ip-tuntap

creates and manages TUN/TAP virtual network interfaces

TLDR

Show all TUN/TAP devices

$ ip tuntap

Create a TUN device

$ sudo ip tuntap add dev [tun0] mode tun

Create a TAP device

$ sudo ip tuntap add dev [tap0] mode tap

Delete a TUN/TAP device

$ sudo ip tuntap delete dev [tun0] mode tun

Create device with specific owner

$ sudo ip tuntap add dev [tun0] mode tun user [username]

Create device with owner and group

$ sudo ip tuntap add dev [tun0] mode tun user [username] group [groupname]

ip tuntap creates and manages TUN/TAP virtual network interfaces. TUN devices operate at layer 3 (IP packets) while TAP devices operate at layer 2 (Ethernet frames).
These virtual interfaces are commonly used by VPN software, virtualization (QEMU/KVM), and network testing tools. Setting user/group ownership allows non-root processes to use the device.

PARAMETERS

add dev NAME mode MODE

Create a TUN or TAP device

delete dev NAME mode MODE

Remove a TUN or TAP device

mode tun|tap

Device mode: tun (layer 3) or tap (layer 2)

user USERNAME

Set device owner by username or UID

group GROUPNAME

Set device group by name or GID

multi_queue

Enable multi-queue mode

CAVEATS

Requires root privileges to create devices. Devices persist until deleted or reboot. Applications using the device must be configured to match the device name. Mode must match between add and delete operations.

HISTORY

TUN/TAP support has been in the Linux kernel since version 2.4. The ip tuntap command provides a modern interface for managing these devices, replacing older methods using openvpn or tunctl.

ip-tuntap

creates and manages TUN/TAP virtual network interfaces

TLDR

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

PARAMETERS

CAVEATS

HISTORY

SEE ALSO

> TERMINAL_GEAR