Loading IPTABLES Modules

dschuett · 08-07-2012, 10:05 PM

I have been running my own iptables script for quite sometime now without any issues that I am aware of. My question is, is it necessary to use modprobe to load iptable modules within my script? I have noticed that about 80% of all iptables examples out there show them loading modules at the beginning of their script. As such:

Code:

/sbin/modprobe ip_tables ## Core Netfilter Module
/sbin/modprobe ip_conntrack ## Stateful Connections
/sbin/modprobe iptable_filter ## Filter Table
/sbin/modprobe ipt_MASQUERADE   ## Masquerade Target

etc....

I am running Debian 6, and as I stated before, I don't THINK I have had any problems without manually loading the modules. I guess I am more interested in the purpose, since from what I understand the kernel will load the modules as it needs them.

thanks for your time!

Kustom42 · 08-08-2012, 03:15 PM

It will come down to whether or not you use the modules, for instance, if you are running vsftpd on passive you need the ip_conntrack_ftp module.

dschuett · 08-08-2012, 03:39 PM

I understand that concept, but won't the kernel automatically load the module if it needs it? - Instead of manually loading it?