When would a persistent route not be an active route?

I've added a persistent route to our Windows Server 2003 box using "route -p add". After a reboot the "route print" gave this:

Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric    
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      10.91.131.1      10.91.131.9     20
        10.88.0.0  255.255.255.252        10.88.0.1        10.88.0.1     30
        10.88.0.1  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1        127.0.0.1     30
      10.91.131.0    255.255.255.0      10.91.131.9      10.91.131.9     20
      10.91.131.9  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1        127.0.0.1     20
   10.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        10.88.0.1        10.88.0.1     30
   10.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      10.91.131.9      10.91.131.9     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        10.88.0.1        10.88.0.1     30
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0      10.91.131.9      10.91.131.9     20
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        10.88.0.1        10.88.0.1      1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      10.91.131.9      10.91.131.9      1
Default Gateway:       10.91.131.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  Network Address          Netmask  Gateway Address  Metric
        10.88.0.0    255.255.255.0        10.88.0.2       1

The route I added is listed as a persistent route, but not an active one. Why might this be the case?

The route in question is for an OpenVPN connection, would that have anything to do with it?

Edit I should have mentioned that the route was not working. Only once it was added again did it work. After that it did show in the Active Routes table.

alnorth29

Posted 2010-06-15T09:29:20.350

Reputation: 355

Answers

As far as I'm aware, the differentiation between Active and Persistent in the route command is simply to make it easier to identify which routes are learned and/or temporary, against those that you have explicitly added as persistent.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong :)

Pulse

Posted 2010-06-15T09:29:20.350

Reputation: 4 389

You've pretty well covered it. "Active" routes are just a rendering of the routing table as it exists at the time. As you say, it can includes routes that were learned (via a routing protocol). "Persistent" routes are those that have been explicitly defined because there may be no mechanism for them to be learned via a routing protocol. Persistent (sometimes called static) routes are commonly used when systems (servers) have multiple NICs and you want to force traffic through one or the other, depending on the destination. – BillP3rd – 2010-09-13T00:18:00.650

3You're wrong. If a persistent route is active it will be in both places. @BillP3rd: A static route is one that is not determined dynamically (manually created). A persistent route is a static route that survives across reboots. – Gabe – 2013-12-06T05:48:47.370

I'm getting a similar problem with a VPN connection. After a sleep / wake of the laptop, the persistent route over the VPN is no longer active. Add it again with route add ... -p it then is still listed as a persistent connection, but is active again.

Some possibly related / helpful links, but nothing too conclusive.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1010644

https://serverfault.com/questions/193335/static-route-from-a-windows-7-client-not-working-as-expected

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-networking/windows-7-no-dns-or-no-network-after-resume-wake/c1253ab0-4793-449e-8975-a900ce7dec4f

http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?269551-How-to-AUTOMATE-VPN-reconnection-during-PC-wake-up-from-sleep-mode

How to reconnect VPN automatically after sleep/hibernate on Vista/7?

Simon D

Posted 2010-06-15T09:29:20.350

Reputation: 3 973

Run your same add command without the -p and the route will be active.

If you run the command with -p, it will only become active after a restart.

Jose

Posted 2010-06-15T09:29:20.350

Reputation: 19

From Active Route,

10.88.0.0  255.255.255.252        10.88.0.1

From Persistent Route,

10.88.0.0    255.255.255.0        10.88.0.2

Please change (Netmask) in Persistent Route as

10.88.0.0  255.255.255.252        10.88.0.2

I guess, more specific subnet mask take precedence...

Zack

Posted 2010-06-15T09:29:20.350

Reputation: 1