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Chapter 14. Configuring policy-based routing to define alternative routes

By default, the kernel in RHEL decides where to forward network packets based on the destination address using a routing table. Policy-based routing enables you to configure complex routing scenarios. For example, you can route packets based on various criteria, such as the source address, packet metadata, or protocol.

14.1. Routing traffic from a specific subnet to a different default gateway by using nmcli

You can use policy-based routing to configure a different default gateway for traffic from certain subnets. For example, you can configure RHEL as a router that, by default, routes all traffic to internet provider A using the default route. However, traffic received from the internal workstations subnet is routed to provider B.

The procedure assumes the following network topology:

policy based routing

Prerequisites

  • The system uses NetworkManager to configure the network, which is the default.

  • The RHEL router you want to set up in the procedure has four network interfaces:

    • The enp7s0 interface is connected to the network of provider A. The gateway IP in the provider’s network is 198.51.100.2, and the network uses a /30 network mask.
    • The enp1s0 interface is connected to the network of provider B. The gateway IP in the provider’s network is 192.0.2.2, and the network uses a /30 network mask.
    • The enp8s0 interface is connected to the 10.0.0.0/24 subnet with internal workstations.
    • The enp9s0 interface is connected to the 203.0.113.0/24 subnet with the company’s servers.
  • Hosts in the internal workstations subnet use 10.0.0.1 as the default gateway. In the procedure, you assign this IP address to the enp8s0 network interface of the router.
  • Hosts in the server subnet use 203.0.113.1 as the default gateway. In the procedure, you assign this IP address to the enp9s0 network interface of the router.
  • The firewalld service is enabled and active.

Procedure

  1. Configure the network interface to provider A: 

    # nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name Provider-A ifname enp7s0 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses 198.51.100.1/30 ipv4.gateway 198.51.100.2 ipv4.dns 198.51.100.200 connection.zone external

    The nmcli connection add command creates a NetworkManager connection profile. The command uses the following options:

    • type ethernet: Defines that the connection type is Ethernet.
    • con-name <connection_name>: Sets the name of the profile. Use a meaningful name to avoid confusion.
    • ifname <network_device>: Sets the network interface.
    • ipv4.method manual: Enables to configure a static IP address.
    • ipv4.addresses <IP_address>/<subnet_mask>: Sets the IPv4 addresses and subnet mask.
    • ipv4.gateway <IP_address>: Sets the default gateway address.
    • ipv4.dns <IP_of_DNS_server>: Sets the IPv4 address of the DNS server.
    • connection.zone <firewalld_zone>: Assigns the network interface to the defined firewalld zone. Note that firewalld automatically enables masquerading for interfaces assigned to the external zone.

  2. Configure the network interface to provider B: 

    # nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name Provider-B ifname enp1s0 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses 192.0.2.1/30 ipv4.routes "0.0.0.0/0 192.0.2.2 table=5000" connection.zone external

    This command uses the ipv4.routes parameter instead of ipv4.gateway to set the default gateway. This is required to assign the default gateway for this connection to a different routing table (5000) than the default. NetworkManager automatically creates this new routing table when the connection is activated.

  3. Configure the network interface to the internal workstations subnet: 

    # nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name Internal-Workstations ifname enp8s0 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses 10.0.0.1/24 ipv4.routes "10.0.0.0/24 table=5000" ipv4.routing-rules "priority 5 from 10.0.0.0/24 table 5000" connection.zone trusted

    This command uses the ipv4.routes parameter to add a static route to the routing table with ID 5000. This static route for the 10.0.0.0/24 subnet uses the IP of the local network interface to provider B (192.0.2.1) as next hop.

    Additionally, the command uses the ipv4.routing-rules parameter to add a routing rule with priority 5 that routes traffic from the 10.0.0.0/24 subnet to table 5000. Low values have a high priority.

    Note that the syntax in the ipv4.routing-rules parameter is the same as in an ip rule add command, except that ipv4.routing-rules always requires specifying a priority.

  4. Configure the network interface to the server subnet: 

    # nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name Servers ifname enp9s0 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses 203.0.113.1/24 connection.zone trusted

Verification

  1. On a RHEL host in the internal workstation subnet:

    1. Install the traceroute package: 

      # dnf install traceroute

    2. Use the traceroute utility to display the route to a host on the internet: 

      # traceroute redhat.com
traceroute to redhat.com (209.132.183.105), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1)     0.337 ms  0.260 ms  0.223 ms
 2  192.0.2.1 (192.0.2.1)   0.884 ms  1.066 ms  1.248 ms
 ...

      The output of the command displays that the router sends packets over 192.0.2.1, which is the network of provider B.

