IPTABLES-TRANSLATE(8) System Manager's Manual IPTABLES-TRANSLATE(8)

iptables-translate — translation tool to migrate from iptables to nftables

ip6tables-translate — translation tool to migrate from ip6tables to nftables

ebtables-translate — translation tool to migrate from ebtables to nftables

There is a set of tools to help the system administrator translate a given ruleset from iptables(8), ip6tables(8) and ebtables(8) to nftables(8).

The available commands are:

•
iptables-translate
•
iptables-restore-translate
•
ip6tables-translate
•
ip6tables-restore-translate
•
ebtables-translate

They take as input the original iptables(8)/ip6tables(8)/ebtables(8) syntax and output the native nftables(8) syntax.

The iptables-restore-translate tool reads a ruleset in the syntax produced by iptables-save(8). Likewise, the ip6tables-restore-translate tool reads one produced by ip6tables-save(8). No ruleset modifications occur, these tools are text converters only.

The iptables-translate reads a command line as if it was entered to iptables(8), and ip6tables-translate reads a command like as if it was entered to ip6tables(8).

Basic operation examples.

Single command translation:

root@machine:~# iptables-translate -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j ACCEPT
nft add rule ip filter INPUT tcp dport 22 ct state new counter accept
root@machine:~# ip6tables-translate -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o eth3 -p udp -m multiport --dports 111,222 -j ACCEPT
nft add rule ip6 filter FORWARD iifname eth0 oifname eth3 meta l4proto udp udp dport { 111,222} counter accept

Whole ruleset translation:

root@machine:~# iptables-save > save.txt
root@machine:~# cat save.txt
# Generated by iptables-save v1.6.0 on Sat Dec 24 14:26:40 2016
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [5166:1752111]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [5058:628693]
-A FORWARD -p tcp -m tcp --dport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j ACCEPT
COMMIT
# Completed on Sat Dec 24 14:26:40 2016
root@machine:~# iptables-restore-translate -f save.txt
# Translated by iptables-restore-translate v1.6.0 on Sat Dec 24 14:26:59 2016
add table ip filter
add chain ip filter INPUT { type filter hook input priority 0; }
add chain ip filter FORWARD { type filter hook forward priority 0; }
add chain ip filter OUTPUT { type filter hook output priority 0; }
add rule ip filter FORWARD tcp dport 22 ct state new counter accept
root@machine:~# iptables-restore-translate -f save.txt > ruleset.nft
root@machine:~# nft -f ruleset.nft
root@machine:~# nft list ruleset
table ip filter {
	chain INPUT {
		type filter hook input priority 0; policy accept;
	}
	chain FORWARD {
		type filter hook forward priority 0; policy accept;
		tcp dport ssh ct state new counter packets 0 bytes 0 accept
	}
	chain OUTPUT {
		type filter hook output priority 0; policy accept;
	}
}

Some (few) extensions may be not supported (or fully-supported) for whatever reason (for example, they were considered obsolete, or we didn't have the time to work on them).

There is no translation available for arptables(8).

To get up-to-date information about this, please head to https://wiki.nftables.org/.

nft(8), iptables(8)

The nftables framework is written by the Netfilter project (https://www.netfilter.org).

This manual page was written by Arturo Borrero Gonzalez <arturo@netfilter.org>.

This documentation is free/libre under the terms of the GPLv2+.

May 14, 2019