Policy-Based Routing

1. OpenWrt 23.05.0 release and this package

Unlike the previous release, the OpenWrt 23.05 includes dnsmasq-full which supports nft sets, so just install dnsmasq-full, install the pbr package and and it be automatically configured to use dnsmasq.nftset option for resolver.

2. OpenWrt 22.03.0 release and this package

There are now two packages of this service available:

  • pbr which supports fw4, nft, nft sets and dnsmasq.nftset option (but because OpenWrt’s dnsmasq doesn’t support nft sets yet, you can’t use dnsmasq to resolve domain names from policies) as well as fw3, iptables, ipset and dnsmasq.ipset option.
  • pbr-iptables which supports fw3, iptables, ipset and dnsmasq.ipset option.

Both packages install the same init script (what you actually run when you invoke service pbr ... or /etc/init.d/pbr ...), however both packages install some specific files and pbr can run in either nft or iptables/ipset mode, whereas pbr-iptables can only run in iptables/ipset mode.

The package-specific files that pbr installs are:

  • the /etc/config/pbr file with the resolver_set set to none (will be switched to dnsmasq.nftset when OpenWrt’s dnsmasq supports it)
  • the fw4-specific nft scripts (installed into /usr/share/nftables.d/) to set up default service chains as part of the fw4 start/restart/reload processes

The package-specific files that pbr-iptables installs are:

  • the /etc/config/pbr file with the resolver_set set to dnsmasq.ipset
  • legacy iptables/ipset packages

The pbr decides wherver to use iptables/ipset mode or nft mode on run time. If the nft binary is available, the resolver_set is not set to dnsmasq.ipset and a main pbr_prerouting chain has been created by the fw4-specific nft script, it runs in the nft mode, otherwise it runs in the iptables/ipset mode.

Each package of the service has its own dependencies, so only pbr-iptables can be installed on OpenWrt 21.02 and earlier, but either pbr or pbr-iptables can be installed on OpenWrt 22.03. It is recommended to install pbr on OpenWrt 22.03 and if you want to use use dnsmasq ipset support, install dnsmasq-full, also install legacy iptables/ipset packages and then change resolver_set option to dnsmasq.ipset to force iptables/ipset mode.

Both pbr-iptables and pbr in iptables/ipset mode work just fine on OpenWrt 22.03. You can safely ignore the warning on the Status -> Firewall page about legacy iptables rules created by either package.

3. Description

This service allows you to define rules (policies) for routing traffic via WAN or your L2TP, Openconnect, OpenVPN, PPTP, Softether or Wireguard tunnels. Policies can be set based on any combination of local/remote ports, local/remote IPv4 or IPv6 addresses/subnets or domains. This service supersedes and obsoletes the VPN Bypass (README at GitHub/README at jsDelivr) and VPN Policy Routing (README at GitHub/README at jsDelivr) services. For information on transition from vpn-policy-routing package please read about differences and migration.

4. Features

4.1. Gateways/Tunnels

  • Any policy can target either WAN or a VPN tunnel interface.
  • L2TP tunnels supported (with protocol names l2tp*).
  • Openconnect tunnels supported (with protocol names openconnect*).
  • OpenVPN tunnels supported (with device names tun*).#1 #2
  • PPTP tunnels supported (with protocol names pptp*).
  • Tailscale tunnels supported (with device name tailscale*).
  • Tor tunnels supported (interface name must match tor).
  • Wireguard tunnels supported (with protocol names wireguard*).

4.2. IPv4/IPv6/Port-Based Policies

  • Policies based on local names, IPs or subnets. You can specify a single IP (as in 192.168.1.70) or a local subnet (as in 192.168.1.81/29) or a local device name (as in nexusplayer). IPv6 addresses are also supported.
  • Policies based on local ports numbers. Can be set as an individual port number (32400), a range (5060-5061), a space-separated list (80 8080) or a combination of the above (80 8080 5060-5061). Limited to 15 space-separated entries per policy.
  • Policies based on remote IPs/subnets or domain names. Same format/syntax as local IPs/subnets.
  • Policies based on remote ports numbers. Same format/syntax and restrictions as local ports.
  • You can mix the IP addresses/subnets and device (or domain) names in one field separating them by space (like this: 66.220.2.74 he.net tunnelbroker.net).
  • See Policy Options section for more information.

4.3. Domain-Based Policies

  • Policies based on (remote) domain names can be processed in different ways, please review the Policy Options section and Footnotes/Known Issues section, specifically #5 and any other information in that section relevant to domain-based routing/DNS.

4.4. Physical Device Policies

  • Policies based on a local physical device (like a specially created wlan), please review the Policy Options section and Footnotes/Known Issues section, specifically #6 and any other information in that section relevant to handling physical device.

4.5. DSCP Tag-Based Policies

You can also set policies for traffic with specific DSCP tag. On Windows 10, for example, you can mark traffic from specific apps with DSCP tags (instructions for tagging specific app traffic in Windows 10 can be found here).

4.6. Custom User Files

If the custom user file includes are set, the service will load and execute them after setting up routing and the sets and processing policies. This allows, for example, to add large numbers of domains/IP addresses to ipsets or nft sets without manually adding all of them to the config file.

The following custom user files are provided:

  • /usr/share/pbr/pbr.user.aws: provided to pull the Continental US AWS IPv4 addresses into the WAN IPv4 sets the service sets up.
  • /usr/share/pbr/pbr.user.netflix: provided to pull the Continental US Netflix IPv4 addresses into the WAN IPv4 sets the service sets up.
  • /usr/share/pbr/pbr.user.wg_server_and_client: provided to overcome the protocol limitations (see Local Wireguard Server + Wireguard Client (Scenario 1)), to allow running a wireguard “server” on your router when a wireguard “client” is set up as default routing.

