LinuxQuestions.org - iptables not working... can't initialize 'filter'

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- - iptables not working... can't initialize 'filter' (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/iptables-not-working-cant-initialize-filter-258924/)

iptables not working... can't initialize 'filter'

i use guarddog to make iptables [at least on my other box] but it says it can't find the firewall command and asks if iptables is installed. i use gentoo and i emerged iptables so it's installed... the error i get when i do an 'iptables -L' is as follows:

Code:

iptables v1.2.11: can't initialize iptables table `filter': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)

Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.

i'm using the latest kernel... 2.6.9-gentoo-r4

Oh and also, I use a router as a hardware firewall, is iptables still neccessary?...

Do you have netfilter configured into your kernel (you would have set it when configuring your kernel before compiling it). If not, try 'modprobe netfilter' and if that doesn't work try building the netfilter module. But if you have a hardware firewall, that should be sufficient unless you don't trust other computers on your LAN (of course defense in depth is not a bad idea either...).

thanks for the reply...

i did configure the kernel to support netfilter [at least i thought], modprobe netfilter outputs:

FATAL: Module netfilter not found.

how do i build the netfilter module?
Thanks.