Configure Policy-Based Routing

To send network traffic, a router usually examines the destination address in the packet and looks at the routing table to find the next-hop destination. In some cases, you want to send traffic to a different path than the default route specified in the routing table. You can configure a policy with a specific external interface to use for all outbound traffic that matches that policy. This technique is known as policy-based routing. Policy-based routing takes precedence over other multi-WAN and virtual BOVPN interface settings.

Policy-based routing can be used when you have more than one external interface and have configured your Firebox for multi-WAN or if you configure a virtual BOVPN interface. With policy-based routing, you can make sure that all traffic for a policy always goes out through the same external interface, even if your multi-WAN or virtual BOVPN interface configuration is set to send traffic in a round-robin configuration. For example, if you want email to be routed through a particular interface, you can use policy-based routing in the SMTP-proxy or POP3-proxy definition.

Policy-Based Routing, Failover, and Failback

To configure policy-based routing, you select the Use policy-based routing option in an existing policy and select an external interface. Any non-IPSec traffic that matches the policy is sent through the interface you specify.

If the interface becomes unavailable, the policy drops the traffic until the interface is available again. To help ensure that traffic continues to flow if the interface becomes unavailable, you can specify an external interface for failover in the policy settings. When the primary interface is available again, new connections fail back to the primary interface. Active connections do not fail back and remain on the failover interface.

The failback settings in the multi-WAN configuration on your Firebox do not apply to policy-based routing.

Restrictions on Policy-Based Routing

• Policy-based routing is available only if multi-WAN is enabled or if you have configured a virtual BOVPN interface. When either of these features are enabled, the policy configuration automatically includes fields to configure policy-based routing.
• By default, policy-based routing is not enabled.
• Policy-based routing does not apply to IPSec traffic, but does apply to traffic destined for the trusted or optional network (incoming traffic).
• Policy-based routing can only use an external interface. You cannot specify an interface that is configure for static NAT or 1-to-1 NAT, or any interface type other than external.
• The external interface you select must be a member of the alias or network that you set in the To list for your policy.

Add Policy-Based Routing to a Policy

To add policy-based routing to a policy, from Fireware Web UI:

1. Select Firewall > Firewall Policies.
2. Select the check box for a policy and select Action > Edit Policy.
   Or, double-click a policy.
   The Edit page appears.
3. Select the Use policy-based routing check box.

4. To specify the interface to use to send outbound traffic that matches the policy, from the adjacent drop-down list, select an external interface name.
   
5. (Optional) Configure policy-based routing with multi-WAN failover, as described in the next section.
   If you do not select Failover and the interface you set for this policy becomes inactive, traffic is dropped until the interface becomes available again. The Failover option is not available if you select a BOVPN virtual interface for policy-based routing.
6. Click Save.

To add policy-based routing to a policy, from Policy Manager:

1. Open Policy Manager.
2. Select a policy and click .
   Or, double-click a policy.
   The Edit Policy Properties dialog box appears.
3. Select the Use policy-based routing check box.

4. To specify the interface to use to send outbound traffic that matches the policy, from the adjacent drop-down list, select an external interface name.
   
5. (Optional) Configure policy-based routing with multi-WAN failover, as described in the next section.
   If you do not select Failover and the interface you set for this policy is becomes inactive, traffic is dropped until the interface becomes available again. The Failover option is not available if you select a virtual BOVPN interface for policy-based routing.
6. Click OK.

Configure Policy-Based Routing with Failover

You can set the interface you specified for this policy as the primary interface, and define other external interfaces as backup interfaces for all non-IPSec traffic. If the primary interface you set for a policy is not active, traffic is sent to the backup interface or interfaces you specify.

To configure policy-based routing with failover, from Fireware Web UI:

1. On the Edit page for the policy, below the Use policy-based routing check box, select the Use Failovercheck box.
2. From the list, select the check box for each interface to use in the failover configuration.
3. To set the order for failover, select an item in the list and click Move Up or Move Down.
   The first interface in the list is the primary interface.
4. Click Save.

To configure policy-based routing with failover, from Policy Manager:

1. In the Edit Policy Properties dialog box, select Failover.
2. To add backup interfaces for this policy, click Configure.
   The Policy Failover Configuration dialog box appears.

3. In the Include column, select the check box for each interface to use in the failover configuration.
4. To set the order for failover, click Move Up or Move Down.
   The first interface in the list is the primary interface.
5. Click OK to close the Policy Failover Configuration dialog box.
6. Click OK to close the Edit Policy Properties dialog box.
7. Save the Configuration File.

See Also

About Multi-WAN

About Policy Properties

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