How to add route in Linux

To view the current routing table run “route -n”

[root@klmppswdr01p ~]# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
10.41.42.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
10.41.41.0 10.41.42.8 255.255.255.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 10.41.42.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0

To add a route refer to the command below.

"route add -net 10.41.41.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 10.41.42.8"

To delete a route refer to the command below.

"route del -net 10.41.41.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 10.41.42.8"

The routing information above is not persistent across reboots. After a reboot, the routing information will be lost and you need to add them in again.

To make the routing information persistent, add the “route add” line as seen above into the /etc/rc.local file.

Sample /etc/rc.local file.

#!/bin/sh
#
# This script will be executed *after* all the other init scripts.
# You can put your own initialization stuff in here if you don't
# want to do the full Sys V style init stuff.
touch /var/lock/subsys/local
route add -net 10.41.41.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 10.41.42.8

5 Responses to “How to add route in Linux”

Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments

1. Wing Loon says:

   July 2, 2008 at 12:08 am

   You can shorten the command as below: -

   route add -net 10.41.41.0/24 gw 10.41.42.8

   Reply
2. Danny says:

   July 2, 2008 at 5:17 am

   Thanks WL. My network’s a bit weak

   Reply
3. Wing Loon says:

   July 2, 2008 at 11:18 am

   Hehehe… I am learning too. No worries,

   Reply
4. sally says:

   January 22, 2010 at 2:02 pm

   wat if i got only the ip and dont know the subnet mask and gateway….?

   Reply
5. Sanjay says:

   November 20, 2011 at 9:33 pm

   Thank U for the valuable information

   Reply