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IPPOOL(5)                     File Formats Manual                    IPPOOL(5)



NAME
       ippool, ippool.conf - IP Pool file format

DESCRIPTION
       The file ippool.conf is used with ippool(8) to configure address pools
       for use with ipnat(8) and ipf(8).

       There are four different types of address pools that can be configured
       through ippool.conf. The various types are presented below with a brief
       description of how they are used:

       dstlist

              destination list - is a collection of IP addresses with an
              optional network interface name that can be used with either
              redirect (rdr) rules in ipnat.conf(5) or as the destination in
              ipf.conf(5) for policy based routing.

       group-map

              group maps - support the srcgrpmap and dstgrpmap call functions
              in ipf.conf(5) by providing a list of addresses or networks rule
              group numbers to start processing them with.

       hash

              hash tables - provide the means for performing a very efficient
              lookup address or network when there is expected to be only one
              exact match. These are best used with more static sets of
              addresses so they can be sized optimally.

       pool

              address pools - are an alternative to hash tables that can
              perform just as well in most circumstances. In addition, the
              address pools allow for heirarchical matching, so it is possible
              to define a subnet as matching but then exclude specific
              addresses from it.

   Evolving Configuration
       Over time the configuration syntax used by ippool.conf(5) has evolved.
       Originally the syntax used was more verbose about what a particular
       value was being used for, for example:

       table role = ipf type = tree number = 100
               { 1.1.1.1/32; !2.2.0.0/16; 2.2.2.0/24; ef00::5/128; };

       The IP pool configuration file is used for defining a single object
       that contains a reference to multiple IP address/netmask pairs.  A pool
       may consist of a mixture of netmask sizes, from 0 to 32.

       At this point in time, only IPv4 addressing is supported.

OVERVIEW
       The IP pool configuration file provides for defining two different
       mechanisms for improving speed in matching IP addresses with rules.
       The first, table , defines a lookup table to provide a single reference
       in a filter rule to multiple targets and the second, group-map ,
       provides a mechanism to target multiple groups from a single filter
       line.

       The group-map command can only be used with filter rules that use the
       call command to invoke either fr_srcgrpmap or fr_dstgrpmap , to use the
       source or destination address, respectively, for determining which
       filter group to jump to next for continuation of filter packet
       processing.

POOL TYPES
       Two storage formats are provided: hash tables and tree structure.  The
       hash table is intended for use with objects all containing the same
       netmask or a few different sized netmasks of non-overlapping address
       space and the tree is designed for being able to support exceptions to
       a covering mask, in addition to normal searching as you would do with a
       table.  It is not possible to use the tree data storage type with
       group-map configuration entries.

POOL ROLES
       When a pool is defined in the configuration file, it must have an
       associated role.  At present the only supported role is ipf.  Future
       development will see futher expansion of their use by other sections of
       IPFilter code.

EXAMPLES
       The following examples show how the pool configuration file is used
       with the ipf configuration file to enhance the ability for the ipf
       configuration file to be succinct in meaning.

       1      The first example shows how a filter rule makes reference to a
              specific pool for matching of the source address.
              pool ipf/tree (name "100";)
                   { 1.1.1.1/32; !2.2.0.0/16; 2.2.2.0/24; ef00::5/128; };

       Both of the above examples produce the same configuration in the kernel
       for use with ipf.conf(5).

       Newer options for use in ippool.conf(5) will only be offered in the new
       configuration syntax and all output using "ippool -l" will also be in
       the new configuration syntax.

   IPFilter devices and pools
       To cater to different administration styles, ipool.conf(5) allows you
       to tie a pool to a specific role in IPFilter. The recognised role names
       are:

       ipf

              pools defined for role "ipf" are available for use with all
              rules that are found in ipf.conf(5) except for auth rules.

       nat

              pools defined for role "nat" are available for use with all
              rules that are found in ipnat.conf(5).

       auth

              pools defined for role "auth" are available only for use with
              "auth" rules that are found in ipf.conf(5)

       all

              pools that are defined for the "all" role are available to all
              types of rules, be they NAT rules in ipnat.conf(5) or firewall
              rules in ipf.conf(5).