If you want to create your own custom user files, pease refer to Processing Custom User Files.

4.7. Strict Enforcement

  • Supports strict policy enforcement, even if the policy interface is down – resulting in network being unreachable for specific policy (enabled by default).

4.8. Use Resolver’s Set Support

  • If supported on the system, service can be set to utilize resolver’s set support. Currently supported resolver’s set options are listed below.

4.8.1. Use AdGuardHome ipset Support

  • Either version of the service package can be configured to utilize adguardhome’s ipset support, which requires the AdGuardHome package version 0.107.13 or higher to be installed. This significantly improves the start up time because adguardhome resolves the domain names and adds them to appropriate ipset in background. Another benefit of using adguardhome’s ipset support is that it also automatically adds third-level domains to the ipset: if domain.com is added to the policy, this policy will affect all *.domain.com subdomains. This also works for top-level domains as well, a policy targeting the at for example, will affect all the *.at domains.
  • Please review the Footnotes/Known Issues section, specifically #5 and #7 and any other information in that section relevant to domain-based routing/DNS.

4.8.2. Use DNSMASQ ipset Support

  • Either version of the service package can be configured to utilize dnsmasq’s ipset support, which requires the dnsmasq-full package with ipset support to be installed (see How to install dnsmasq-full). This significantly improves the start up time because dnsmasq resolves the domain names and adds them to appropriate ipset in background. Another benefit of using dnsmasq’s ipset support is that it also automatically adds third-level domains to the ipset: if domain.com is added to the policy, this policy will affect all *.domain.com subdomains. This also works for top-level domains as well, a policy targeting the at for example, will affect all the *.at domains.
  • Please review the Footnotes/Known Issues section, specifically #5 and #7 and any other information in that section relevant to domain-based routing/DNS.

4.8.3. Use DNSMASQ nft sets Support

  • The pbr package can be configure to utilize dnsmasq’s nft sets support, which requires the dnsmasq-full package with nft sets support to be installed (see How to install dnsmasq-full). This significantly improves the start up time because dnsmasq resolves the domain names and adds them to appropriate nft set in background. Another benefit of using dnsmasq’s nft set support is that it also automatically adds third-level domains to the set: if domain.com is added to the policy, this policy will affect all *.domain.com subdomains. This also works for top-level domains as well, a policy targeting the at for example, will affect all the *.at domains.
  • Please review the Footnotes/Known Issues section, specifically #5 and #7 and any other information in that section relevant to domain-based routing/DNS.

4.9. Customization

  • Can be fully configured with uci commands or by editing /etc/config/pbr file.
  • Has a companion package (luci-app-pbr) so policies can be configured with Web UI.

4.10. Other Features

  • Doesn’t stay in memory, creates the routing tables and iptables rules/sets entries which are automatically updated when supported/monitored interface changes.
  • Proudly made in :maple_leaf: Canada :maple_leaf:, using locally-sourced electrons.

5. Screenshots (luci-app-pbr)

Service Status

screenshot

Configuration - Basic Configuration

screenshot

Configuration - Advanced Configuration

screenshot

Configuration - WebUI Configuration

screenshot

Policies

screenshot

DSCP Tagging

screenshot

Custom User File Includes

screenshot

6. How It Works

6.1. How It Works (nft mode)

On start, this service creates routing tables for each supported interface (WAN/WAN6 and VPN tunnels) which are used to route specially marked packets. Rules for the policies are created in the service-specific chains set up by the fw4-specific nft scripts installed with the package. Evaluation of packets happens in these pbr_* chains after which the packets are sent for marking to the pbr_mark_* chains. Whenever possible, the service also creates named sets for dest_addr and src_addr entries and anonymous sets for dest_port and src_port. The service then processes the user-created policies.

6.2. How It Works (iptables/ipset mode)

On start, this service creates routing tables for each supported interface (WAN/WAN6 and VPN tunnels) which are used to route specially marked packets. For the mangle table’s FORWARD, INPUT, OUTPUT, PREROUTING and POSTROUTING chains, the service creates corresponding PBR_* chains to which policies are assigned. Evaluation of packets happens in these PBR_* chains after which the packets are sent for marking to the PBR_MARK* chains. If enabled, the service also creates the ipsets (and the corresponding iptables rule for marking packets matching the ipset) for dest_addr and src_addr entries. The service then processes the user-created policies.

6.3. Processing Policies

Each policy can result in either a new iptables or nft rule and possibly an ipset or a named nft set to match dest_addr and src_addr. Anonymous sets may be created within nft rules for dest_port and src_port.

6.3.1. Processing Policies (nft mode)

  • Policies with the MAC-addresses, IP addresses, netmasks, local device names or domains will result in a rule targeting named nft sets.
  • Policies with non-empty dest_port and src_port will be created with anonymous nft sets within the rule.
  • The dnsmasq nftset entries will be used for domains (if supported and enabled).

6.3.2. Processing Policies (iptables/ipset mode)

  • Policies with the MAC-addresses, IP addresses or local device names in src_addr can be created as iptables rules or ipset entries.
  • Policies with non-empty dest_port and src_port are always created as iptables rules.
  • Policies with the netmasks in dest_addr or src_addr can be created as iptables rules or ipset entries.
  • Policies with empty dest_port and src_port may be created as iptables rules or dnsmasq’s ipset or an ipset (if enabled).

6.4. Policies Priorities

  • The policy priority is the same as its order as listed in Web UI and /etc/config/pbr. The higher the policy is in the Web UI and configuration file, the higher its priority is.
  • If set, the DSCP policies is set up first when creating the interface routing.
  • If enabled, it is highly recommended that the policies with IGNORE target are at the top of the policies list.

