Netlink套接字家族（英语：Netlink socket family）是一组Linux核心接口（Linux kernel interfaces），可用于行程间通信，Linux内核与用户空间的进程间、用户进程间的通讯。然而它并不像网络套接字可以用于主机间通讯，Netlink只能用于同一主机上进程通讯，并通过PID来标识它们。

Netlink被设计为在Linux内核与用户空间进程传送各种网络信息。网络工具iproute2利用 Netlink从用户空间与内核进行通讯。Netlink由一个在用户空间的标准的Socket接口和内核模块 提供的内核API组成。Netlink的设计比ioctl更加灵活，Netlink使用了AF_NETLINK Socket 家族。

Netlink socket family is a Linux kernel interface used for inter-process communication (IPC) between both the kernel and userspace processes, and between different userspace processes, in a way similar to the Unix domain sockets. Similarly to the Unix domain sockets, and unlike INET sockets, Netlink communication cannot traverse host boundaries. However, while the Unix domain sockets use the file system namespace, Netlink processes are addressed by process identifiers (PIDs).