Persistent static routes fail on MacOS 10.6.5 startup!

Question

I'm unable to get static routes to persist a reboot on Mac OS 10.6.5. I've tried all of the methods prescribed in Google search results, and previous posts on this site. I've tried manually creating a launchd daemon, and used RouteSplit's launchd daemon to no avail. It's clear that the interface is not ready when these methods attempt to apply the route. This workstation in question is getting its IP from DHCP and probably hasn't gotten its DHCP lease when the command runs. We're able to apply the route by hand when logged in, but not through startup methods. Is there another way to apply this route by sneaking the command into something later, but before the login window appears to the user?

Here is some relevant log info from system.log. You can see the "route: writing to routing socket: Network is unreachable" errors where my launchd script fires off. I've tried adding extra "sleep" and "ipconfig waitall" statements later in the script but this doesn't fly.

Dec 15 19:30:41 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Dec 15 19:30:45 localhost mDNSResponder[18]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.13 (Oct  8 2010 17:10:30) starting
Dec 15 19:30:47 localhost configd[15]: bootp_session_transmit: bpf_write(en1) failed: Network is down (50)
Dec 15 19:30:47 localhost configd[15]: DHCP en1: INIT transmit failed
Dec 15 19:30:47 localhost configd[15]: network configuration changed.
Dec 15 19:30:47 Administrators-MacBook-Pro configd[15]: setting hostname to "Administrators-MacBook-Pro.local"
Dec 15 19:30:47 Administrators-MacBook-Pro blued[16]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Dec 15 19:30:52 Administrators-MacBook-Pro syslog[67]: routes.sh: Starting RouteSplit
Dec 15 19:30:53 Administrators-MacBook-Pro com.apple.usbmuxd[41]: usbmuxd-207 built for iTunesTenOne on Oct 19 2010 at 13:50:35, running 64 bit
Dec 15 19:30:54 Administrators-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow[50]: Login Window Application Started
Dec 15 19:30:55 Administrators-MacBook-Pro bootlog[61]: BOOT_TIME: 1292459441 0
Dec 15 19:30:55 Administrators-MacBook-Pro syslog[86]: routes.sh: static route 192.168.0.0/23 192.168.2.2
Dec 15 19:30:55 Administrators-MacBook-Pro net.routes.static[65]: route: writing to routing socket: Network is unreachable
Dec 15 19:30:55 Administrators-MacBook-Pro net.routes.static[65]: add net 192.168.0.0: gateway 192.168.2.2: Network is unreachable
Dec 15 19:30:57 Administrators-MacBook-Pro org.apache.httpd[38]: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using Administrators-MacBook-Pro.local for ServerName
Dec 15 19:30:58 Administrators-MacBook-Pro loginwindow[50]: Login Window Started Security Agent
Dec 15 19:30:58 Administrators-MacBook-Pro WindowServer[89]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Dec 15 19:30:58 Administrators-MacBook-Pro com.apple.WindowServer[89]: Wed Dec 15 19:30:58 Administrators-MacBook-Pro.local WindowServer[89] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Dec 15 19:31:18 Administrators-MacBook-Pro configd[15]: network configuration changed.
Dec 15 19:31:19 administrators-macbook-pro configd[15]: setting hostname to "administrators-macbook-pro.local"
Dec 15 19:31:25 administrators-macbook-pro _mdnsresponder[121]: /usr/libexec/ntpd-wrapper: scutil key State:/Network/Global/DNS not present after 30 seconds
Dec 15 19:31:25 administrators-macbook-pro _mdnsresponder[124]: sntp options: a=2 v=1 e=0.100 E=5.000 P=2147483647.000
Dec 15 19:31:25 administrators-macbook-pro _mdnsresponder[124]:     d=15 c=5 x=0 op=1 l=/var/run/sntp.pid f= time.apple.com
Dec 15 19:31:25 administrators-macbook-pro _mdnsresponder[124]: sntp: getaddrinfo(hostname, ntp)  failed with nodename nor servname provided, or not known
Dec 15 19:31:27 administrators-macbook-pro configd[15]: network configuration changed.
Dec 15 19:31:27 Administrators-MacBook-Pro configd[15]: setting hostname to "Administrators-MacBook-Pro.local"
Dec 15 19:31:27 Administrators-MacBook-Pro ntpd[37]: Cannot find existing interface for address 17.151.16.20
Dec 15 19:31:27 Administrators-MacBook-Pro ntpd_initres[125]: ntpd indicates no data available!
Dec 15 19:31:31 Administrators-MacBook-Pro sshd[128]: USER_PROCESS: 133 ttys000
Dec 15 19:31:37 Administrators-MacBook-Pro sudo[138]: administrator : TTY=ttys000 ; PWD=/Users/administrator ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/less /var/log/system.log

``You can see the following line in /var/log/kernel.log that shows the en0 interface coming up:

Dec 15 19:30:51 Administrators-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: Ethernet [AppleBCM5701Ethernet]: Link up on en0, 1-Gigabit, Full-duplex, No flow-control, Debug [796d,0f01,0de1,0300,c1e1,3800]

Answer 1

I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I do know that you can setup a system daemon that run when the network configuration changes by putting in the key WatchPaths with the value /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration. I used this technique to get around the problem you are describing. I set up a script that runs through a list of servers in a file, does an nslookup to get all their possible addresses, uses route get to check which gateway is in use and, if not right, uses sudo route add to add the route (or network in my case). I created it as an agent using Lingon and tied execution to changes in that file. It works but took me awhile.

I also used a lock file to prevent it from being run twice at the same time.

If you put the sudo route add command in a script that runs as root at boot time, it won't be a problem. If you want a user to run it, or run it on behalf of a user, you may want to put an entry in the sudoers file to permit the route add command without authentication. To edit the sudoers file, you need to be root and use chmod to make it writeable, then switch it back to read only when done.

Hope this helps.