SonicWall default Routes explained
Description
Default Route Policy setting
EXAMPLE:
Device – NSA E6500
Firmware version – SonicOS Enhanced 5.6.x.x. or higher
RIP and OSPF are disabled by default. If you need to use dynamic routing, it will be necessary to enable these routing protocols on specific interfaces.
Default Route policies
Resolution
Default Routing policy – 1
| # | Source | Destination | Service | Gateway | Interface | Metric | Priority |
| 1 | Any | 255.255.255.255/32 | Any | 0.0.0.0 | X0 | 20 | 1 |
- In this policy, the destination is 255.255.255.255 which is a broadcast address (a broadcast address is a network address that allows information to be sent to all nodes on a network, rather than to a specific network host).
- Gateway is 0.0.0.0, (zero network or (0.0.0.0) which in Internet Protocol standards stands for this network, i.e., the local network).
- The interface is X0, the LAN of your firewall (It’s aimed at X0 so that broadcasts should stick within that interface).
- Metric is 20, which is the default for a locally attached network. Priority is 1, which means this routing policy takes precedence over remaining policies.
Default Routing policy – 2
| # | Source | Destination | Service | Gateway | Interface | Metric | Priority |
| 2 | Any | X1 Default Gateway | Any | 0.0.0.0 | X1 | 20 | 2 |
- In this policy, the destination is the X1 Default Gateway, firewall would use this to dictate how its gateway address is found.
Default Routing policy – 3 through 6
| # | Source | Destination | Service | Gateway | Interface | Metric | Priority |
| 3 | Any | W0 subnet | Any | 0.0.0.0 | W0 | 20 | 3 |
| 4 | Any | X2 Subnet | Any | 0.0.0.0 | X2 | 20 | 4 |
| 5 | Any | LAN Primary subnet | Any | 0.0.0.0 | X0 | 20 | 6 |
| 6 | Any | WAN Primary Subnet | Any | 0.0.0.0 | X1 | 20 | 7 |
- The policies 3 through 6 are internal routes for the respective Interfaces (directly connected network routes,) specifying the proper interfaces for those IP subnets.
Default Routing policy – 7
| # | Source | Destination | Service | Gateway | Interface | Metric | Priority |
| 7 | WAN Primary IP | Any | Any | X1 Default Gateway | X1 | 20 | 8 |
- The policy #7 is a route which helps the WAN IP send traffic to its gateway for its own initiated traffic.
Default Routing policy – 8
| # | Source | Destination | Service | Gateway | Interface | Metric | Priority |
| 8 | Any | 0.0.0.0/0 | Any | 10.50.20.1 | X1 | 20 | 9 |
- The policy #8 is a dynamic default route which uses the Active WAN’s gateway and interface, and can change to backup ethernet or 3G / analog modem WANs based on physical or logical monitoring.
EXAMPLE: Below you will also see a route table from a simple Windows XP system w/ a single NIC, and it has many of the sames, specifically: #1 broadcast route ; #3 connected network route ; #8 default route.
H:>ipconfig
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.50.22.51
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.50.20.1
H:>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 16 76 96 d9 cc ...... Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection - Packet Scheduler
Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.50.20.1 10.50.22.51 20
10.50.20.0 255.255.252.0 10.50.22.51 10.50.22.51 20
10.50.22.51 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20
10.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 10.50.22.51 10.50.22.51 20
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 10.50.22.51 10.50.22.51 20
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 10.50.22.51 10.50.22.51 1
Default Gateway: 10.50.20.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes: None