I asked before this same question and nobody answer me at all. I went through some reading on info bash about iptables and ipchains , what are they exactly ? Where do i find Slackware firewall ? I`m just guessing but it looks like there is some kind of filtering when i`m on the web there are questions made to allow cookies.Is this a default firewalling ?


PS Is there a way to make Slaks load automagically from start to finish without prompting as in mandrake ? i tried it on kde Kcontrol but it seemed useless. Thanks

hi!
sorry to hear that no one answered your queries.
i'm still quite newbie to linux altho i've been using it for some time now. so i can't give u the low down on everything. i'll just tell you what i know.

ipchains and iptables are basically a set of commands that set the rules governing the incoming, outgoing and fowarded packets of your box.
ipchains are meant for the 2.2.x kernel and iptables is an improvement on ipchains and are implemented in the 2.4.x kernel.

i think how it works is that you write a script detailing the rules of the afore-said packets in a certain order (according to your needs) and then place this script among your startup scripts so that it is automatically effected when you boot up your computer.

for more details on ipchains , please check out this link

for more details on iptables, please check out this other link

this also comes recommended:

guarddog

Adding to his comments, you can download ipchains/iptables from www.rpmfind.net ... as well as any other program you are looking for. Just do a search for " iptables " and it will throw up a bunch of sites to download it from, as well as the program's homepage(s).

These two programs are packet filters, meaning they are not stateful in any fashion. If you are not familiar with these two types of terms, don't worry about it. They are workstation firewalls, adequate enough to protect most systems effeciently in conjuction with other security "best practices" (like the use of tcp wrappers or xinetd).

Setting these programs up is not hard, but you must have a working knowledge of TCP/IP and how TCP, UDP and ICMP works. You will need to know the port numbers of the programs you use and where they are coming from, etc.

For example, if you wish to browse the web, you must allow TCP port 80 outbound from your host to any address out on the internet and vice versa, in addition to DNS on UDP port 53, outbound and inbound. I don't want to discourage you, but these are not menu driven applications, and you must know this information before you can continue.

If you use RedHat or Mandrake, these distributions do provide additional applications that can assist you and configure a basic firewall for anyone. I am unfamiliair with Slackware's distribution and what they offer for inexperienced users for firewall configuration.

Good Luck!

What do you mean by "load all the way from start to finish?". You can certainly make it go from boot loader prompt to login (graphical or text based) without prompting if it is setup correctly. You can also certainly make the boot loader boot without prompting (not recommended for the first time you use a new kernel....). What exactly are you trying to get it to do?

What i meant was go from boot loader through login and start x afterwards on one action .I`m the only one using it anyway and it`s kinda slow when it takes so much time to write things down .sorry if i didn`t say something sooner.Thanks

If you add KDM to the init scripts you can tell KDE to auto-login a particular user in the KDE Control panel.

I looked at man pages and found out it`s in /etc/inittab , right? but what do i do from here ? Can you tell me what specific is it to be done ? To add KDM by editing it to init scripts ?

Should i uncomment the line with the default KDM run level (at the beginning)?

Ok it`s done , think i misunderstood what you said . Basically you should change default lavel from 3 to 4 which is the one related to KDM , really simple . Thanks .

i thought it was runlevel 5 that got you to the X login after bootup...?

I have my ipchains rules in a file called rc.firewall in /etc/rc.d/


which I start on boot from rc.local