You are commissioning a Linux backup server that has two physical NICs. Interface ens160 (10.20.5.20/24) connects to the production LAN, which reaches the rest of the company through router 10.20.5.1. Interface ens192 (172.30.0.20/24) connects to a dedicated, isolated backup VLAN that has no router. Because both networks use static addressing, you configure the interfaces as follows:
ens160: IP 10.20.5.20/24, gateway 10.20.5.1 ens192: IP 172.30.0.20/24, gateway 172.30.0.1
Soon after the change, administrators on other networks notice that SSH sessions to the server intermittently hang, although backups over 172.30.0.0/24 continue to succeed. Which single configuration change will most reliably restore stable remote access while leaving backup operations unaffected?
Lower the metric on ens192 so its gateway is preferred for outbound traffic
Enable 802.1Q tagging on ens192 and assign it to VLAN 10
Delete the default gateway on ens192 and keep the default route through 10.20.5.1
Change the subnet mask on ens160 to 255.255.0.0 so both networks share a single subnet
A multihomed host should normally have only one default route. By adding a second default gateway on the isolated backup interface, the server now has two equal-cost paths for traffic destined outside its local subnets. Depending on the kernel's routing decision at any moment, reply packets for SSH sessions may be sent out the 172.30.0.20 interface-which has no router-causing the connections to stall. Removing the default gateway from ens192 leaves the sole default route via 10.20.5.1; traffic for the backup VLAN still flows because packets addressed to 172.30.0.0/24 never require a gateway. Changing subnet masks, VLAN tagging, or interface metrics would not eliminate the incorrect default route and therefore would not consistently fix the problem.
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What is a default gateway in networking?
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Why does removing the default gateway from the isolated VLAN fix the SSH issue?