Route-Switcher

A Linux-based network failover system written in Rust that automatically switches routing between dual network interfaces based on connectivity monitoring.

Overview

Route-Switcher monitors connectivity to specified IP addresses via multiple network interfaces and automatically manages routing tables to ensure network redundancy. When the primary interface fails, it seamlessly switches to a secondary interface, and automatically fails back when the primary connection is restored.

Architecture

Core Components

1. Async Pingers (src/pinger.rs)

   • Dual-interface ICMP monitoring
   • Explicit interface binding (equivalent to ping -I <interface>)
   • Configurable ping targets and intervals
   • Async/await implementation with tokio

2. Route Manager (src/routing.rs)

   • Netlink-based route manipulation
   • No external dependencies on ip command
   • Route addition and deletion
   • Metric-based route prioritization

3. State Machine (src/main.rs)

   • Failover logic with anti-flapping protection
   • Three consecutive failures trigger failover
   • One minute of stable connectivity triggers failback
   • Prevents switching when both interfaces fail

4. Configuration

   • Interface definitions (primary/secondary)
   • Gateway configurations
   • Ping targets and timing
   • Route metrics

Key Features

• Dual Interface Monitoring: Simultaneous ping testing via both network interfaces
• Automatic Failover: Switches to secondary interface after 3 consecutive ping failures
• Smart Failback: Returns to primary interface after 1 minute of stable connectivity
• Anti-Flapping: Prevents frequent switching between interfaces
• Edge Case Handling: Won't switch if secondary interface is also down
• Netlink Integration: Direct kernel communication for route management
• Async Architecture: Non-blocking monitoring and management

Requirements

• Linux operating system
• Rust 2024 edition
• Two network interfaces with internet connectivity
• Root privileges for route manipulation
• Netlink kernel support

Configuration

Network Setup Example

# Primary interface
eth0: 192.168.1.10/24, gateway 192.168.1.1

# Secondary interface  
eth1: 192.168.2.10/24, gateway 192.168.2.1

Application Configuration

The application is configured through command-line arguments:

sudo cargo run -- \
    --primary-interface eth0 \
    --secondary-interface eth1 \
    --primary-gateway 192.168.1.1 \
    --secondary-gateway 192.168.2.1 \
    --ping-target 8.8.8.8

Usage

Basic Usage

# Run with default settings
sudo cargo run

# Run with custom configuration
sudo cargo run -- \
    --primary-interface eth0 \
    --secondary-interface eth1 \
    --primary-gateway 192.168.1.1 \
    --secondary-gateway 192.168.2.1

Development

# Build
cargo build

# Run tests
cargo test

# Run with debug logging
RUST_LOG=debug sudo cargo run

# Run with custom log level
RUST_LOG=info sudo cargo run

Testing Environment

Podman-Compose Setup

The project includes a complete testing environment using podman-compose:

# Start test environment
podman-compose up -d

# View logs
podman-compose logs -f route-switcher

# Stop test environment
podman-compose down

End-to-End Testing

# Simulate primary interface failure
podman-compose exec primary ip link set eth0 down

# Observe failover in logs
podman-compose logs -f route-switcher

# Restore primary interface
podman-compose exec primary ip link set eth0 up

# Observe failback after 1 minute

Implementation Details

State Machine

[Boot] -> [Primary] (after initial connectivity check)
[Primary] -> [Fallback] (after 3 consecutive failures)
[Fallback] -> [Primary] (after 60 seconds of stability)

Route Management

• Primary route: ip r add default via <primary-gw> dev <primary-iface> metric 10
• Secondary route: ip r add default via <secondary-gw> dev <secondary-iface> metric 20
• Routes are managed via netlink, not external commands

Failover Logic

1. Detection: 3 consecutive ping failures on primary interface
2. Verification: Secondary interface must be responsive
3. Switch: Update routing table to use secondary gateway
4. Monitor: Continue monitoring both interfaces
5. Recovery: After 60 seconds of stable primary connectivity, switch back

Error Handling

• Graceful degradation on interface failures
• Comprehensive logging for debugging
• Signal handling for clean shutdown
• Recovery from temporary network issues

Dependencies

• tokio - Async runtime
• pnet - Packet networking
• netlink-sys - Netlink kernel communication
• anyhow - Error handling
• log + env_logger - Logging
• crossbeam-channel - Inter-thread communication
• signal-hook - Signal handling

Development Phases

• End-to-end automated tests

License

GPLv3