Advantages of Static Routes
- Easy to configure
- No routing protocol overhead
Disadvantages of Static Routes
- Network changes require manual reconfiguration
- Network outages cannot be automatically routed around
- Does not scale well in large networks.
Add a Static route using “route” command
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| route add [-net|-host] netmask gw dev X |
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| route add [-net|-host]
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Example
route add -net 10.10.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.1.1 dev eth0
route add -host 10.10.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.1.1 dev eth0
route add -host 10.10.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.1.1 dev eth0
This adds the route immediatly to the Kernel IP routing table. To confirm the route has been successfully, simply type the “route” command with no arguements:
route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.254 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
localnet * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
10.10.10.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
10.10.1.1 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.254 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
localnet * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
10.10.10.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
10.10.1.1 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
Use
netstat -rn
to print the Kernel IP Routing table.
To keep the Static Route persistent or you want to add the route entries to the network script files (not using the route command) then all you need to do is to edit the file
/etc/network/interfaces
and the static routes in the following format:
up route add [-net|-host]/ gw dev
Example
up route add -net 172.20.11.0/16 gw 172.20.10.254 dev eth1
And the file will like the following
sudo cat /etc/network/interfaces
The output should show something like this
sudo cat /etc/network/interfaces
The output should show something like this
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
auto eth0 eth1
auto eth0 eth1
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.254
# dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
address 192.168.1.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.254
# dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
iface eth1 inet static
address 172.20.10.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 172.20.10.255
gateway 172.20.10.254
address 172.20.10.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 172.20.10.255
gateway 172.20.10.254
# static route
up route add -net 172.20.11.0/16 gw 172.20.10.254 dev eth1
up route add -net 172.20.11.0/16 gw 172.20.10.254 dev eth1
The above has 2 Ethernet interfaces and the static route is added to the interface eth1.
For the change to /etc/network/interface to take effect. please restart the “networking” service as follows:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
NOTE: If you added the route already using the “route” then there is no need to restart the networking service because, the next time server is restarted this takes effect.
