Setting up the IBM AIX server as a router (static

routing)

Saiprasad P. Parkar (saiparkar@in.ibm.com) 25 April 2013

IT specialist
IBM

Pravin S More (pravinmo@in.ibm.com)

Associate IT Specialist
IBM

Routing is the process of moving a packet of data from source to destination. Static routing
uses manually added routes whereas dynamic routing uses dynamic routes. This article
explains how to set up an IBM AIX server as a router to communicate with private and
public networks by using static routing.

What is routing?
Routing is the process of moving a packet of data from source to destination. Routing is usually
performed by a dedicated device called a router. Routing is a key feature of the Internet because
it enables messages to pass from one computer to another and eventually reach the target
computer. Each intermediary computer performs routing by passing along the message to the next
computer. Part of this process involves analyzing a routing table to determine the best path.

Types of routing
There are two types of routing: Static routing and dynamic routing.

Static routing

Static routing is the process of manually entering routes into a device's routing table through a
configuration file that is loaded when the routing device starts up. As an alternative, these routes
can be entered by a network administrator who configures the routes manually. Static routing is the
simplest form of routing, but it is a manual process.

Static routing means that the location of the remote resource is specified at design time. Requests
for a particular resource are always routed to the same region. Typically, when static routing is
used, the location of the resource is specified in the installed resource definition.

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Example scenario

One Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) on a (private network IP - 192.168.10.101)

One IBM AIX server with two network cards: One on private network, connected to VIOS
and the other on public network. (private network IP - 192.168.10.32 and public network IP -
9.3.129.14)
AIX clients on public network IP (public network IP - 9.3.129.20/21/22/23)

Figure 1. Example scenario

In this scenario, the clients on the public networkIP needs to be accessible from VIOS which is on
the private network IP. The AIX server acts as the router, which can route all network packets from
VIOS (private network) to clients (public network).

To set up an AIX server to be a router or gateway for the VIOS, we would have to basically add
routes into it's routing table, and routes into the VIOS routing table, and the routing table of the
external systems that want to communicate with the VIOS (so that an external system knows that
it needs to send traffic to the 9.3.129.14 IP when trying to communicate with the 192.168.10.32
subnet).

To see the current routing table on your host, use the following command:
#netstat -rn

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Figure 2. VIOS routing table

Figure 3. Client routing table

The first step is to enable IP forwarding on the AIX server that will be the router.
#no -o ipforwarding=1

Next, on the VIOS, we need to add a route for it to get to the external subnet 9.3.129.XXX.

Destination is public network: 9.3.129.0

Gateway is the private network IP of the AIX server with IP forwarding on.
#route add -net 9.3.129.0 192.168.10.32

Next, on one of the external systems (not the AIX server which is the router where IP forwarding is
on), we need to make a route on how to get back to the VIOS:

Destination is the private network: 192.168.10.0

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Gateway is the IP forwarding server's public network IP: 9.3.129.14

#route add -net 192.168.10.0 9.3.129.14

Now, the traffic flows as shown below:

VIOS -----> AIX with two network cards ----> AIX with only public IP
first route IP forwarding on second route

Note: These changes will be flushed after reboot. To make it permanent, add the following line to /
etc/rc.tcpip.

no -o ipforwarding=1

Advantages of static routing

Minimal processor/memory overhead

No bandwidth overhead (updates are not shared between routers)
Granular control on how traffic is routed

Disadvantages of static routing

Infrastructure changes must be manually adjusted

No dynamic fault tolerance if a link goes down
Impractical on large network

Dynamic routing
Dynamic routing protocols are supported by software applications running on the routing device
(the router), which dynamically learn network destinations and how to get to them and also
advertise those destinations to other routers. This advertisement function allows all the routers to
learn about all the destination networks that exist and how to address those networks.

A router using dynamic routing will 'learn' the routes to all networks that are directly connected to
the device. Next, the router will learn routes from other routers that run the same routing protocol
(such as Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Routing Information Protocol 2 (RIP2), Enhanced
Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Intermediate
System to Intermediate System (IS-IS), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and so on). Each router
will then sort through it's list of routes and select one or more 'best' routes for each network
destination that the router knows or has learned.

Dynamic routing protocols then distributes this 'best route' information to other routers running
the same routing protocol, thereby, extending the information on what networks exist and can
be reached. This gives dynamic routing protocols the ability to adapt to logical network topology
changes, equipment failures, or network outages 'on the fly'.

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Dynamic routing protocols

A dynamic routing table is created, maintained, and updated by a routing protocol running on the
router. Examples of routing protocols include RIP, EIGRP, and OSPF.

Advantages of dynamic routing

Simpler to configure on larger networks

Will dynamically choose a different (or better) route if a link goes down
Ability to load balance between multiple links

Disadvantages of dynamic routing

Updates are shared between routers, thus consuming bandwidth

Routing protocols put additional load on router processor/RAM
The choice of the "best route" is in the hands of the routing protocol, and not the network
administrator

Figure 4. Dynamic routing

Resources
IBM Power VM Virtualization Introduction and Configuration

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About the authors

Saiprasad P. Parkar

Saiprasad has been working as an AIX and Linux administrator for the past years with
a strong background in storage, virtualization, and network.

Pravin S More

Pravin More has been working as a AIX and Linux administrator for the past
four years. His work responsibilities include: Security administration, system and
application management, and network administration.

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