.. _loopback-interface:
########
Loopback
########
The loopback networking interface is a virtual network device implemented
entirely in software. All traffic sent to it "loops back" and just targets
services on your local machine.
.. note:: There can only be one loopback ``lo`` interface on the system. If
you need multiple interfaces, please use the :ref:`dummy-interface`
interface type.
Configuration
=============
Address
-------
.. cfgcmd:: set interfaces loopback lo address
Configure Loopback interface `lo` with one or more interface addresses.
* **address** can be specified multiple times as IPv4 and/or IPv6 address,
e.g. 192.0.2.1/24 and/or 2001:db8::1/64
Link Administration
-------------------
.. cfgcmd:: set interfaces loopback lo description
Assign given `` to interface `lo`. Description will also be
passed to SNMP monitoring systems.
Operation
=========
.. opcmd:: show interfaces loopback
Show brief interface information.
.. code-block:: none
vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces loopback
Codes: S - State, L - Link, u - Up, D - Down, A - Admin Down
Interface IP Address S/L Description
--------- ---------- --- -----------
lo 127.0.0.1/8 u/u
::1/128
.. opcmd:: show interfaces loopback lo
Show detailed information on given loopback interface `lo`.
.. code-block:: none
vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces ethernet eth0
lo: mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
RX: bytes packets errors dropped overrun mcast
300 6 0 0 0 0
TX: bytes packets errors dropped carrier collisions
300 6 0 0 0 0