  2. On a RHEL host in the server subnet:

    1. Install the traceroute package: 

      # dnf install traceroute

    2. Use the traceroute utility to display the route to a host on the internet: 

      # traceroute redhat.com
traceroute to redhat.com (209.132.183.105), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  203.0.113.1 (203.0.113.1)    2.179 ms  2.073 ms  1.944 ms
 2  198.51.100.2 (198.51.100.2)  1.868 ms  1.798 ms  1.549 ms
 ...

      The output of the command displays that the router sends packets over 198.51.100.2, which is the network of provider A.

Troubleshooting steps

On the RHEL router:

  1. Display the rule list: 

    # ip rule list
0:	from all lookup local
5:	from 10.0.0.0/24 lookup 5000
32766:	from all lookup main
32767:	from all lookup default

    By default, RHEL contains rules for the tables local, main, and default.

  2. Display the routes in table 5000: 

    # ip route list table 5000
0.0.0.0/0 via 192.0.2.2 dev enp1s0 proto static metric 100
10.0.0.0/24 dev enp8s0 proto static scope link src 192.0.2.1 metric 102

  3. Display the interfaces and firewall zones: 

    # firewall-cmd --get-active-zones
external
  interfaces: enp1s0 enp7s0
trusted
  interfaces: enp8s0 enp9s0

  4. Verify that the external zone has masquerading enabled: 

    # firewall-cmd --info-zone=external
external (active)
  target: default
  icmp-block-inversion: no
  interfaces: enp1s0 enp7s0
  sources:
  services: ssh
  ports:
  protocols:
  masquerade: yes
  ...

Additional resources

  • nm-settings(5) and nmcli(1) man pages on your system

14.2. Routing traffic from a specific subnet to a different default gateway by using the network RHEL system role

You can use policy-based routing to configure a different default gateway for traffic from certain subnets. For example, you can configure RHEL as a router that, by default, routes all traffic to internet provider A using the default route. However, traffic received from the internal workstations subnet is routed to provider B.

To configure policy-based routing remotely and on multiple nodes, you can use the network RHEL system role.

This procedure assumes the following network topology:

policy based routing

Prerequisites

  • You have prepared the control node and the managed nodes
  • You are logged in to the control node as a user who can run playbooks on the managed nodes.
  • The account you use to connect to the managed nodes has sudo permissions on them.
  • The managed nodes uses the NetworkManager and firewalld services.

  • The managed nodes you want to configure has four network interfaces:

    • The enp7s0 interface is connected to the network of provider A. The gateway IP in the provider’s network is 198.51.100.2, and the network uses a /30 network mask.
    • The enp1s0 interface is connected to the network of provider B. The gateway IP in the provider’s network is 192.0.2.2, and the network uses a /30 network mask.
    • The enp8s0 interface is connected to the 10.0.0.0/24 subnet with internal workstations.
    • The enp9s0 interface is connected to the 203.0.113.0/24 subnet with the company’s servers.
  • Hosts in the internal workstations subnet use 10.0.0.1 as the default gateway. In the procedure, you assign this IP address to the enp8s0 network interface of the router.
  • Hosts in the server subnet use 203.0.113.1 as the default gateway. In the procedure, you assign this IP address to the enp9s0 network interface of the router.

Procedure

  1. Create a playbook file, for example ~/playbook.yml, with the following content: 

    ---
- name: Configuring policy-based routing
  hosts: managed-node-01.example.com
  tasks:
    - name: Routing traffic from a specific subnet to a different default gateway
      ansible.builtin.include_role:
        name: rhel-system-roles.network
      vars:
        network_connections:
          - name: Provider-A
            interface_name: enp7s0
            type: ethernet
            autoconnect: True
            ip:
              address:
                - 198.51.100.1/30
              gateway4: 198.51.100.2
              dns:
                - 198.51.100.200
            state: up
            zone: external

          - name: Provider-B
            interface_name: enp1s0
            type: ethernet
            autoconnect: True
            ip:
              address:
                - 192.0.2.1/30
              route:
                - network: 0.0.0.0
                  prefix: 0
                  gateway: 192.0.2.2
                  table: 5000
            state: up
            zone: external

          - name: Internal-Workstations
            interface_name: enp8s0
            type: ethernet
            autoconnect: True
            ip:
              address:
                - 10.0.0.1/24
              route:
                - network: 10.0.0.0
                  prefix: 24
                  table: 5000
              routing_rule:
                - priority: 5
                  from: 10.0.0.0/24
                  table: 5000
            state: up
            zone: trusted

          - name: Servers
            interface_name: enp9s0
            type: ethernet
            autoconnect: True
            ip:
              address:
                - 203.0.113.1/24
            state: up
            zone: trusted

  2. Validate the playbook syntax: 

    $ ansible-playbook --syntax-check ~/playbook.yml

    Note that this command only validates the syntax and does not protect against a wrong but valid configuration.

