Re: [cobalt-users] Installing a firewall

["jwk at Zone Alpha" <jwk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Helzer <danh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> I'm a Cobalt neophyte, so this may seem like a very simple question. How
do
> you install a firewall on a Cobalt RaQ3? I read somewhere on the list that
a
> RaQ3 has a firewall feature, but I can't find it. Any suggestions will be
> greatly appreciated.
>

Of many types and aspects of firewalls, something that is more relevant for
Cobalt server would be ipchains.  IPCHAINS basically looks at individual ip
packets and decides what to do with them.  If I remember correctly, RaQ3
probably does not come ipchains installed.  You might want to get a rpm from
RedHat (or .pkg if someone trustworthy has put one together) and install it
first.  Then, it's all a matter of defining the ipchains "rules" -- you see,
you make the rules by which ipchains will examine ip packets.  As you
probably surmise already, setting up these rules is the hardest part.  One
word of precaution:  YOU CAN EASILY LOCK YOURSELF OUT OF THE BOX while you
are creating these ipchains rules.  So, you probably want to have physical
access to your machine just in case the machine locks you out and you need
to get in via the console.  There are some ipchains rule creation tools to
get you started.

James Kim