Setting up Linux Box as a Router (with NAT support)

Setup on Router

First, the box should have two interfaces for simplicity (we can bind both IP address to one, yet I have not tried this)

In the example below, we will have two interface:
enp0s3 ad enp0s8, with enp0s3 as the interface towards internet, and enp0s8 towards intranet

Configure IP interfaces

Latest Ubuntu uses netplan. Configuration file is : /etc/netplan/*.yaml

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: NetworkManager
  ethernets:
    enp0s8:
      dhcp4: no
      addresses:
      - 192.168.1.1/24

Then apply the setting

$ sudo netplan apply

Enable IP Forward

Enable IP forwarding in configuration file: /etc/sysctl.conf

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Configure IP tables

Configure IP tables to enable NAT

$ sudo iptables -F          # flush the default tables
$ sudo iptables -t nat -F   # flush the nat table
$ sudo iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT   # default behavior. just in case
$ sudo iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT # default behavior. just in case
$ sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 192.168.1.0/24 -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE
$ sudo iptables -t nat -L  # verify configuration

The last command is the actual command that enables nat.

IPTable Persistence

$ sudo apt install iptables-persistent
$ sudo service netfilter-persistent status  # check the status of the service

Setup on Client

On the client side, the box has only one interface (enp0s3), which connects it to the intranet.

Configure IP interfaces

Configuration file: /etc/netplan/*.yaml

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: NetworkManager
  ethernets:
    enp0s3:
      dhcp4: no
      addresses:
      - 192.168.1.100/24
      gateway4: 192.168.1.1
      nameservers:
        addresses:
        - <dns address assigned by your ISP>
        - 8.8.8.8 # or well known dns servers. Please note # does not work in yaml

Verify your setup

To verify, just do the following on client:

$ ping www.bing.com

and ping response should be observed from server.