From Wsms

simple usage

Determine the setting for an interface

ggeller@roosevelt:~/tmp/networking_notes$ ifconfig eth3
eth3      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:13:CE:B7:B5:CE  
          inet addr:192.168.2.100  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING ALLMULTI MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1469397 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1284248 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:1261243531 (1.1 GB)  TX bytes:1066065471 (1016.6 MB)
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0x8000 Memory:c0214000-c0214fff 

Configure set an interface with a specified IP, netmask and broadcast address:

# ifconfig eth0 192.168.200.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.200.255

see also

ipconfig
ping
Linux Networking Cookbook by Carla Schroder