Time for action – enabling IP forwarding

  1. To enable IP forwarding on Linux-based operating systems, we can use any of the following methods.

    Using the sysctl command:

    sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

    This method doesn't need a reboot and will enable IP forwarding on the fly but will not be preserved after a reboot.

    Using the sysctl configuration file, we can add the following line in the /etc/sysctl.conf file:

    net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
  2. To enable the changes made to the /etc/sysctl.conf file, we need to run the following command:
    sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf

    These changes will be preserved after a reboot.

  3. Enabling IP forwarding on BSD operating systems is almost similar. We can use any of the following methods:

    Using the sysctl command.

    sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 ...

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