6

I have two network interfaces present in two different subnets and are configured as DHCP. When I run route command I am getting following output with asterisk in Gateway. What is the meaning of it?

enter image description here

Update : I have cropped the default route in the image

Improve this question
1
  • Unrelated, but I'd suggest using the -n option to avoid doing DNS lookups, thus making it faster.
    – lorenzog
    Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 16:59

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
7

The snowflakes indicate that there is no default route (some other router) to the networks associated with the local interfaces. That is, any IP packet going to any of those networks (subnets) can be reached via the indicated interface (eth0, wlan0, lo).

$ (route ;echo; route -n ) | grep -v '^[KD]'
10.3.0.0        *               255.255.255.224 U     0      0        0 eth0
192.168.0.0     *               255.255.255.0   U     2004   0        0 wlan0
link-local      *               255.255.0.0     U     2      0        0 eth0
loopback        localhost.local 255.0.0.0       UG    0      0        0 lo
default         192.168.0.1     0.0.0.0         UG    2004   0        0 wlan0

10.3.0.0        0.0.0.0         255.255.255.224 U     0      0        0 eth0
192.168.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     2004   0        0 wlan0
169.254.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.0.0     U     2      0        0 eth0
127.0.0.0       127.0.0.1       255.0.0.0       UG    0      0        0 lo
0.0.0.0         192.168.0.1     0.0.0.0         UG    2004   0        0 wlan0

In other words 10.3.0.0/27 is on eth0 and 192.168.0.0/24 is on wlan0, but to reach anyone else (excluding 127.*), this machine must send stuff to 192.168.0.1

Improve this answer
1
  • I love the way you call it a snowflake... :)
    – varun
    Commented Apr 18, 2018 at 18:01
7

Just answered a similar question:

Why there is only one Default Gateway?

The "*" or 0.0.0.0 gateway indicates the network is directly reachable - no gateway needed. The default gateway is an address where packets are sent if they don't match a more specific route - i.e. if they are destined for a core router & the broader internet.

Improve this answer
1

From here,

The Gateway column identifies the defined gateway for the specified network. An asterisk (*) appears in this column if no forwarding gateway is needed for the network.

Improve this answer
4
  • Someone feel free to post another answer, that's all I have, lol
    – cutrightjm
    Commented Apr 10, 2013 at 3:28
  • 1
    Does that just mean you can directly reach that network over that interface (i.e. an ARP request sent from that interface will get a result?)
    – cpast
    Commented Apr 10, 2013 at 3:28
  • No idea, that's all I have
    – cutrightjm
    Commented Apr 10, 2013 at 3:30
  • I found following information in man pages Gateway : The gateway address or '*' if none set. Genmask : The netmask for the destination net; '255.255.255.255' for a host destination and '0.0.0.0' for the default route. How does the interface figures out the default route ? In case if both the interfaces are present in two different subnets, what is the meaning of default route?
    – Sirish Kumar Bethala
    Commented Apr 10, 2013 at 3:37

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .