iptables forward port error - No chain/target/match by that name

Question

I am trying to configure iptables on my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS server to forward port 443 to 8443.

But when I run this command:

sudo iptables -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 443 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 8443

I get the following error:

iptables: No chain/target/match by that name.

My iptables current configuration:

$ sudo iptables -L

Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         
ACCEPT     tcp  --  anywhere             anywhere             tcp dpt:https
DROP       tcp  --  anywhere             anywhere             tcp dpt:http

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination 

What am I missing or doing wrong?

Answer 1

Because PREROUTING chain belongs to the NAT table, not the FILTER table. If you do not mention any table explicitly by -t option, then FILTER is assumed.

So, you need to mention the table type with -t nat:

sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 443 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 8443

---

Note that, MANGLE and RAW tables also have PREROUTING chain but as you are redirecting ports only, you are presumably looking for the NAT table.

Answer 2

PREROUTING chain only available for nat, mangle and raw tables.
iptables assumes filter table, so you must specify one of these, eg. iptables -t nat ...

Answer 3

I get similar error when I run a docker command

docker run -d -p 8084:8080 knockdata/zeppelin-highcharts


d9c5d34f500d621585470b0e70b915395fcb6b3437859e0f610dbb58d51faf25
docker: Error response from daemon: driver failed programming external connectivity on endpoint elegant_jang  
(7ca0f5ad689f5443ce7533f66b4a86c34d2dbd9d076bac4812288dd3f6a76698):  
iptables failed: iptables --wait -t nat -A DOCKER -p tcp -d 0/0 --dport 8084 -j DNAT --to-destination 172.17.0.2:8080 
! -i docker0: iptables: No chain/target/match by that name.
(exit status 1).

I was able to fix it by reinstall docker-engine

apt-get remove docker-engine
apt-get install docker-engine

Answer 4

You can install (Config Server Security & Firewall) and use the following settings.

nano /etc/csf/csf.conf
SYNFLOOD = "" => SYNFLOOD = "1"
CONNLIMIT = "" => CONNLIMIT = "80;75,443;75,21;50”
PORTFLOOD = "" => PORTFLOOD = "80;tcp;5;250"
SYSLOG = “0” => SYSLOG = "1"
DOCKER = “0” => DOCKER = "1"

nano /etc/csf/csfpost.sh

#!/bin/sh

echo "[DOCKER] Setting up FW rules."

iptables -N DOCKER

iptables -t nat -N DOCKER

iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -m addrtype --dst-type LOCAL -j DOCKER

iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT ! -d 127.0.0.0/8 -m addrtype --dst-type LOCAL -j DOCKER

# Masquerade outbound connections from containers
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 172.17.0.0/16 ! -o docker0 -j MASQUERADE

# Accept established connections to the docker containers
iptables -t filter -N DOCKER
iptables -t filter -A FORWARD -o docker0 -j DOCKER
iptables -t filter -A FORWARD -o docker0 -m conntrack --ctstate RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j 
ACCEPT

# Allow docker containers to communicate with themselves & outside world
iptables -t filter -A FORWARD -i docker0 ! -o docker0 -j ACCEPT
iptables -t filter -A FORWARD -i docker0 -o docker0 -j ACCEPT

echo "[DOCKER] Done."

Note: This config also prevents you from basic DDOS attack.