if i am typing the command "ifconfig" it is getting like 'command not found'.what to do?

Install it. In Ubuntu it is in package "net-tools". If you have other distribution, write which.

sudo ifconfig eth0 ,eth1 or ath0 for a athros chip wifi card..What OS are you using??? This is the read out on Ubuntu10.04 and Linux Mint terminals ;;;;
system@system-desktop:~$ sudo ifconfig
[sudo] password for system:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 90:e6:ba:ec:13:f6
inet addr:192.168.1.2 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::92e6:baff:feec:13f6/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:7122035 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4584230 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:10031384332 (10.0 GB) TX bytes:471737543 (471.7 MB)
Interrupt:27 Base address:0x6000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1558 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1558 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:227157 (227.1 KB) TX bytes:227157 (227.1 KB)

Redhat does not include /sbin in the users path environment. You can run the command as:
/sbin/ifconfig

Typically those programs found in /sbin are administrative and can only be run as root which is why it isn't in a users path. ifconfig can output status but parameters can only be nodified if you are root.

Check your path too. ifconfig is usually /sbin/ifconfig which is often not in the default path for non-admin users.

Ahh.. I see that michaelk has quicker fingers than me !

if you have root access then you can run that command from root account ...otherwise follow above suggestions..