Hi guys,

I'm currently configuring an old Dell poweredge 750 as a webserver. It has 2 network ports, so I was planning to use one for internal LAN and the other for WAN. The problem I'm having is that every so often the WAN side just drops off, and it's no longer reachable on the WAN interface (eth0). I suspect it's something to do with routing and having 2 default gateways.

Routing table as follows: (apologies if it doesn't display properly)


Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Iface
62.189.19.xxx 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.128 U eth0
192.168.50.xxx 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U eth1
0.0.0.0 62.189.19.xxx 0.0.0.0 UG eth0
0.0.0.0 192.168.50.xxx 0.0.0.0 UG eth1



output from /etc/network/interfaces:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 62.189.19.xxx
netmask 255.255.255.128
network 62.189.19.xxx
broadcast 62.189.19.255
gateway 62.189.19.xxx
dns-nameservers 192.129.12.xxx 195.129.12.xxx 195.129.12.xxx
dns-search local

allow-hotplug eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 192.168.50.xxx
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.50.xxx
broadcast 192.168.50.255
gateway 192.168.50.xxx
dns-nameservers 192.168.50.xxx
dns-search local


I've also noticed that doing simple things like apt updates takes a very long time, so there must be some networking issue somewhere in the config.

I also have an iptables firewall configured to do the usual, though I doubt that config is causing the problem as it's still present even when I turn the firewall off.

Any help would be appreciated.

Is the 192.168.50.X a flat network ? (No more privately addressed networks inside your organization)

Drop the default route for 192.168.50.0 it should not be needed since everything in that address range is directly connected in a flat network space, at least that would be where I would start..

A default route statement basically says, "Any traffic that you don't have a specific route for in the routing table send out this interface.." your system could be trying to send internet traffic out the eth1 interface since it is set as a default route. Obviously traffic destined for the Internet will never get anywhere if it's directed to your internal network by that bogus default route statement.

You have a route for the 192.168.50.x network in the statement 192.168.50.xxx 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U eth1 a default route is not needed to reach this network.

That did the trick, thanks!!