Firewall

[CopperStuff]

Done a bit of searching and may have missed it but is there some documentation on the firewall in 2011.6?
I may not be doing something right (noob) and want to read up.

[jimwilk]

Copperstuff,
Firstly, welcome to the forum - your new home!

Secondly, access the Firewall via PC Control Center > Security > Setup Firewall. The instructions are easy to follow.

I ticked the following: Domain Name Server; SSH Server; FTP Server; Mail Server; Pop and IMAP Server; and NFS Server.
After pressing OK, I then ticked every Network Activity to be watched.
In my case, I chose  Interfaces eth0 and Wifi wlan0 to be protected.

If I have goofed, someone here will put us both straight. In the meantime, enjoy your new distro.

Jim

[CopperStuff]

Yeah, cool. Thanks for the response. Got that. But is there a way to know that it's up and running w/o having to check everytime I boot up?
Like have it in the tb near the clock, volume, etc?

[jimwilk]

I think that the easiest way to find out how well your machine is protected is to go to the Shields Up website and check your common ports. In my case, they are all "Stealth". That means they are invisible from outside.

Link: https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Hope this helps you.

Jim

[CopperStuff]

Yeah, I do that. Because of the "other os" I understand checking things out. Shields Up is a great site.
My thing is can I get an icon that shows the firewall in the taskbar. To make sure it is up and running?
Am a bit on the paranoid side.

[Xero]

The firewall in linux is not a separate app like it is in windows, it's part and parcel of the whole thing. If it's enabled, it will run. If you prefer a more visible "front-end" to the firewall, I can suggest Firestarter, it's more like what I think you would be expecting, and is what I used to use before.

[YouCanToo]

Yeah, I do that. Because of the "other os" I understand checking things out. Shields Up is a great site.
My thing is can I get an icon that shows the firewall in the taskbar. To make sure it is up and running?
Am a bit on the paranoid side.

He look we have another Andy!   

Do what Xero suggests and load firestarter from Synaptic. Than you will know it is running when or after you boot your system.

[CopperStuff]

OK. I can grasp that. Firewall is part of and not a 3rd party app. So. Since I've set it up it's up and running whenever I boot up.
BTW-to jimwilk mentioning my new home. Not quite. I dual boot wiith xp because I am not quite comfortable enuff with Linux and still have a couple of things to work out.
The mention of Firestarter. From reading all over the Linux world as I have I have seen it mentioned that Firestarter is no longer being developed/worked on. Am I correct?

Also. What's an Andy?

[Archie]

Also. What's an Andy?

LOL What's an Andy???         

You'll find out soon enough. Welcome to the forum, CopperStuff. Enjoy your stay.

[YouCanToo]

OK. I can grasp that. Firewall is part of and not a 3rd party app. So. Since I've set it up it's up and running whenever I boot up.
BTW-to jimwilk mentioning my new home. Not quite. I dual boot wiith xp because I am not quite comfortable enuff with Linux and still have a couple of things to work out.
The mention of Firestarter. From reading all over the Linux world as I have I have seen it mentioned that Firestarter is no longer being developed/worked on. Am I correct?

I really can't say as I do not use it.

Also. What's an Andy?

Andy is a member here on the forum (username AndrzejL) he tends to be a bit on the paranoid side also.

[jimwilk]

OK. I can grasp that. Firewall is part of and not a 3rd party app. So. Since I've set it up it's up and running whenever I boot up.
BTW-to jimwilk mentioning my new home. Not quite. I dual boot wiith xp because I am not quite comfortable enuff with Linux and still have a couple of things to work out.
The mention of Firestarter. From reading all over the Linux world as I have I have seen it mentioned that Firestarter is no longer being developed/worked on. Am I correct?

Also. What's an Andy?

Well, if PCLinuxOS forum isn't yet your new home, let it be your holiday home. Later, you can retire from your XP home to your retirement haven and enjoy bliss.

Jim

[CopperStuff]

My retirement haven and enjoy bliss? LOL!!! Maybe just maybe.

OK. Got the firewall part figured I spose but how does the firewall relate to ports?
Doesn't pass the Shield's Up test because port 93 is closed and not stealth.

How does one do that?

[7272andy]

You can stealth it by adding

DROP net fw tcp 93

to the bottom of /etc/shorewall/rules, just above "#LAST LINE -- ADD YOUR ENTRIES BEFORE THIS ONE -- DO NOT REMOVE"

Then either
Reboot or start the PCC, click on System -> Enable or disable system services; find the Shorewall service, click Stop and when it stops click Start.

[muungwana]

OK. Got the firewall part figured I spose but how does the firewall relate to ports?

all traffic in and out of your computer go through "door" known as ports, the lowest one is "0" and the highest one is "65536".

A firewall works by allowing and disallowing traffic through those ports. All firewall works this way.

[Archie]

My my my ... now I know why throughput does not use the 'door' .... it gets thrown out of the window! 65566. (Just kidding!)