pyNIC

A Python interface to get Network Interface Cards(NIC) information on Linux.

Dependencies

You must install the Python headers.

On Debian and Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt-get install python-dev

Installation

sudo python setup.py install

Usage

import pynic

You can see an example at the end of this page.

Functions

get_list_interfaces()               -   It lists all available interfaces

Constants

Many constants from netdevice were exported to this module. You can check the documentation on http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/netdevice.7.html

Currently, the constants which you are able to use are:

IFF_UP                              -   Interface is running.
IFF_BROADCAST                       -   Valid broadcast address set.
IFF_DEBUG                           -   Internal debugging flag.
IFF_LOOPBACK                        -   Interface is a loopback interface.
IFF_POINTOPOINT                     -   Interface is a point-to-point link.
IFF_RUNNING                         -   Resources allocated.
IFF_NOARP                           -   No arp protocol, L2 destination address not set.
IFF_PROMISC                         -   Interface is in promiscuous mode.
IFF_NOTRAILERS                      -   Avoid use of trailers.
IFF_ALLMULTI                        -   Receive all multicast packets.
IFF_MASTER                          -   Master of a load balancing bundle.
IFF_SLAVE                           -   Slave of a load balancing bundle.
IFF_MULTICAST                       -   Supports multicast
IFF_PORTSEL                         -   Is able to select media type via ifmap.
IFF_AUTOMEDIA                       -   Auto media selection active.
IFF_DYNAMIC                         -   The addresses are lost when the interface goes down.
IFF_LOWER_UP                        -   Driver signals L1 up (since Linux 2.6.17)
IFF_DORMANT                         -   Driver signals dormant (since Linux 2.6.17)
IFF_ECHO                            -   Echo sent packets (since Linux 2.6.25)

Iface class

This class store all necessary information about the interfaces.

Attributes

String  name                        -   Interface's name
String  inet_addr                   -   Interface's IPv4 address
String  inet6_addr                  -   Interface's IPv6 address
String  hw_addr                     -   Interface's MAC address
String  broad_addr                  -   Interface's Broadcast address
String  inet_mask                   -   Interface's Network Mask v4 address
String  inet6_mask                  -   Interface's Network Mask v6 address
Boolean running                     -   Indicates if interface is running or not
Boolean updown                      -   Indicates if interfaces is Up or Down
Integer flags                       -   Other Interface's flags
Integer tx_bytes                    -   Amount of bytes that the interface transmitted
Integer rx_bytes                    -   Amount of bytes that the interface received
Integer tx_packets                  -   Amount of packets that the interface transmitted
Integer rx_packets                  -   Amount of packets that the interface received

Methods

update_tx_rx()                      -   Update NIC's TX/RX information (bytes and packets)

Class Methods

Iface.get_interface(String)         -   It returns an Iface object with all information about it

Examples

• Get an interface and set a new IPv4 Address (You must execute as root)

import pynic

interface = pynic.Iface.get_interface('eth0')
interface.inet_addr = "192.168.0.100"
print(interface.inet_addr) #Print the new address

You can see more examples in the example directory.