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Internet Forwarding

This note explains how to use the internet connection on computer A, which is also connected to internet-less computer B, on computer B. This requires some background

IPv4 basics

IPv4 is made of 32 bits, written in 4x8-bit numbers like 192.168.0.1. A network mask specified at the end here determines which bits belong to this network. Often it's 24, written like 192.168.0.1/24, which means the first 3 8-bit numbers here are the local network

Usually x.x.x.1 is the router or whatever resolves the WAN

Most ipv4 addresses are global on the WAN, though 3 are reserved for private networks

  • 192.168.x.x, most commonly seen on consumer networks
  • 10.x.x.x, used for large local networks with 2^24 addresses
  • 172.[16 to 32].x.x. The second number must be in the range 16-32

To simplify things, make sure your internal LAN is using a different one from the WAN interface's LAN. 172.16.x.x is often a good choice

Forwarding internet

We have 3 interfaces involved:

  • wan0: the interface connected to the wider internet, possibly through a second LAN network that has a router
  • eth0: the interface on the same computer that has wan0, though connected to the internal LAN instead. This interface itself doesn't have internet
  • eth1: an interface on the internal network on another computer

We want to set up a network between eth0 and eth1. Then we'll want a NAt between eth0 and wan0 to route all the ipv4 packets incoming from eth0 to wan0

Wan0

wan0's configuration file is the easiest. It can use DHCP or a static IP, just make sure it has internet with ping archlinux.org

Example:

[Network]
Address=192.168.0.98/24
Gateway=192.168.0.1  # This is my router's IP
DNS=1.1.1.1
# The following is possibly useful, not sure
IPForward=ipv4
IPMasquerade=yes

Test your connection with the following:

sudo networkctl reload
ping 192.168.0.1  # Fails? You messed up your config
ping 1.1  # Fails? Your router doesn't have internet || your gateway is wrong
ping archlinux.org  # Fails? Your DNS isn't working. Try setting it to 1.1.1.1

Eth0

This is the second interface on the computer with internet. This interface itself doesn't have internet though. See the tests below to check

[Network]
Address=172.16.0.1/24
Gateway=172.16.0.1  # Gateway is self!
DNS=1.1.1.1  # Again, optional, might not even do anything here

Testing if this interface has internet access:

networkctl list  # Read out the interface name here or in `ip a`. Assume eth0
ping -I eth0 1.1
ping 1.1  # If this fails too, then the computer just doesn't have internet

If the above ping succeeds, this interface also has internet. Otherwise, test your connection to eth1:

ping -I eth0 172.16.0.22  # Fails? eth0 or eth1 isn't connected
ping 172.16.0.22  # Fails? Routing tables aren't using eth0 for 172.16.x.x

It should now be ready to forward internet. Run the following script as root:

declare -r WAN=wan0
declare -r LAN=eth0

# Reset iptables
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT

iptables -F INPUT
iptables -F OUTPUT
iptables -F FORWARD

# Forward internet
sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o "$WAN" -j MASQUERADE
iptables -A FORWARD -m conntrack --ctstate RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -i "$LAN" -o "$WAN" -j ACCEPT

Eth1

This is the interface on the computer that wouldn't have internet otherwise. We need to point it at eth0's IP, so that eth0 forwards all its networking

[Network]
Address=172.16.0.22/24  # Choose anything >= 2 and <=254 for the last 8bits
Gateway=172.16.0.1  # This part is important
DNS=1.1.1.1  # Doesn't do anything, probably
IPForward=ipv4  # Might be useless

Test with:

ping -I eth1 172.16.0.1  # Fails? Something is wrong with eth1 or eth0's connection
ping 172.16.0.1  # Fails? Routing tables aren't using eth1 for 172.16.x.x
ping 192.168.0.1  # Fails? IPv4 forwarding isn't working
ping 1.1  # Fails? Might be a router issue
ping archlinux.org  # Fails? Likely a DNS issue

Debugging

After setting this up, ping 1.1 from my eth1 computer would keep saying Packet filtered. Running systemctl stop firewalld.service on the eth0 computer solved this. This is not a proper solution

You can also check if the ports are being filtered with the following. If they're unfiltered, that's good. If they're being filtered, then firewalld is the problem

nmap -sA 172.16.0.1

Further reading