Address Pools
       An address pool can be used in ipf.conf(5) and ipnat.conf(5) for
       matching the source or destination address of packets. They can be
       referred to either by name or number and can hold an arbitrary number
       of address patterns to match.

       An address pool is considered to be a "tree type". In the older
       configuration style, it was necessary to have "type=tree" in
       ippool.conf(5). In the new style configuration, it follows the IPFilter
       device with which the pool is being configured.  Now it is the default
       if left out.

       For convenience, both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses can be stored in the same
       address pool. It should go without saying that either type of packet
       can only ever match an entry in a pool that is of the same address
       family.

       The address pool searches the list of addresses configured for the best
       match. The "best match" is considered to be the match that has the
       highest number of bits set in the mask. Thus if both 2.2.0.0/16 and
       2.2.2.0/24 are present in an address pool, the addres 2.2.2.1 will
       match 2.2.2.0/24 and 2.2.1.1 will match 2.2.0.0/16. The reason for this
       is to allow exceptions to be added through the use of negative
       matching. In the following example, the pool contains "2.2.0.0/16" and
       "!2.2.2.0/24", meaning that all packets that match 2.2.0.0/16, except
       those that match 2.2.2.0/24, will be considered as a match for this
       pool.

       table role = ipf type = tree number = 100
               { 1.1.1.1/32; 2.2.0.0/16; !2.2.2.0/24; ef00::5/128; };

       The prior example is the older file format. The declaration that
       defines the pool itself has been updated and can now be expressed as
       below:

       pool ipf/tree (name "100";)
            { 1.1.1.1/32; !2.2.0.0/16; 2.2.2.0/24; ef00::5/128; };

       If the role and table type are left out, such as in the exmaple below,
       the default is to make the table available to all aspects of IPFilter
       and for the storage type to be "tree".

       pool (name "100";)
            { 1.1.1.1/32; !2.2.0.0/16; 2.2.2.0/24; ef00::5/128; };

       For the sake of clarity and to aid in managing large numbers of
       addresses inside address pools, it is possible to specify a location to
       load the addresses from. To do this simply use a "file://" URL where
       you would specify an actual IP address.

       pool ipf/tree (name rfc1918;) { file:///etc/ipf/rfc1918; };

       The contents of the file might look something like this:

       # RFC 1918 networks
       10.0.0.0/8
       !127.0.0.0/8
       172.16.0.0/12
       192.168.0.0/24

       In this example, the inclusion of the line "!127.0.0.0/8" is, strictly
       speaking not correct and serves only as an example to show that
       negative matching is also supported in this file.

       Another format that ippool(8) recognises for input from a file is that
       from whois servers. In the following example, output from a query to a
       WHOIS server for information about which networks are associated with
       the name "microsoft" has been saved in a file named "ms-networks".
       There is no need to modify the output from the whois server, so using
       either the whois command or dumping data directly from it over a TCP
       connection works perfectly file as input.

       pool ipf/tree (name microsoft;) { whois file "/etc/ipf/ms-networks"; };

       And to then block all packets to/from networks defined in that file, a
       rule like this might be used:

       block in from pool/microsoft to any

       Note that there are limitations on the output returned by whois servers
       so be aware that their output may not be 100% perfect for your goal.

Destination Lists
       Destination lists are provided for use primarily with NAT redirect
       rules (rdr). Their purpose is to allow more sophisticated methods of
       selecting which host to send traffic to next than the simple round-
       robin technique that is present with with "round-robin" rules in
       ipnat.conf(5).

       When building a list of hosts to use as a redirection list, it is
       necessary to list each host to be used explicitly. Expressing a
       collection of hosts as a range or a subnet is not supported. With each
       address it is also possible to specify a network interface name. The
       network interface name is ignored by NAT when using destination lists.
       The network itnerface name is currently only used with policy based
       routing (use of "to"/"dup-to" in ipf.conf(5)).

