Install

This page covers installing routerd from source on Ubuntu Server. NixOS and FreeBSD are supported as secondary platforms; for a first evaluation, an Ubuntu lab VM is the smoothest path.

Ubuntu dependencies

Install the runtime and diagnostics packages first. (You can also declare the same set as a Package resource and let routerd surface missing items at startup.)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
  dnsmasq-base nftables conntrack iproute2 \
  iputils-ping iputils-tracepath dnsutils tcpdump traceroute \
  procps ppp wireguard-tools strongswan-swanctl radvd \
  systemd net-tools kmod

What each package does:

Package	Purpose
dnsmasq-base	DHCPv4, DHCPv6, RA
nftables	NAT, route marks, stateful filtering
conntrack	Live IPv4/IPv6 connection observation
iproute2	Addresses, routes, DS-Lite, VRF, VXLAN, WireGuard devices
ppp	PPPoE (pppd + rp-pppoe.so)
wireguard-tools	wg setconf and state inspection
strongswan-swanctl	IPsec for cloud VPN endpoints
radvd	Optional radvd RA path (dnsmasq is the default)
dnsutils / iputils-* / tcpdump / traceroute	Verification and incident debugging
procps / systemd / net-tools / kmod	sysctl, service management, kernel module inspection

Build

make build

The main binaries:

• routerd
• routerctl
• routerd-dhcpv6-client
• routerd-dhcpv4-client
• routerd-pppoe-client
• routerd-healthcheck

Install layout

The standard layout is rooted at /usr/local.

Kind	Path
Configuration	/usr/local/etc/routerd/router.yaml
Binaries	/usr/local/sbin
Plugins	/usr/local/libexec/routerd/plugins
Runtime sockets	/run/routerd
Persistent state	/var/lib/routerd

First validation

After the build, sanity-check the schema and the bundled example:

make check-schema
make validate-example
make dry-run-example

Before applying anything to a production router, run a dry-run apply against the planned configuration:

routerd validate --config /usr/local/etc/routerd/router.yaml
routerd plan     --config /usr/local/etc/routerd/router.yaml
routerd apply    --config /usr/local/etc/routerd/router.yaml --once --dry-run

Run under systemd

The main process runs as routerd serve. The DHCPv6-PD, DHCPv4, PPPoE, and healthcheck daemons are separate processes managed by routerd.

For first-time bring-up, make sure your management SSH path stays reachable before enabling automatic start. Keep an out-of-band channel (serial console, hypervisor console) ready before changing WAN-side settings.