6.5. Processing Custom User Files

If at least one custom user file is enabled, the service will create the following nft sets or ipsets and set up the proper routing for them.

6.5.1. Processing Custom User Files (nft mode)

For each interface the service will create nft sets and routing:

  • pbr_interface_4_dst_ip_user: for destination/remote IPv4 addresses and IPv4 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_6_dst_ip_user: for destination/remote IPv6 addresses and IPv6 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_4_src_ip_user: for source/local IPv4 addresses and IPv4 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_6_src_ip_user: for source/local IPv6 addresses and IPv6 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_4_dst_mac_user: for source/local MAC addresses
  • pbr_interface_6_dst_mac_user: for source/local MAC addresses

6.5.2. Processing Custom User Files (iptables/ipset mode)

For each interface the service will create ipsets and routing:

  • pbr_interface_4_dst_ip_user: for destination/remote IPv4 addresses
  • pbr_interface_6_dst_ip_user: for destination/remote IPv6 addresses
  • pbr_interface_4_dst_net_user: for destination/remote IPv4 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_6_dst_net_user: for destination/remote IPv6 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_4_src_ip_user: for source/local IPv4 addresses
  • pbr_interface_6_src_ip_user: for source/local IPv6 addresses
  • pbr_interface_6_src_net_user: for source/local IPv6 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_4_src_net_user: for source/local IPv4 CIDR netblocks
  • pbr_interface_4_dst_mac_user: for source/local MAC addresses
  • pbr_interface_6_dst_mac_user: for source/local MAC addresses

7. How To Install

7.1. How To Install - OpenWrt 22.03 and newer

Please make sure that the requirements are satisfied and install pbr and luci-app-pbr from Web UI or connect to your router via ssh and run the following commands:

opkg update
opkg install pbr luci-app-pbr

7.2. How To Install - OpenWrt 21.02 and older

First, add my repo to your router following instructions at the How to Use Section of repo documentation.

Then, please make sure that the requirements are satisfied and install pbr-iptables and luci-app-pbr from Web UI or connect to your router via ssh and run the following commands:

opkg update
opkg install pbr-iptables luci-app-pbr

7.3. Requirements

Depending on the package flavour, some packages may need to be installed on your router.

7.3.1. Requirements (pbr)

Default builds of OpenWrt 22.03.0 and later are fully compatible with pbr and require no additional packages. If you’re using a non-standard build, you may have to install the following packages to be installed on your router: resolveip, ip-full (or a busybox built with ip support).

To satisfy the requirements, connect to your router via ssh and run the following commands:

opkg update; opkg install resolveip ip-full

7.3.2. Requirements (pbr-iptables)

This service requires the following packages to be installed on your router: ipset, resolveip, ip-full (or a busybox built with ip support), kmod-ipt-ipset and iptables.

To satisfy the requirements, connect to your router via ssh and run the following commands:

opkg update; opkg install ipset resolveip ip-full kmod-ipt-ipset iptables

7.4. How to install legacy iptables/ipset packages

If you install pbr (and not the pbr-iptables, which brings all necessary legacy dependencies), but want to use pbr in iptables mode on OpenWrt 22.03, you will need to connect to your router via ssh and run the following commands:

opkg update
opkg install ipset libnettle8 libnetfilter-conntrack3 iptables kmod-ipt-ipset iptables-mod-ipopt

If you want to use dnsmasq’s ipset support, you will need to install dnsmasq-full instead of the dnsmasq.

7.5. How to install dnsmasq-full

If you want to use dnsmasq’s ipset or nft sets support, you will need to install dnsmasq-full instead of the dnsmasq. To do that, connect to your router via ssh and run the following commands:

opkg update
opkg install ipset libnettle8 libnetfilter-conntrack3
cd /tmp/ && opkg download dnsmasq-full
opkg remove dnsmasq
opkg install dnsmasq-full --cache /tmp/
rm -f /tmp/dnsmasq-full*.ipk

7.6. Unmet dependencies

If you are running a development (trunk/snapshot) build of OpenWrt on your router and your build is outdated (meaning that packages of the same revision/commit hash are no longer available and when you try to satisfy the requirements you get errors), please flash either current OpenWrt release image or current development/snapshot image.

8. How to use

8.1. Helpful Instructional Videos

If you want to use WebUI to configure pbr you may want to review the following YouTube videos:

8.2. Service Configuration Settings

As per screenshots above, in the Web UI the pbr configuration is split into Basic, Advanced and WebUI settings. The full list of configuration parameters of pbr.config section is:

Web UI Section Parameter Type Default Description
Basic enabled boolean 0 Enable/disable the pbr service.
Basic verbosity integer 2 Can be set to 0, 1 or 2 to control the console and system log output verbosity of the pbr service.
Basic strict_enforcement boolean 1 Enforce policies when their interface is down. See Strict enforcement for more details.
Basic resolver_set string pbr: dnsmasq.nftset
pbr-iptables: dnsmasq.ipset		 Configure the use of the resolver’s set support for domains. For most policies targeting domains, this must be enabled to guarantee the reliable operation/routing. Enabling it also speeds up service start-up. Currently supported options are none, adguardhome.ipset, dnsmasq.ipset and dnsmasq.nftset (see Use Resolver’s Set Support and #7 for more details). Make sure the requirements are met.
  resolver_instance list * Configure the use of the resolver’s set support for specific instances only by setting a list of instance numbers or names. Currently supported for the following resolver_set options: dnsmasq.ipset and dnsmasq.nftset.
Basic ipv6_enabled boolean 0 Enable/disable IPv6 support.
Advanced supported_interface list/string   Allows to specify the space-separated list of interface names (in lower case) to be explicitly supported by the pbr service. Can be useful if your OpenVPN tunnels have dev option other than tun*.
Advanced ignored_interface list/string   Allows to specify the space-separated list of interface names (in lower case) to be ignored by the pbr service. Can be useful if running both VPN server and VPN client on the router.
Advanced boot_timeout number 30 Allows to specify the time (in seconds) for pbr service to wait for WAN gateway discovery on boot. Can be useful on devices with ADSL modem built in.
Advanced rule_create_option add/insert add Allows to specify the parameter for rules: add for -A in iptables and add in nft and insert for -I in iptables and insert for nft. Add is generally speaking more compatible with other packages/firewall rules. Recommended to change to insert only to enable compatibility with the mwan3 package on OpenWrt 21.02 and earlier.
Advanced icmp_interface string   Set the default ICMP protocol interface (interface name in lower case). Use with caution.
Hidden wan_ip_rules_priority integer 30000 Starting (WAN) ip rules priority used by the pbr service. High starting priority is used to avoid conflict with other services, this can be changed by user.
Advanced wan_mark hexadecimal 010000 Starting (WAN) fw mark for marks used by the pbr service. High starting mark is used to avoid conflict with SQM/QoS, this can be changed by user. Change with caution together with fw_mask.
Advanced fw_mask hexadecimal ff0000 FW Mask used by the pbr service. High mask is used to avoid conflict with SQM/QoS, this can be changed by user. Change with caution together with wan_mark.
Hidden/Experimental secure_reload boolean 0 When enabled, kills router traffic (activates killswitch) during service start/restart/reload operations to prevent traffic leaks on unwanted interface.
Web UI webui_show_ignore_target boolean 0 When enabled, show ignore in the list of interfaces.
Web UI webui_supported_protocol list 0 List of protocols to display in the Protocol column for policies.
  wan_dscp integer   Allows use of DSCP-tag based policies for WAN interface.
  {interface_name}_dscp integer   Allows use of DSCP-tag based policies for a VPN interface.
  procd_reload_delay integer 0 Time (in seconds) for PROCD_RELOAD_DELAY parameter.
  procd_lan_interface     Override lan interface name with this interface.
  procd_wan_interface     Override wan interface name with this interface.
  procd_wan6_interface     Override wan6 interface name with this interface.

8.2.1. Default Settings

Default configuration has service disabled (use Web UI to enable/start service or run uci set pbr.config.enabled=1; uci commit pbr;).

8.2.2. Policy Options

Each policy may have a combination of the options below, the name and interface options are required.

The src_addr, src_port, dest_addr and dest_port options supports parameter negation, for example if you want to exclude remote port 80 from the policy, set dest_port to "!80" (notice lack of space between ! and parameter).

Option Default Description
name   Policy name, it must be set.
enabled 1 Enable/disable policy. To display the Enable checkbox column for policies in the WebUI, make sure to select Enabled for Show Enable Column in the Web UI tab.
interface   Policy interface, it must be set.
src_addr   List of space-separated local/source IP addresses, CIDRs, hostnames or mac addresses (colon-separated). You can also specify a local physical device (like a specially created wlan) prepended by an @ symbol. Versions 1.1.2 and later allow using URLs to list of addresses. If curl is installed you can use the file:// schema, otherwise you can use ftp://, http:// and https:// schemas. This is obviously not compatible with the secure_reload option.
src_port   List of space-separated local/source ports or port-ranges.
dest_addr   List of space-separated remote/target IP addresses, CIDRs or hostnames/domain names. Versions 1.1.2 and later allow using URLs to list of addresses. If curl is installed you can use the file:// schema, otherwise you can use ftp://, http:// and https:// schemas. This is obviously not compatible with the secure_reload option.
dest_port   List of space-separated remote/target ports or port-ranges.
proto auto Policy protocol, can be any valid protocol from /etc/protocols for CLI/uci or can be selected from the values set in webui_supported_protocol.
chain prerouting Policy chain, can be either forward, input, prerouting, postrouting or output. This setting is case-sensitive.

8.2.3. Custom User Files Include Options

Option Default Description
path   Path to a custom user file (in a form of shell script), it must be set.
enabled 1 Enable/disable setting.

8.3. Example Policies

8.3.1. Single IP, IP Range, Local Machine, Local MAC Address

The following policies route traffic from a single IP address, a range of IP addresses, a local machine (requires definition as DHCP host record in DHCP config), a MAC-address of a local device and finally all of the above via WAN.

config policy
  option name 'Local IP'
  option interface 'wan'
  option src_addr '192.168.1.70'

config policy
  option name 'Local Subnet'
  option interface 'wan'
  option src_addr '192.168.1.81/29'

config policy
  option name 'Local Machine'
  option interface 'wan'
  option src_addr 'dell-ubuntu'

config policy
  option name 'Local MAC Address'
  option interface 'wan'
  option src_addr '00:0F:EA:91:04:08'

config policy
  option name 'Local Devices'
  option interface 'wan'
  option src_addr '192.168.1.70 192.168.1.81/29 dell-ubuntu 00:0F:EA:91:04:08'

8.3.2. Logmein Hamachi

The following policy routes LogMeIn Hamachi zero-setup VPN traffic via WAN.

config policy
  option name 'LogmeIn Hamachi'
  option interface 'wan'
  option dest_addr '25.0.0.0/8 hamachi.cc hamachi.com logmein.com'

8.3.3. SIP Port

The following policy routes standard SIP port traffic via WAN for both TCP and UDP protocols.

