add multicast ip address into kernel route table

Question

i want to add an IP (multicast 228.0.0.4) in the range of 224.0.0.0 – 239.255.255.255 in the kernel routes table, so i used

sudo route -nv add -net 228.0.0.4 -interface eth0

but it gives me:

root@macavity:/home/gaiz# route -nv add -net 228.0.0.4 -interface eth0
route: invalid option -- 'i'
route: invalid option -- 't'
route: invalid option -- 'r'
route: invalid option -- 'f'
route: invalid option -- 'a'
route: invalid option -- 'c'
Usage: route [-nNvee] [-FC] [<AF>]           List kernel routing tables
       route [-v] [-FC] {add|del|flush} ...  Modify routing table for AF.

       route {-h|--help} [<AF>]              Detailed usage syntax for specified AF.
       route {-V|--version}                  Display version/author and exit.

        -v, --verbose            be verbose
        -n, --numeric            don't resolve names
        -e, --extend             display other/more information
        -F, --fib                display Forwarding Information Base (default)
        -C, --cache              display routing cache instead of FIB

  <AF>=Use '-A <af>' or '--<af>'; default: inet
  List of possible address families (which support routing):
    inet (DARPA Internet) inet6 (IPv6) ax25 (AMPR AX.25) 
    netrom (AMPR NET/ROM) ipx (Novell IPX) ddp (Appletalk DDP) 
    x25 (CCITT X.25)

my route table:

root@macavity:/home/gaiz# netstat -r
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags   MSS Window  irtt Iface
default         dsldevice.lan   0.0.0.0         UG        0 0          0 wlan0
192.168.1.0     *               255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 wlan0

and my current network configuration information

root@macavity:/home/gaiz# ifconfig -a

    eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 24:b6:fd:4a:15:ca  
              inet6 addr: fe80::26b6:fdff:fe4a:15ca/64 Scope:Link
              UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
              RX packets:268 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:107 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
              RX bytes:16136 (16.1 KB)  TX bytes:15102 (15.1 KB)

    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:65536  Metric:1
              RX packets:2444 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:2444 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
              RX bytes:393755 (393.7 KB)  TX bytes:393755 (393.7 KB)

    wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr e0:06:e6:79:60:49  
              inet addr:192.168.1.64  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
              inet6 addr: fe80::e206:e6ff:fe79:6049/64 Scope:Link
              UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
              RX packets:92082 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:63686 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
              RX bytes:112279263 (112.2 MB)  TX bytes:8760358 (8.7 MB)

Solution

I'm afraid I don't understand multicast too well, but the problem that your command has is the '-interface'. It should instead look like this:

sudo route -nv add -net 228.0.0.4 dev eth0

From the man route pages, an example:

route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0
  This is an obscure one documented so people know how to  do  it.
  This  sets  all  of  the class D (multicast) IP routes to go via
  "eth0". This is the correct normal  configuration  line  with  a
  multicasting kernel.

Comments

[macavity]

now it says invalid argument root@macavity:/home/gaiz# sudo route -nv add -net 228.0.0.4 dev eth0 SIOCADDRT: Invalid argument

[Charles Green]

@macavity Modifying answer