Add static route on Ubuntu 14.04 server

Question

I have set up Ubuntu 14.04 server on a machine and configured /etc/network/interfaces with two gateways. The default one is em1 which is fine, but I need traffic to a specific IP address on the internet to be sent via the other gateway. The following command works from the command line:

sudo route add -net XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX netmask 255.255.255.255 gw 172.16.0.1

but adding it to /etc/network/interfaces does not work on reboot:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto em1
iface em1 inet static
    address 10.0.2.251
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 10.0.2.1
    dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

auto em1:0
iface em1:0 inet static
    address 172.16.1.6
    netmask 255.255.0.0
    gateway 172.16.0.1
    dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

post-up route add -net XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX netmask 255.255.255.255 gw 172.16.0.1

Can anyone help?

Solution

post-up route add -net XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX netmask 255.255.255.255 gw 172.16.0.1 remove post-up and change it to "up"

up route add -net XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX netmask 255.255.255.255 gw 172.16.0.1 after that, ifdown em1:0 and ifup em1:0 or u can restart networking.service cheer.

Comments

[Eddie Dunn]

Just for grins can you try it with a 30 bit (255.255.255.252) mask? I just found this: askubuntu.com/questions/560616/… that indicates it may be a problem with the 32 bit mask specifically. Not a fix but maybe more focus on the problem.

[James]

No dice. I changed the netmask but route complained route: netmask doesn't match route address

[Eddie Dunn]

Well you would need to make it match for the network too. without knowing more of the IP I can;t tell what that should be.

[Zoredache]

Try putting it in the iface em1:0 block, and try changing your post-up to an up. You might also want to try the iproute syntax of ip route add x.x.x.x/32 via 172.16.0.1 instead.