network_namespaces(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual network_namespaces(7)
NAME
network_namespaces - overview of Linux network namespaces
DESCRIPTION
Network namespaces provide isolation of the system resources associated
with networking: network devices, IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks, IP
routing tables, firewall rules, the /proc/net directory (which is a sym-
bolic link to /proc/pid/net), the /sys/class/net directory, various
files under /proc/sys/net, port numbers (sockets), and so on. In addi-
tion, network namespaces isolate the UNIX domain abstract socket name-
space (see unix(7)).
A physical network device can live in exactly one network namespace.
When a network namespace is freed (i.e., when the last process in the
namespace terminates), its physical network devices are moved back to
the initial network namespace (not to the namespace of the parent of the
process).
A virtual network (veth(4)) device pair provides a pipe-like abstraction
that can be used to create tunnels between network namespaces, and can
be used to create a bridge to a physical network device in another name-
space. When a namespace is freed, the veth(4) devices that it contains
are destroyed.
Use of network namespaces requires a kernel that is configured with the
CONFIG_NET_NS option.
SEE ALSO
nsenter(1), unshare(1), clone(2), veth(4), proc(5), sysfs(5), name-
spaces(7), user_namespaces(7), brctl(8), ip(8), ip-address(8),
ip-link(8), ip-netns(8), iptables(8), ovs-vsctl(8)
Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-05-02 network_namespaces(7)
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