  3. Run the playbook: 

    $ ansible-playbook ~/playbook.yml

Verification

  1. On a RHEL host in the internal workstation subnet:

    1. Install the traceroute package: 

      # dnf install traceroute

    2. Use the traceroute utility to display the route to a host on the internet: 

      # traceroute redhat.com
traceroute to redhat.com (209.132.183.105), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1)     0.337 ms  0.260 ms  0.223 ms
 2  192.0.2.1 (192.0.2.1)   0.884 ms  1.066 ms  1.248 ms
 ...

      The output of the command displays that the router sends packets over 192.0.2.1, which is the network of provider B.

  2. On a RHEL host in the server subnet:

    1. Install the traceroute package: 

      # dnf install traceroute

    2. Use the traceroute utility to display the route to a host on the internet: 

      # traceroute redhat.com
traceroute to redhat.com (209.132.183.105), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  203.0.113.1 (203.0.113.1)    2.179 ms  2.073 ms  1.944 ms
 2  198.51.100.2 (198.51.100.2)  1.868 ms  1.798 ms  1.549 ms
 ...

      The output of the command displays that the router sends packets over 198.51.100.2, which is the network of provider A.

  3. On the RHEL router that you configured using the RHEL system role:

    1. Display the rule list: 

      # ip rule list
0:      from all lookup local
5:    from 10.0.0.0/24 lookup 5000
32766:  from all lookup main
32767:  from all lookup default

      By default, RHEL contains rules for the tables local, main, and default.

    2. Display the routes in table 5000: 

      # ip route list table 5000
0.0.0.0/0 via 192.0.2.2 dev enp1s0 proto static metric 100
10.0.0.0/24 dev enp8s0 proto static scope link src 192.0.2.1 metric 102

    3. Display the interfaces and firewall zones: 

      # firewall-cmd --get-active-zones
external
  interfaces: enp1s0 enp7s0
trusted
  interfaces: enp8s0 enp9s0

    4. Verify that the external zone has masquerading enabled: 

      # firewall-cmd --info-zone=external
external (active)
  target: default
  icmp-block-inversion: no
  interfaces: enp1s0 enp7s0
  sources:
  services: ssh
  ports:
  protocols:
  masquerade: yes
  ...

Additional resources

  • /usr/share/ansible/roles/rhel-system-roles.network/README.md file
  • /usr/share/doc/rhel-system-roles/network/ directory

14.3. Configuring zone priorities for traffic classification by using firewalld

With zone priorities, you can control the packet classification order by specifying priorities for ingress and egress traffic. The benefit is that you can specify the traffic classification order in a zone. So, zone A may be considered before zone B regardless of the source address or interfaces. A zone of a lower priority value has higher precedence over a zone with a higher priority value. This classification has a pair of ingress priority value and egress priority value.

14.3.1. Setting same priority value for both traffic types in a zone

By using the --set-priority option, you can set a common value for both ingress and egress traffic classification without explicit specification.

Prerequisites

  1. Create a new zone: 

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --new-zone=example-zone

  2. Set a common zone priority value for the example-zone zone with --set-priority: 

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --zone example-zone --set-priority -10

    By setting a lower value ensures the higher precedence. This ensures that all configured operations for both traffic types in this zone will take precedence over operations from other zones.

  3. Apply permanent configuration to runtime: 

    # firewall-cmd --reload

Verification

  • Display the priority value for both traffic types: 

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --info-zone example-zone

example-zone
  target: default
  ingress-priority: -10
  egress-priority: -10
  ...
  icmp-block-inversion: no
  ...
  services: dhcpv6-client mdns samba-client ssh
  ...
  forward: yes
  masquerade: no
  ...

    This setting ensures that the traffic will be considered for classification into the example-zone before other zones.

14.3.2. Setting different priority value for each traffic type in a zone

By setting distinct values for ingress and egress traffic, you can set priorities for the traffic classification in a zone.

Procedure

  1. Create a new zone: 

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --new-zone=example-zone

  2. Set a zone priority value for ingress traffic in the example-zone zone with --set-ingress-priority: 

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --zone example-zone --set-ingress-priority -10

  3. Set a zone priority value for egress traffic in the example-zone zone with --set-egress-priority: 

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --zone example-zone --set-egress-priority 100

  4. Apply permanent configuration to runtime: 

    # firewall-cmd --reload

Verification

  • Display the priority value for both traffic types: 

    # firewall-cmd --permanent --info-zone example-zone

example-zone (active)
  target: default
  ingress-priority: -10
  egress-priority: 100
  icmp-block-inversion: no
  interfaces: eth0
  ...
  services: dhcpv6-client mdns samba-client ssh
  ...
  forward: yes
  masquerade: no
  ...

    These values indicate that the ingress traffic has priority over the egress traffic in the example-zone zone before other zones.

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