config policy
  option name 'SIP Ports'
  option interface 'wan'
  option dest_port '5060'
  option proto 'tcp udp'

8.3.4. Plex Media Server

The following policies route Plex Media Server traffic via WAN. Please note, you’d still need to open the port in the firewall either manually or with the UPnP.

config policy
  option name 'Plex Local Server'
  option interface 'wan'
  option src_port '32400'

config policy
  option name 'Plex Remote Servers'
  option interface 'wan'
  option dest_addr 'plex.tv my.plexapp.com'

8.3.5. Emby Media Server

The following policy route Emby traffic via WAN. Please note, you’d still need to open the port in the firewall either manually or with the UPnP.

config policy
  option name 'Emby Local Server'
  option interface 'wan'
  option src_port '8096 8920'

config policy
  option name 'Emby Remote Servers'
  option interface 'wan'
  option dest_addr 'emby.media app.emby.media tv.emby.media'

8.3.6. Ignore Target

The service allows you to set an interface for a specific policy to ignore to skip futher processing of matched traffic. This option needs to be explicitly enabled for use in WebUI, check Service Configuration Settings for details. Some use cases are listed below.

Ignore Requests

The following policy allows you to skip processing some requests (like traffic to an OpenVPN or Wireguard server running on the router):

config pbr 'config'
  ...
  option webui_show_ignore_target '1'

config policy
  option name 'Ignore Local Requests by Destination'
  option interface 'ignore'
  option dest_addr '192.168.200.0/24'

Please note, you need to enable Show Ignore Target option for the WebUI to listignore\ in the list of gateways.

It’s a good idea to keep the policies targeting ignore interface at the top of the config file/list of policies displayed in WebUI to make sure they are processed first.

8.3.7. Basic OpenVPN Client Config

There are multiple guides online on how to configure the OpenVPN client on OpenWrt “the easy way”, and they usually result either in a kill-switch configuration or configuration where the OpenVPN tunnel cannot be properly (and separately from WAN) routed, either way, incompatible with the VPN Policy-Based Routing.

Below is the sample OpenVPN client configuration for OpenWrt which is guaranteed to work. If you have already deviated from the instructions below (ie: made any changes to any of the wan or lan configurations in either /etc/config/network or /etc/config/firewall), you will need to start from scratch with a fresh OpenWrt install.

Relevant part of /etc/config/pbr:

config pbr 'config'
  list supported_interface 'vpnclient'
  ...

The recommended network/firewall settings are below.

Relevant part of /etc/config/network (DO NOT modify default OpenWrt network settings for neither wan nor lan):

config interface 'vpnclient'
  option proto 'none'
  option device 'ovpnc0'

Relevant part of /etc/config/firewall:

config zone
  option name 'wan'
  list network 'wan'
  list network 'vpnclient'
  ...

Relevant part of /etc/config/openvpn (configure the rest of the client connection for your specifics by either referring to an existing .ovpn file or thru the OpenWrt uci settings):

config openvpn 'vpnclient'
  option enabled '1'
  option client '1'
  option dev_type 'tun'
  option dev 'ovpnc0'
  ...

8.3.8. Multiple OpenVPN Clients

If you use multiple OpenVPN clients on your router, the order in which their devices are named (tun0, tun1, etc) is not guaranteed by OpenWrt. The following settings are recommended in this case.

For /etc/config/network:

config interface 'vpnclient0'
  option proto 'none'
  option device 'ovpnc0'

config interface 'vpnclient1'
  option proto 'none'
  option device 'ovpnc1'

For /etc/config/openvpn:

config openvpn 'vpnclient0'
  option client '1'
  option dev_type 'tun'
  option dev 'ovpnc0'
  ...

config openvpn 'vpnclient1'
  option client '1'
  option dev_type 'tun'
  option dev 'ovpnc1'
  ...

For /etc/config/pbr:

config pbr 'config'
  list supported_interface 'vpnclient0 vpnclient1'
  ...

8.3.9. Local OpenVPN Server + OpenVPN Client (Scenario 1)

If the OpenVPN client on your router is used as default routing (for the whole internet), make sure your settings are as following (three dots on the line imply other options can be listed in the section as well).

Relevant part of /etc/config/pbr:

config pbr 'config'
  list ignored_interface 'vpnserver'
  ...

config policy
  option name 'OpenVPN Server'
  option interface 'wan'
  option proto 'tcp'
  option src_port '1194'
  option chain 'output'

The network/firewall/openvpn settings are below.

Relevant part of /etc/config/network (DO NOT modify default OpenWrt network settings for neither wan nor lan):

config interface 'vpnclient'
  option proto 'none'
  option device 'ovpnc0'

config interface 'vpnserver'
  option proto 'none'
  option device 'ovpns0'
  option auto '1'

Relevant part of /etc/config/firewall:

config zone
  option name 'lan'
  list network 'lan'
  list network 'vpnserver'
  ...

config zone
  option name 'wan'
  list network 'wan'
  list network 'vpnclient'
  ...

config rule
  option name 'Allow-OpenVPN-Inbound'
  option target 'ACCEPT'
  option src '*'
  option proto 'tcp'
  option dest_port '1194'

Relevant part of /etc/config/openvpn:

config openvpn 'vpnclient'
  option client '1'
  option dev_type 'tun'
  option dev 'ovpnc0'
  option proto 'udp'
  option remote 'some.domain.com 1197' # DO NOT USE PORT 1194 for VPN Client
  ...

config openvpn 'vpnserver'
  option port '1194'
  option proto 'tcp'
  option server '192.168.200.0 255.255.255.0'
  ...

