Determine which route to take

[mhearse]

How do I programmatically determine which route to use for a given IP address? I would like actual code, but a module::method will give me the same thing.

Example routes on a unix machine:

192.168.0.0/24 192.168.0.1
10.10.10.0/24 10.10.10.1
12.162.8.11/28 default

Example IP address:

10.10.10.12

[Perlbotics]

You could try NetAddr::IP:

use strict;
use warnings;
use Test::More;
use NetAddr::IP;

my @routes = ( [ qw(192.168.0.0/24 192.168.0.1) ],
               [ qw(10.10.10.0/24  10.10.10.1)  ],
               [ qw(12.162.8.11/28 default)     ],
             );


is( calc_route( "192.168.0.88" ), "192.168.0.1",  "first route" );
is( calc_route( "192.168.1.88" ), "default",      "close to first rout
+e but default" );
is( calc_route( "10.10.10.12"  ), "10.10.10.1",   "second route (examp
+le IP)" );
is( calc_route( "12.162.8.3"   ), "default",      "explicit default" )
+;
is( calc_route( "1.2.3.4"      ), "default",      "else: default" );

done_testing;



sub calc_route {
  my $ip = NetAddr::IP->new( shift );

  for my $test_subnet ( @routes ) {
    if ( $ip->within( NetAddr::IP->new( $test_subnet->[0] ) ) ) {
      return $test_subnet->[1];
    }
  }

  return 'default';
}

Result:

ok 1 - first route
ok 2 - close to first route but default
ok 3 - second route (example IP)
ok 4 - explicit default
ok 5 - else: default
1..5

Use hashes and pre-computed objects for better performance (left as an exercise ;-).

[mhearse]

Thanks for your reply. For some reason I though it would be a simple bitwise AND. My knowledge of bitwise operators is pathetic.

[rjt]

I'd use a module, too, but if you want/need to know how the math works, it's actually pretty simple:

Update: Add this summary of the math:

Convert IP address (or route subnet) to integer:

    my $ip = ($A << 24) + ($B << 16) + ($C << 8) + $D;
    # Do the same for each route address ($net)

Convert /24 CIDR notation to 0xffffff00 netmask:

    my $mask = 0xffffffff ^ (1 << 32 - $cidr) - 1;

Check if a destination IP matches a route:

    ($ip & $mask) == $net;

Full example:

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use 5.012;
use warnings FATAL => 'all';

# Use an array instead if order is important
my %routes = (
    '192.168.0.1' => [ '192.168.0.0' => 24 ],
    '10.10.10.1'  => [ '10.10.10.0'  => 24 ],
    'default'     => [ '12.162.8.11' => 28 ],
);

printf "%15s -> %s\n", $_, route($_)
    for qw< 10.10.10.12 128.127.126.125 192.168.0.51
            192.168.1.1 10.10.10.5 >;

sub ip {
    $_[0] =~ /^(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)$/ or die "Invalid IP";
    die "Octet out of range" if ($1 & $2 & $3 & $4) > 255;
    ($1 << 24) + ($2 << 16) + ($3 << 8) + $4
}

sub route {
    my $ip = ip($_[0]);
    while (my ($dest, $route) = each %routes) {
        my ($net, $cidr) = @$route;
        my $mask = 0xffffffff ^ (1 << 32 - $cidr) - 1;
        return $dest if ($ip & $mask) == ip($net);
    }
    return 'default';
}

Output:

    10.10.10.12 -> 10.10.10.1
128.127.126.125 -> default
   192.168.0.51 -> 192.168.0.1
    192.168.1.1 -> default
     10.10.10.5 -> 10.10.10.1

[mhearse]

Excellent! Thanks so much. I could learn a lot by reading your code. Do you have a github page? Or webpage? With code? Also... where did you learn about bitshifting and netmasking? Can you recommend a book?

[rjt]

Thanks for the kind words, mhearse. I don't have a public GitHub or web presence, aside from my sundry answers on PerlMonks.

Also... where did you learn about bitshifting and netmasking?

I'd better not answer that one directly. :-)

Have a look at Bitwise_operation, maybe Truth_table for some background. Once you have a decent handle on that, IP subnetting (which I've only just skimmed), looks like a decent intro to IPv4 math.

Can you recommend a book?

Unfortunately, my brain's bibliography is in serious need of trie optimization. Any relatively current text on IP networking will probably be a good start, though.