iptables v1.4.14: can't initialize iptables table `nat': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)

Question

I\'m trying to set iptable rules, and I got following error message when I use iptable :

iptables v1.4.14: can\'t initialize iptables table `nat\': Table doe         


        

Answer 1

Short version :

run iptables on the host before to run it in the virtual server (I'm pretty sure this is some sort of LXC or OpenVZ container here).

Long version :

The problem is due to the fact that the ip_table module is loaded on demand. So, after a reboot, on any machine that does not have any iptables rules loaded at boot time, the ip_tables module is not loaded (no demand for the modules == the module is not loaded). Consequently, the LXC or OpenVZ containers cannot use iptables (since they share the host kernel but cannot modify which modules are loaded) until the host has somehow loaded the ip_tables module.