Configure routes

There are 2 ways to configure OS route in xCAT:

  • makeroutes: command to add or delete routes on the management node or any given nodes.
  • setroute: script to replace/add the routes to the node, it can be used in postscripts/postbootscripts.

makeroutes or setroute will modify OS temporary route, it also modifies persistent route in /etc/sysconfig/static-routes file.

Before using makeroutes or setroute to configure OS route, details of the routes data such as routename, subnet, net mask and gateway should be stored in routes table.

Notes: the gateway in the networks table assigns gateway from DHCP to compute node, so if use makeroutes or setroute to configure OS static route for compute node, make sure there is no gateway for the specific network in networks table.

Configure routes table

  1. Store default route data in routes table:

    chdef -t route defaultroute net=default mask=255.0.0.0 gateway=10.0.0.101

  2. Store additional route data in routes table:

    chdef -t route 20net net=20.0.0.0 mask=255.0.0.0 gateway=0.0.0.0 ifname=eth1

  3. Check data in routes table:

    tabdump routes
#routename,net,mask,gateway,ifname,comments,disable
"30net","30.0.0.0","255.0.0.0","0.0.0.0","eth2",,
"20net","20.0.0.0","255.0.0.0","0.0.0.0","eth1",,
"defaultroute","default","255.0.0.0","10.0.0.101",,,

Use makeroutes to configure OS route on xCAT management node

  1. define the names of the routes to be setup on the management node in site table:

    chdef -t site mnroutenames="defaultroute,20net"
lsdef -t site clustersite -i mnroutenames
    Object name: clustersite
        mnroutenames=defaultroute,20net

  2. add all routes from the mnroutenames to the OS route table for the management node:

    makeroutes

  3. add route 20net and 30net to the OS route table for the management node:

    makeroutes -r 20net,30net

  4. delete route 20net from the OS route table for the management node:

    makeroutes -d -r 20net

Use makeroutes to configure OS route for compute node

  1. define the names of the routes to be setup on the compute node:

    chdef -t cn1 routenames="defaultroute,20net"

  2. add all routes from the routenames to the OS route table for the compute node:

    makeroutes cn1

  3. add route 20net and 30net to the OS route table for the compute node:

    makeroutes cn1 -r 20net,30net

  4. delete route 20net from the OS route table for the compute node:

    makeroutes cn1,cn2 -d -r 20net

Use setroute to configure OS route for compute node

  1. define the names of the routes to be setup on the compute node:

    chdef -t cn1 routenames="defaultroute,20net"

  2. If adding setroute [replace | add] into the node’s postscripts list, setroute will be executed during OS deployment on compute node to replace/add routes from routenames:

    chdef cn1 -p postscripts="setroute replace"

  3. Or if the compute node is already running, use updatenode command to run setroute [replace | add] postscript:

    updatenode cn1 -P "setroute replace"

Check result

  1. Use route command in xCAT management node to check OS route table.
  2. Use xdsh cn1 route to check compute node OS route table.