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

NAME  DESCRIPTION  USAGE  EXAMPLES  LIMITATIONS  SEE ALSO  AUTHORS 

NAME

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

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

DESCRIPTION

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

The available commands are:

iptables−translate

iptables−restore−translate

ip6tables−translate

ip6tables−restore−translate

ebtables−translate

arptables−translate

USAGE

They take as input the original iptables(8)/ip6tables(8)/ebtables(8)/arptables(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).

EXAMPLES

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;

}

}

LIMITATIONS

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/.

SEE ALSO

nft(8), iptables(8)

AUTHORS

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

This manual page was written by Arturo Borrero Gonzalez <[email protected]>.

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


Updated 2026-06-01 - jenkler.se | uex.se