8.3.10. Local OpenVPN Server + OpenVPN Client (Scenario 2)

If the OpenVPN client is not used as default routing and you create policies to selectively use the OpenVPN client, make sure your settings are as following (three dots on the line imply other options can be listed in the section as well). Make sure that the policy mentioned below is at the top of your policies list.

Relevant part of /etc/config/pbr:

config pbr 'config'
  list ignored_interface 'vpnserver'
  ...
config policy
  option name 'Ignore Local Traffic'
  option interface 'ignore'
  option dest_addr '192.168.200.0/24'
  ...

The network/firewall/openvpn settings are below.

Relevant part of /etc/config/network (DO NOT modify default OpenWrt network settings for neither wan nor lan):

config interface 'vpnclient'
  option proto 'none'
  option device 'ovpnc0'

config interface 'vpnserver'
  option proto 'none'
  option device 'ovpns0'
  option auto '1'

Relevant part of /etc/config/firewall:

config zone
  option name 'lan'
  list network 'lan'
  list network 'vpnserver'
  ...

config zone
  option name 'wan'
  list network 'wan'
  list network 'vpnclient'
  ...

config rule
  option name 'Allow-OpenVPN-Inbound'
  option target 'ACCEPT'
  option src '*'
  option proto 'tcp'
  option dest_port '1194'

Relevant part of /etc/config/openvpn:

config openvpn 'vpnclient'
  option client '1'
  option dev_type 'tun'
  option dev 'ovpnc0'
  option proto 'udp'
  option remote 'some.domain.com 1197' # DO NOT USE PORT 1194 for VPN Client
  list pull_filter 'ignore "redirect-gateway"' # for OpenVPN 2.4 and later
  option route_nopull '1' # for OpenVPN earlier than 2.4
  ...

config openvpn 'vpnserver'
  option port '1194'
  option proto 'tcp'
  option server '192.168.200.0 255.255.255.0'
  ...

8.3.11. Local Wireguard Server + Wireguard Client (Scenario 1)

Yes, I’m aware that technically there are no clients nor servers in Wireguard, it’s all peers, but for the sake of README readability I will use the terminology similar to the OpenVPN Server + Client setups.

If the Wireguard tunnel on your router is used as default routing (for the whole internet), sadly no pbr rule will allow it to intercept and properly route the UDP traffic of Wireguard server, please either use the OpenVPN server and configure it to use TCP protocol or use the Scenario 2 below.

8.3.12. Local Wireguard Server + Wireguard Client (Scenario 2)

Yes, I’m aware that technically there are no clients nor servers in Wireguard, it’s all peers, but for the sake of README readability I will use the terminology similar to the OpenVPN Server + Client setups.

If the Wireguard client is not used as default routing and you create policies to selectively use the Wireguard client, make sure your settings are as following (three dots on the line imply other options can be listed in the section as well). Make sure that the policy mentioned below is at the top of your policies list.

Relevant part of /etc/config/pbr:

config pbr 'config'
  list ignored_interface 'wgserver'
  ...
config policy
  option name 'Ignore Local Traffic'
  option interface 'ignore'
  option dest_addr '192.168.200.0/24'
  ...

The recommended network/firewall settings are below.

Relevant part of /etc/config/network (DO NOT modify default OpenWrt network settings for neither wan nor lan):

config interface 'wgclient'
  option proto 'wireguard'
  ...

config wireguard_wgclient
  list allowed_ips '0.0.0.0/0'
  list allowed_ips '::0/0'
  option endpoint_port '51820'
  ...

config interface 'wgserver'
  option proto 'wireguard'
  option listen_port '61820'
  list addresses '192.168.200.1/24'
  ...

config wireguard_wgserver
  list allowed_ips '192.168.200.2/32'
  option route_allowed_ips '1'
  ...

Relevant part of /etc/config/firewall:

config zone
  option name 'lan'
  list network 'lan'
  list network 'wgserver'
  ...

config zone
  option name 'wan'
  list network 'wan'
  list network 'wgclient'
  ...

config rule
  option name 'Allow-WG-Inbound'
  option target 'ACCEPT'
  option src '*'
  option proto 'udp'
  option dest_port '61820'

8.3.13. Local Wireguard Server + Another VPN Client (Scenario 1)

Yes, I’m aware that technically there are no clients nor servers in Wireguard, it’s all peers, but for the sake of README readability I will use the terminology similar to the OpenVPN Server + Client setups.

If another VPN client is used as default routing (for the whole internet), sadly no pbr rule will allow it to intercept and properly route the UDP traffic of Wireguard server, please either use the OpenVPN server and configure it to use TCP protocol or use the Scenario 2 below.

8.3.14. Local Wireguard Server + Another VPN Client (Scenario 2)

Yes, I’m aware that technically there are no clients nor servers in Wireguard, it’s all peers, but for the sake of README readability I will use the terminology similar to the OpenVPN Server + Client setups.

If another VPN client is not used as default routing and you create policies to selectively use the VPN client, make sure your settings are as following (three dots on the line imply other options can be listed in the section as well). Make sure that the policy mentioned below is at the top of your policies list.

Relevant part of /etc/config/pbr:

config pbr 'config'
  list ignored_interface 'wgserver'
  ...
config policy
  option name 'Ignore Local Traffic'
  option interface 'ignore'
  option dest_addr '192.168.200.0/24'
  ...

