ip-route-add

adds new routes to the kernel routing tables

TLDR

Add a default route via gateway

$ sudo ip route add default via [gateway_ip]

Add a default route via interface

$ sudo ip route add default dev [eth0]

Add a static route

$ sudo ip route add [192.168.1.0/24] via [gateway_ip] dev [eth0]

Add route with a specific metric (priority)

$ sudo ip route add [192.168.2.0/24] via [gateway_ip] metric [100]

Add route to a specific routing table

$ sudo ip route add [10.0.0.0/8] dev [eth0] table [100]

Add a route with a preferred source address

$ sudo ip route add [192.168.1.0/24] dev [eth0] src [192.168.1.5]

SYNOPSIS

ip route add destination [options]

ip route add adds new routes to the kernel routing tables. Routes determine how packets are forwarded to their destinations based on the destination address.A route specifies either a gateway (next-hop router) to forward packets to, or an interface for directly connected networks. Multiple routing tables can be used for policy routing.

PARAMETERS

default

Default route (0.0.0.0/0 or ::/0)

via GATEWAY

Next-hop gateway address

dev DEVICE

Output device name

table TABLE

Routing table (number or name)

metric NUM

Route preference (lower = preferred)

src ADDRESS

Preferred source address

proto PROTOCOL

Routing protocol identifier (static, boot, dhcp, etc.)

scope SCOPE

Scope of the route (global, link, host)

mtu NUM

Maximum Transmission Unit for the route

nexthop NEXTHOP

Define multipath route with multiple next hops

CAVEATS

Requires root privileges. Routes are not persistent across reboots without additional configuration. Adding conflicting routes may fail or create unexpected behavior.

HISTORY

The ip route command is part of iproute2, which replaced the older route command from net-tools. iproute2 provides unified management of all Linux networking features.