Static IPv4 Routing

Created by Yuriy Andamasov, Modified on Thu, 11 Jan 2024 at 03:56 PM by Srividya Anantapatnaikuni

Article review date
2024-01-05
Validated for VyOS versions
1.2.5, 1.3.5, 1.4.0, 1.5

Static routes are manually configured network routes.  

A typical use for a static route is a static default route for systems that do not make use of DHCP or dynamic routing protocols: 

set protocols static route 0.0.0.0/0 next-hop 203.0.113.1 distance '1'

Another common use of static routes is to blackhole (drop) traffic.  In the example below, RFC 1918 private IP networks are set as blackhole routes.  This does not prevent networks within these segments from being used, since the most specific route is always used.  It does, however, prevent traffic to unknown private networks from leaving the router.  Commonly refereed to as leaking. 

set protocols static route 10.0.0.0/8 blackhole distance '254'
set protocols static route 172.16.0.0/12 blackhole distance '254'
set protocols static route 192.168.0.0/16 blackhole distance '254'

Note that routes with a distance of 255 are effectively disabled and not installed into the kernel.


Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select atleast one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article