8.3.15. Netflix Domains

The following policy should route US Netflix traffic via WAN. For capturing international Netflix domain names, you can refer to the getdomainnames.sh-specific instructions on GitHub/jsDelivr and don’t forget to adjust them for OpenWrt. This may not work if Netflix changes things. For more reliable US Netflix routing you may want to consider also using custom user files.

config policy
  option name 'Netflix Domains'
  option interface 'wan'
  option dest_addr 'amazonaws.com netflix.com nflxext.com nflximg.net nflxso.net nflxvideo.net dvd.netflix.com'

8.3.16. Example Custom User Files Includes

config include
  option path '/usr/share/pbr/pbr.user.netflix'

config include
  option path '/usr/share/pbr/pbr.user.aws'

9. Footnotes/Known Issues

  1. See note about multiple OpenVPN clients.

  2. If your OpenVPN interface has the device name different from tun*, is not up and is not explicitly listed in supported_interface option, it may not be available in the policies Interface drop-down within WebUI.

  3. If your default routing is set to the VPN tunnel, then the true WAN interface cannot be discovered using OpenWrt built-in functions, so service will assume your network interface ending with or starting with wan is the true WAN interface.

  4. The service does NOT support the “killswitch” router mode (where is no firewall forwarding from lan interface to wan interface, so if you stop the VPN tunnel, you have no internet connection). For proper operation, leave all the default OpenWrt network and firewall settings for lan and wan intact.

  5. When using the adguardhome.ipset, dnsmasq.ipset or dnsmasq.nftset option, please make sure to flush the DNS cache of the local devices, otherwise domain policies may not work until you do. If you’re not sure how to flush the DNS cache (or if the device/OS doesn’t offer an option to flush its DNS cache), reboot your local devices when starting to use the service and/or when connecting data-capable device to your WiFi.

  6. When using the policies targeting physical devices, you may need to make sure you have the following packages installed: kmod-br-netfilter, kmod-ipt-physdev and iptables-mod-physdev. Also, if your physical device is a part of the bridge, you may have to set net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables to 1 in your /etc/sysctl.conf.

  7. If you’re using domain names in the dest_addr option of the policy, it is recommended to use adguardhome.ipset, dnsmasq.ipset or dnsmasq.nftset options for resolver_set. Otherwise, the domain name will be resolved when the service starts up and the resolved IP address(es) will be added to an apropriate set or an iptables or nft rule. Resolving a number of domains on start is a time consuming operation, while using the adguardhome.ipset, dnsmasq.ipset or dnsmasq.nftset options allows transparent and fast addition of the correct domain IP addresses to the apropriate set on DNS request or when resolver is idle.

  8. When service is started, it subscribes to the supported interfaces updates thru the PROCD. While I was never able to reproduce the issue, some customers report that this method doesn’t always work in which case you may want to set up iface hotplug script to reload service when relevant interface(s) are updated.

10. FAQ

You may find some useful information in sections below.

10.1. A Word About Default Routing

Service does not alter the default routing. Depending on your VPN tunnel settings (and settings of the VPN server you are connecting to), the default routing might be set to go via WAN or via VPN tunnel. This service affects only routing of the traffic matching the policies. If you want to override default routing, follow the instructions below.

10.1.1. OpenVPN tunnel configured via uci (/etc/config/openvpn)

To unset an OpenVPN tunnel as default route, set the following to the appropriate section of your /etc/config/openvpn:

  • For OpenVPN 2.4 and newer client config:

    list pull_filter 'ignore "redirect-gateway"'

  • For OpenVPN 2.3 and older client config:

    option route_nopull '1'

  • For your Wireguard (client) config:

    option route_allowed_ips '0'

10.1.2. OpenVPN tunnel configured with .ovpn file

To unset an OpenVPN tunnel as default route, set the following to the appropriate section of your .ovpn file:

  • For OpenVPN 2.4 and newer client .ovpn file:

    pull-filter ignore "redirect-gateway"

  • For OpenVPN 2.3 and older client .ovpn file:

    route-nopull

10.1.3. Wireguard tunnel

To unset a Wireguard tunnel as default route, set the following to the appropriate section of your /etc/config/network:

  • For your Wireguard (client) config:

    option route_allowed_ips '0'

  • Routing Wireguard traffic may require setting net.ipv4.conf.wg0.rp_filter = 2 in /etc/sysctl.conf. Please refer to issue #41 for more details.

10.2. A Word About Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 App

Cloudflare has released an app for iOS and Android, which can also be configured to route traffic thru their own VPN tunnel (WARP+).

If you use Cloudlfare’s VPN tunnel (WARP+), none of the policies you set up with the VPN Policy Routing will take effect on your mobile device. Disable WARP+ for your home WiFi to keep VPN Policy Routing affecting your mobile device.

If you just use the private DNS queries (WARP), A Word About DNS-over-HTTPS applies. You can also disable WARP for your home WiFi to keep VPN Policy Routing affecting your mobile device.

10.3. A Word About DNS-over-HTTPS

Some browsers, like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome/Chromium have DNS-over-HTTPS proxy built-in. Their requests to web-sites listed in policies cannot be properly routed if the resolver_set is set to either dnsmasq.ipset or dnsmasq.nftset. To fix this, you can try either of the following:

  1. Disable the DNS-over-HTTPS support in your browser and use the OpenWrt’s net/https-dns-proxy (README on GitHub/jsDelivr) package with optional https-dns-proxy WebUI/luci app. You can then continue to use either dnsmasq.ipset or dnsmasq.nftset setting for the resolver_set in Policy-Based Routing.

  2. Continue using DNS-over-HTTPS in your browser (which, by the way, also limits your options for router-level AdBlocking as described in net/simple-adblock README on GitHub/jsDelivr), you than would either have to switch the resolver_set to none. Please note, you will lose all the benefits of dnsmasq.ipset option.

10.4. A Word About HTTP/3 (QUICK)

If you want to target traffic using HTTP/3 protocol, you can use the AUTO as the protocol (the policy will be either protocol-agnostic or TCP/UDP) or explicitly use UDP as a protocol.

