I'm setting up a Debian box as a router for 4 subnets. For that I have defined 4 virtual interfaces on the NIC where the LAN is connected (eth1
).
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 94:0c:6d:82:0d:98
inet addr:10.1.1.1 Bcast:10.1.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::960c:6dff:fe82:d98/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:6026521 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:35331299 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:673201397 (642.0 MiB) TX bytes:177276932 (169.0 MiB)
Interrupt:19 Base address:0x6000
eth1:0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 94:0c:6d:82:0d:98
inet addr:10.1.2.1 Bcast:10.1.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
Interrupt:19 Base address:0x6000
eth1:1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 94:0c:6d:82:0d:98
inet addr:10.1.3.1 Bcast:10.1.3.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
Interrupt:19 Base address:0x6000
eth1:2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 94:0c:6d:82:0d:98
inet addr:10.1.4.1 Bcast:10.1.4.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
Interrupt:19 Base address:0x6000
eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 6c:f0:49:a4:47:38
inet addr:192.168.1.10 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::6ef0:49ff:fea4:4738/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:199809345 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:158362936 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3656983762 (3.4 GiB) TX bytes:1715848473 (1.5 GiB)
Interrupt:27
eth3 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 94:0c:6d:82:c8:72
inet addr:192.168.2.5 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::960c:6dff:fe82:c872/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:110814 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:73386 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:16044901 (15.3 MiB) TX bytes:42125647 (40.1 MiB)
Interrupt:20 Base address:0x2000
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:22351 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:22351 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:2625143 (2.5 MiB) TX bytes:2625143 (2.5 MiB)
tun0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
inet addr:10.8.0.1 P-t-P:10.8.0.2 Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:41358924 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:23116350 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:3065505744 (2.8 GiB) TX bytes:1324358330 (1.2 GiB)
I have two other computers connected to this network. One has IP 10.1.1.12 (subnet mask 255.255.255.0) and the other one 10.1.2.20 (subnet mask 255.255.255.0). I want to be able to reach 10.1.1.12 from 10.1.2.20.
Since packet forwarding is enabled in the router and the policy of the FORWARD chain is ACCEPT (and there are no other rules), I understand that there should be no problem to ping from 10.1.2.20 to 10.1.1.12 going through the router.
However, this is what I get:
$ ping -c15 10.1.1.12
PING 10.1.1.12 (10.1.1.12): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 81d4 0 0000 3f 01 e2b3 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 899b 0 0000 3f 01 daec 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 78fe 0 0000 3f 01 eb89 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 3
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 14b8 0 0000 3f 01 4fd0 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 8ef7 0 0000 3f 01 d590 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 5
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 ec9d 0 0000 3f 01 77ea 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 6
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 70e6 0 0000 3f 01 f3a1 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 b0d2 0 0000 3f 01 b3b5 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 8
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 f8b4 0 0000 3f 01 6bd3 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 9
Request timeout for icmp_seq 10
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 1c95 0 0000 3f 01 47f3 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 11
Request timeout for icmp_seq 12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 13
92 bytes from router2.mydomain.com (10.1.2.1): Redirect Host(New addr: 10.1.1.12)
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 62bc 0 0000 3f 01 01cc 10.1.2.20 10.1.1.12
Why does this happen?
From what I've read the Redirect Host
response has something to do with the fact that the two hosts are in the same network and there being a shorter route (or so I understood). They are in fact in the same physical network, but why would there be a better route if they are not on the same subnet (they can't see each other)?
What am I missing?
Some extra info you might want to see:
# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
10.8.0.2 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 tun0
127.0.0.1 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 lo
192.168.2.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth3
10.8.0.0 10.8.0.2 255.255.255.0 UG 0 0 0 tun0
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 1 0 0 eth2
10.1.4.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
10.1.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
10.1.2.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
10.1.3.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth2
0.0.0.0 192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0 UG 100 0 0 eth3
# iptables -L -n
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
# iptables -L -n -t nat
Chain PREROUTING (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
Chain POSTROUTING (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
MASQUERADE all -- !10.0.0.0/8 10.0.0.0/8
MASQUERADE all -- 10.0.0.0/8 !10.0.0.0/8
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
At first blush, it looks like Debian is stretching the boundaries for sending an ICMP redirect; quoting RFC 792 (Internet Protocol).
In this case, G1 is
10.1.2.1
(eth1:0
above), X is10.1.1.0/24
and G2 is10.1.1.12
, and the source is10.1.2.20
(i.e.G2 and the host identified by the internet source address of the datagram are **NOT** on the same network
). Maybe this has been historically interpreted differently in the case of interface aliases (or secondary addresses) on the same interface, but strictly speaking I'm not sure we should see Debian send that redirect.Depending on your requirements, you might be able to solve this by making the subnet for
eth1
something like10.1.0.0/22
(host addresses from10.1.0.1
-10.1.3.254
) instead of using interface aliases for individual/24
blocks (eth1
,eth1:0
,eth1:1
,eth1:2
); if you did this, you'll need to change the netmask of all hosts attached and you wouldn't be able to use 10.1.4.x unless you expanded to a/21
.EDIT
We're venturing a bit outside the scope of the original question, but I'll help work through the design/security issues mentioned in your comment.
If you want to isolate users in your office from each other, let's step back for a second and look at some security issues with what you have now:
You currently have four subnets in one ethernet broadcast domain. All users in one broadcast domain doesn't meet the security requirements you articulated in the comments (all machines will see broadcasts from other machines and could spontaneously send traffic to each other at Layer2, regardless of their default gateway being
eth1
,eth1:0
,eth1:1
oreth1:2
). There is nothing your Debian firewall can do to change this (or maybe I should say there is nothing your Debian firewall should do to change this :-).10.1.1.12
, you have a couple of options:10.1.1.12
, you could put all users in one IP subnet and implement security policies with Private Vlans (RFC 5517), assuming your ethernet switch supports this. This option will not requireiptables
rules to limit intra-office traffic from crossing security boundaries (that is accomplished with private Vlans).iptables
rules to deploy your security policiesFYI, if you have a router that supports VRFs, some of this gets even easier; IIRC, you have a Cisco IOS machine onsite. Depending on the model and software image you already have, that Cisco could do a fantastic job isolating your users from each other and implement source-based routing policies.
It is not really clear what you are trying to do, but I can say the following.
These subnets are connected to the same physical interface. The Linux router will return ICMP redirect message when the received packet should be forwarded over the same physical interface.
I agree with Khaled's comments and would also add to end of his phrase:
Doing this physically sounds like an easier solution - put each LAN on their own switch, and install a 4-port NIC into your one box that wants to serve all of them.