Persistent Static Routes on VCSA

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

Enabling internet access to the appliance using a static route.

Resolution

• Login to the vCenter Server using SSH and use below commands to add routing:
  
  route add -net <TargetNetwork> netmask <NetmaskAddress> gw <GatewayAddress> dev <interface>
  Example: route add -net 192.168.x.x netmask 255.255.0.0 gw 10.20.x.x dev eth0
  
  
• Note: After adding the route using the above command, it will be not persistent and can be deleted from the routing table post the VCSA reboot. To make it persistent, please follow the below mentioned steps:
  
  
• Edit the file : /etc/systemd/network/10-eth0.network and add a section [Route] to the file:
  
  Original file :
  

  [Match]
  Name=eth0
  
  [Network]
  Gateway=10.20.x.x
  Address=10.10.x.x/26
  DHCP=no
  
  [DHCP]
  UseDNS=false

•  After making changes to the file:
  

  [Match]
  Name=eth0
  
  [Network]
  Gateway=10.20.x.x
  Address=10.10.x.x/26
  DHCP=no
  
  [DHCP]
  UseDNS=false
  
  [Route]
  Gateway=10.20.x.x
  Destination=192.168.x.x/16

• Save the file and run the below command to restart the network daemon:
  systemctl restart systemd-networkd.service
  
• Check if the route is still persistent using command : route -n