Resequencing an ACL

Here's a quick post on a very useful command when working with ACLs.  I first heard about it while watching a CBT Nugget video, and I can say that it was definitely not covered in the NetAcad curriculum when I went through the classes, because I remember bringing it up to the instructor and it was news to him.

So let's begin by setting the scenerio.  You have the following ACL:

show ip access-list EXAMPLE

Extended IP access list EXAMPLE
    1 permit ip host 10.10.10.28 any
    2 permit ip host 10.10.10.10 any
    3 permit ip host 10.10.10.11 any
    4 permit ip host 10.10.10.45 any
    5 deny ip 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any
    10 permit tcp any host 192.168.10.4 eq smtp

And let's say that we now need to allow one additional host out.  We could rewrite the ACL, but that could be a lot of work if its a long ACL.  Any other options?

Yes, the resequence command can help.  This command was introduced in IOS 12.2(14)S, and allows you to easily resequence an entire ACL.

ip access-list resequence EXAMPLE 10 10

This will renumber every line in the ACL starting with 10, and with an increment of 10 between each line.  This is the default sequencing for an access-list where no sequence numbers are entered.  The end result would be:

Extended IP access list EXAMPLE
    10 permit ip host 10.10.10.28 any
    20 permit ip host 10.10.10.10 any
    30 permit ip host 10.10.10.11 any
    40 permit ip host 10.10.10.45 any
    50 deny ip 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any
    60 permit tcp any host 192.168.10.4 eq smtp

Old documenation will tell you that you can't edit a numbered ACL, but that's actually not true anymore.