Configuring WPAR-specific routing

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You can configure a WPAR to use its own routing table using the -i flag and the -I flag for the mkwpar command, the wparexec command, or the chwpar command.

By default, system and application workload partitions with active network connections share the global system's routing table. To enable WPAR-specific routing for a WPAR when you are creating the WPAR, add the -i flag to the command line of the mkwpar command or the wparexec command. For system WPARs:

mkwpar -n wpar_name -N network_attributes -i ...

For application WPARs:

wparexec -N network_attributes -i ... -- /path/to/application arg1 arg2 ... argN

Using these commands will automatically create loopback, broadcast, and subnet routes appropriate to each configured address. If you do not specify any explicit routing table entries, the WPAR will only be able to communicate within its own subnets. You can configure explicit routing table entries with -I flag when you create the WPAR. You can configure zero or more explicit routing table entries. Each entry requires its own instance of the -I flag. Destination and gateway addresses can be specified by symbolic name or IP address.

For example, to configure a default route through a gateway with symbolic name gateway.customer.com and a host route to myserver.customer.com through gateway 192.168.1.1:

mkwpar -n wpar_name -N network_attributes -i -I rtdest=default rtgateway=gateway.customer.com \
-I rtdest=myserver.customer.com rttype=host rtgateway=192.168.1.1 ...

The netstat -r command can be used with the -@ flag to view the WPAR-specific routing table for a WPAR at any time. If WPAR-specific routing is disabled for the queried WPAR, the netstat -r command will display the global routes. The output format is identical to that of the netstat -r command without the -@ flag. For example:

netstat -r -@ wpar_name

You can change the WPAR-specific routing characteristics for both system WPARs and application WPARs using the chwpar command. The changes can be performed on active WPARs or inactive WPARs. Changes take effect immediately, and persist across system WPAR reboots. To disable WPAR-specific routing, causing the affected WPAR to begin using the global routing tables, use the following command:

chwpar -K -i wpar_name

To enable WPAR-specific routing and add a route for destinations in subnet 224.128.9.0/24 through gateway 224.128.9.1 on interface en4, use the following command::

chwpar -i -I rtdest=224.128.9.0 rtnetmask=255.255.255.0 rtgateway=224.128.9.1 rtinterface=en4 wpar_name

To delete an existing WPAR-specific route entry, you must provide enough information to identify the entry being deleted. In most cases, it is effective to use the same attributes provided when the route was configured. For example, use the following command to remove the route configured in the previous example:

chwpar -K -I rtdest=224.128.9.0 rtnetmask=255.255.255.0 rtgateway=224.128.9.1 rtinterface=en4 wpar_name