Firewall GUI that can read and append to current configuration?

Valkyrie_of_valhalla · 04-15-2007, 02:50 PM

The problem with most firewall GUIs is that they rebuild the firewall from scratch, and, my current configuration being mostly ok, I wouldn't like to have to redo everything.
I'd like a program that can show me what is configured so far, and with wich I can add new rules (for iptables?).
I've tried with Firestarter, but there is no slackware package, and I tried compiling from source, and I am currently in the classic Linux dependency hell. Firestarter requires gconf, gconf requires a file ORBit-2.0.pc. now what is that? Couldn't find anything with google.

So, does anyone know of such a program?

PS, 2 more questions:
1. In wich file is the current iptables configuration stored? (if any)
2. How can I enable firewall activity logging? (or is it already on? nothing in my /var/log) I was hoping the firewall gui could do this.

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the newbie question.
Any info/suggestion is welcomed.

win32sux · 04-15-2007, 03:21 PM

Quote:

The problem with most firewall GUIs is that they rebuild the firewall from scratch, and, my current configuration being mostly ok, I wouldn't like to have to redo everything.
I'd like a program that can show me what is configured so far, and with wich I can add new rules (for iptables?).
I've tried with Firestarter, but there is no slackware package, and I tried compiling from source, and I am currently in the classic Linux dependency hell. Firestarter requires gconf, gconf requires a file ORBit-2.0.pc. now what is that? Couldn't find anything with google.

So, does anyone know of such a program?

i'm not positive, but IIRC the Webmin firewall configuration module lets you do this...

Quote:

In wich file is the current iptables configuration stored? (if any)

depends on the distro, but red hat-based distros will typically store it in the /etc/sysconfig/iptables file... this file gets used by an iptables-restore command within the startup scripts... on slackware, however, one usually uses a regular iptables *script* (/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall) instead of an iptables configuration file...

Quote:

How can I enable firewall activity logging? (or is it already on? nothing in my /var/log) I was hoping the firewall gui could do this.

well, it's just a matter of issuing one or more adequate rules with the LOG target... if an iptables front-end lets you add/edit rules as you wish, i would expect to be able to use the LOG target... the syslog daemon will get used for logging, so if you have that running then you should see (in most cases) the log entries in your /var/log/syslog file...

Valkyrie_of_valhalla · 04-18-2007, 12:38 PM

Thanks for the info.
I will try out Webmin.
Weird, I don't seem to have a rc.firewall in /etc/rc.d... Probably iptables isn't configured properly ( I left it as it was after the default install), although I seem to have no other open ports besides the ones I require...
There seem to be no entries regarding the firewall in /var/log/syslog, but it's obvious why, I think...

I'll struggle a bit more with Firestarter, then I'll try Webmin.

If anyone has any other suggestions or advice, I'm open to anything.

win32sux · 04-18-2007, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

Weird, I don't seem to have a rc.firewall in /etc/rc.d... Probably iptables isn't configured properly ( I left it as it was after the default install)

the rc.firewall file doesn't exist by default...

Valkyrie_of_valhalla · 04-18-2007, 02:07 PM

Ok, I get it now.
I installed Webmin.
When I go to Network - Linux Firewall, I get the following error:

Code:

An error occured when checking your current IPtables configuration :

FATAL: Module ip_tables not found.
iptables v1.3.5: can't initialize iptables table `filter': iptables who? (do you need to insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.

This may indicate that your kernel does not support IPtables.

I recompiled my kernel, and it is possible I have not installed this module. I'm thinking of recompiling it, but I can't seem to find an ip_tables module with the gconfig program, where I select the modules/drivers that are to be in the kernel.

So, where can I find this module? Either in the program, to recompile the kernel, or someplace to download it and install it like a regular driver maybe?

EDIT: is it the same one marked as netfilter?

win32sux · 04-18-2007, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

Code:

An error occured when checking your current IPtables configuration :

FATAL: Module ip_tables not found.
iptables v1.3.5: can't initialize iptables table `filter': iptables who? (do you need to insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.

This may indicate that your kernel does not support IPtables.

make sure you have CONFIG_IP_NF_FILTER=m set in your .config...

Valkyrie_of_valhalla · 04-19-2007, 12:55 PM

Thanks, it works after the kernel recompile with that option.
It seems to be about what I wanted.