10.5. A Word About IPv6 Routing

Due to the nature of IPv6, it’s not supposed to be routed same way as IPv4 with this package, but a fellow user has graciously contributed a gist detailing their experience to get IPv6 routing working.

10.6. A Word About Routing Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu Traffic

There are two following scenarios with VPN connections and Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu traffic.

10.6.1. Routing Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu Traffic via VPN Tunnel

If you live in a country where Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu are not available and want to circumvent geo-fencing, this package can’t help you. The Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu do a great job detecing VPN usage when accessing their services and circumventing geographical restrictions is not only dubiously legal, it’s also technically very challenging.

10.6.2. Routing Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu Traffic via WAN

If you live in a country where Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu are available, you obviously do NOT want to use VPN tunnel for their traffic.

If the VPN tunnel is not used as a default gateway on your router, you should not have a problem accessing Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu (just make sure that your DNS requests are not routed via VPN tunnel either).

If the VPN tunnel is used as a default gateway, either:

  • send ALL traffic from your multimedia devices (by using their IP addresses or device names in the src_addr option in config file or Local addresses /devices field in WebUI) accessing Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu to WAN; this is the more reliable and recommended method.
  • use the Netflix/AWS custom user files in combination with the Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu domains and dnsmasq.ipset/dnsmasq.nftset option to route traffic to Netflix/Amazon via WAN; this is definitely less reliable method and may not work in all regions.

Either way make sure that your DNS requests are not routed via VPN Tunnel!

10.7. A Word About Interface Hotplug Script

Sometimes#8 the service doesn’t get reloaded when supported interfaces go up or down. This can be an annoying experience since the service may start before all supported VPN connections are up and then not get updated when the VPN connections get established. In that case, run the following command from CLI to create the interface hotplug script to cause the service to be reloaded in interface updates:

mkdir -p /etc/hotplug.d/iface/
cat << 'EOF' > /etc/hotplug.d/iface/70-pbr
#!/bin/sh
logger -t pbr "Reloading $INTERFACE due to $ACTION of $INTERFACE ($DEVICE)"
/etc/init.d/pbr reload_interface "$INTERFACE"
EOF

10.8. A Word About Differences from vpn-policy-routing

Unlike the vpn-policy-routing, the pbr package:

  • creates set and resolver’s set (like dnsmasq.ipset or dnsmasq.nftset)-based policies respecting policy’s priority.
  • can only make minimal changes on a single interface reload (it does not reload the whole service).
  • can only reload policies on service reload (it does not reload the network-related parts).
  • implements the new secure_reload option to kill all traffic during the service start/restart/reload.
  • only supports OpenWrt 21.02 and newer
  • supports fw4 and nft/nft sets (and dnsmasq nft set support) on OpenWrt 22.03
  • chain names in config file should be in lower case, not upper case

10.9. A Word About Migrating from vpn-policy-routing

The new pbr package is largely config-compatible with the vpn-policy-routing package, if you install pbr version 1.0.0 and newer on a system where vpn-policy-routing was previously installed and pbr was not, the vpn-policy-routing config will be migrated to pbr config (and the vpn-policy-routing disabled) automatically upon install.

In the rare case that you need to manually migrate it can be accomplished by running:

if [ -x /etc/init.d/vpn-policy-routing ]; then
  /etc/init.d/vpn-policy-routing stop
  /etc/init.d/vpn-policy-routing disable
fi
if [ -s /etc/config/vpn-policy-routing ]; then
  sed 's/vpn-policy-routing/pbr/g' /etc/config/vpn-policy-routing > /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i 's/resolver_ipset/resolver_set/g' /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i 's/iptables_rule_option/rule_create_option/g' /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i "s/'FORWARD'/'forward'/g" /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i "s/'INPUT'/'input'/g" /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i "s/'OUTPUT'/'output'/g" /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i "s/'PREROUTING'/'prerouting'/g" /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i "s/'POSTROUTING'/'postrouting'/g" /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i "s/option fw_mask '0x(._)'/option fw_mask '\\1'/g" /etc/config/pbr
  sed -i "s/option wan_mark '0x(._)'/option wan_mark '\\1'/g" /etc/config/pbr
  uci set vpn-policy-routing.config.enabled=0; uci commit;
fi

Please note that the ipset/nft set names which service creates for use in the custom user files have changed. Refer to the new custom user files supplied with the package for reference.

11. Getting Help

If things are not working as intended, please first set verbosity to 2 by running these commands

uci set pbr.config.verbosity='2'; uci commit pbr;

and then run the following commands and include their output in your post:

ubus call system board
uci export dhcp
uci export firewall
uci export network
uci export pbr
/etc/init.d/pbr status
/etc/init.d/pbr reload
/etc/init.d/pbr status

11.1. First Troubleshooting Step

If your router is set to use default routing via VPN tunnel and the WAN-targeting policies do not work, you need to stop your VPN tunnel first and ensure that you still have internet connection. If your router is set up to use the default routing via VPN tunnel and when you stop the VPN tunnel you have no internet connection, this package can’t help you. You first need to make sure that you do have internet connection when the VPN tunnel is stopped.

12. Thanks

I’d like to thank everyone who helped create, test and troubleshoot this service. Without contributions from @hnyman, @dibdot, @danrl, @tohojo, @cybrnook, @nidstigator, @AndreBL, @dz0ny, @tew42, bogorad, rigorous testing/bugreporting by @dziny, @bluenote73, @buckaroo, @Alexander-r, @n8v8R, psherman, @Vale-max, @Llama-Alarm, dscpl, egc112 and multiple contributions from @dl12345 and trendy and feedback from other OpenWrt users it wouldn’t have been possible. Wireguard/IPv6 support is courtesy of IVPN.