rc.d or insserv
    Thanks in advance.

  3. The command is:
    /etc/init.d/networking restart

    No need to use invoke-rc.d here. What error you are getting?

  4. I’m using Knoppix 5 and I can’t restart any service with the command
    # /etc/init.d/networking restart

    i see the error like this:
    bash:networking :command not found

  5. Doan,

    I can use the command /etc/init.d/networking on Knoppix version 4.0

    Use following command to restart:
    # /etc/init.d/network restart

    OR use GUI tool:
    Click the Knoppix menu in the bottom left corner > Point to Network/Internet >
    Click Network Card Configuration > You can start/stop or change network settings.

    OR use network-setup GUI tool command:

    # network-setup

  6. Oddly enough you can’t restart networking from the /root directory or the /etc/init.d directory..
    I found that if I cd to /home THEN i run /etc/init.d/networking restart (in debian) otherwise I just get “command not found”

  7. @Jason: Try “/./etc/init.d/networking restart”. The first / says start from the root…

    @Paranoid: lol! NEVER do this command unless you can actually touch the server with your bare hands!

    the redhat example works fine for me!

  8. With my backtrack 4 pre-final, I can resume only wired (eth0) network but wireless doesn’t work.
    Which is the command for wireless?
    Thank you

  9. I’m with Paranoid. Several times my network has gone down due to power glitch or some other reason. I try the suggested:

    service network restart

    which does “work”. By that I mean that it shuts down eth0 and loopback and restarts loopback. Every time that this happens, I must reboot, then eth0 works again. Please tell me how to restart without rebooting. I run FC10.

    Thanks!!!

  10. Linton; sometimes things don’t always work as planned.

    if a power failure or something causes you instability, invest in a ups!
    also, write scripts to check if an interface is down or not. if this is a headless machine, having cron run your interface check script will save you headaches of dragging a monitor to your box.
    you can use
    #ping -I eth0 -c 1 192.168.1.1
    where the -i eth0 is your desired interface, and 192.168.1.1 is a closest outside device, say, cable modem, etc… write a script that determines the status of your ping and to simply reconnect it if needed. tell cron to run it every 5 minutes and you’ve got a self supporting connection..

    just a tip!

  11. Same problem with me. I want to change IP address of eth0 and after restarting the network, it is inaccessible. ifconfig is not giving any details of eth0 since its dead. How did you solve the problem?

    TIA
    Suja Bhattacharya

  12. Hello Srs,

    I have a problems when I use ‘service network restart’ or ‘/etc/init.d/network restart’ on *centOs 5 .

    The problems is , the network do not back, I block the network and only to back when I reboot the server .

    Any ideia ?

    Thanks all !

  13. For those who have the problem of no network after doing a restart or stop|start, the issue may be that you started your network service but have not brought up your network interface (e.g. eth0). If you do a ifconfig and only get the loopback interface (e.g. lo) then try bringing up your eth0 interface. This should enable your interface and grab an IP (assuming DHCP).
    To bring the interface up you can use:
    * ifconfig eth0 up (note: if your interface is not eth0 you will need to replace it with the name of your interface).
    You can find all configured interfaces in /etc/network/interfaces such as:
    * cat /etc/network/interfaces

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