       Unlike the other directives that can be expressed in this file,
       destination lists must be written using the new configuration syntax.
       Each destination list must have a name associated with it and a next
       hop selection policy.  Some policies have further options. The
       currently available selection policies are:

       round-robin

              steps through the list of hosts configured with the destination
              list one by one

       random

              the next hop is chosen by random selection from the list
              available

       src-hash

              a hash is made of the source address components of the packet
              (address and port number) and this is used to select which next
              hop address is used

       dst-hash

              a hash is made of the destination address components of the
              packet (address and port number) and this is used to select
              which next hop address is used

       hash

              a hash is made of all the address components in the packet
              (addresses and port numbers) and this is used to select which
              next hop address is used

       weighted

              selecting a weighted policy for destination selection needs
              further clarification as to what type of weighted selection will
              be used.  The sub-options to a weighted policy are:

              connection

                     the host that has received the least number of
                     connections is selected to be the next hop. When all
                     hosts have the same connection count, the last one used
                     will be the next address selected.

       The first example here shows 4 destinations that are used with a round-
       robin selection policy.

       pool nat/dstlist (name servers; policy round-robin;)
               { 1.1.1.2; 1.1.1.4; 1.1.1.5; 1.1.1.9; };

       In the following example, the destination is chosen by whichever has
       had the least number of connections. By placing the interface name with
       each address and saying "all/dstlist", the destination list can be used
       with both ipnat.conf(5) and ipf.conf(5).

       pool all/dstlist (name servers; policy weighted connection;)
               { bge0:1.1.1.2; bge0:1.1.1.4; bge1:1.1.1.5; bge1:1.1.1.9; };

Group maps
       Group maps are provided to allow more efficient processing of packets
       where there are a larger number of subnets and groups of rules for
       those subnets. Group maps are used with "call" rules in ipf.conf(5)
       that use the "srcgrpmap" and "dstgrpmap" functions.

       A group map declaration must mention which group is the default group
       for all matching addresses to be applied to. Then inside the list of
       addresses and networks for the group, each one may optionally have a
       group number associated with it. A simple example like this, where the
       first two entries would map to group 2020 but 5.0.0.0/8 sends rule
       processing to group 2040.

       group-map out role = ipf number = 2010 group = 2020
               { 2.2.2.2/32; 4.4.0.0/16; 5.0.0.0/8, group = 2040; };

       An example that outlines the real purpose of group maps is below, where
       each one of the 12 subnets is mapped to a different group number. This
       might be because each subnet has its own policy and rather than write a
       list of twelve rules in ipf.conf(5) that match the subnet and branch
       off with a head statement, a single rule can be used with this group
       map to achieve the same result.

       group-map ( name "2010"; in; )
           { 192.168.1.0/24, group = 10010; 192.168.2.0/24, group = 10020;
             192.168.3.0/24, group = 10030; 192.168.4.0/24, group = 10040;
             192.168.5.0/24, group = 10050; 192.168.6.0/24, group = 10060;
             192.168.7.0/24, group = 10070; 192.168.8.0/24, group = 10080;
             192.168.9.0/24, group = 10090; 192.168.10.0/24, group = 10100;
             192.168.11.0/24, group = 10110; 192.168.12.0/24, group = 10120;
           };

       The limitation with group maps is that only the source address or the
       destination address can be used to map the packet to the starting
       group, not both, in your ipf.conf(5) file.

Hash Tables
       The hash table is operationally similar to the address pool. It is used
       as a store for a collection of address to match on, saving the need to
       write a lengthy list of rules. As with address pools, searching will
       attempt to find the best match - an address specification with the
       largest contiguous netmask.

       Hash tables are best used where the list of addresses, subnets and
       networks is relatively static, which is something of a contrast to the
       address pool that can work with either static or changing address list
       sizes.

       Further work is still needed to have IPFilter correctly size and tune
       the hash table to optimise searching. The goal is to allow for small to
       medium sized tables to achieve close to O(1) for either a positive or
       negative match, in contrast to the address pool, which is O(logn).

       The following two examples build the same table in the kernel, using
       the old configuration format (first) and the new one (second).

       table role=all type=hash name=servers size=5
               { 1.1.1.2/32; 1.1.1.3/32; 11.23.44.66/32; };

       pool all/hash (name servers; size 5;)
            { 1.1.1.2; 1.1.1.3; 11.23.44.66; };

FILES
       /dev/iplookup
       /etc/ippool.conf
       /etc/hosts

SEE ALSO
       ippool(8), hosts(5), ipf(5), ipf(8), ipnat(8)



                                                                     IPPOOL(5)