LinuxQuestions.org
Share your knowledge at the LQ Wiki.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions > Slackware
User Name
Password
Slackware This Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 07-05-2012, 01:32 PM   #46
T3slider
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jul 2007
Distribution: Slackware64-14.1
Posts: 2,367

Rep: Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843

Quote:
Originally Posted by Slax-Dude View Post
+1 for the firewall config script in the installer, although it should be "shippable"

Scripts that automate system configuration (like liloconfig or mkinitrd_command_generator.sh) are already present in Slackware, so I don't think making things easier goes against the distro's philosophy.
Creating a lilo.conf and an initrd are both required just to get the system to boot. They are not the same thing as a firewall. The other scripts included in the installer/pkgtool are simple configuration tools that unambiguously select one option out of a finite number of options. A firewall cannot be represented by such a simple script/configuration and is a fundamentally different concept. For example, timeconfig allows you to set your timezone. There is really only one 'correct' answer to select. This is *not* the case with a firewall.

I will repeat that I wouldn't object to a firewall script being included, but pretending that it is a simple matter of shipping a do-everything script is not helping. Enabling a good, secure firewall *will* flood Pat with support requests asking why network services aren't working (why can't I ssh to my box???). Since the way to prevent those support requests is to get users to understand what they're doing, allowing users to implement their own firewalls via rc.firewall puts the responsibility on the user instead of the maintainer. I would much rather Pat spend his time juggling package versions and patches to try and get a good, stable, functional Slackware than worrying about writing firewall scripts and responding to e-mails from uninformed users, especially when there's a very good chance that I and anyone else looking for more than the bare minimum firewall will end up rewriting it anyway. Pumping out a stable distro and knowing which versions of software to include (for ~1000 packages) so that everything works well is beyond my capability and time constraints, but creating a firewall is well within my abilities. I would rather more time be spent on the former than the latter.

The EFG already exists (and is hosted on slackware.com) and is a noob-friendly way to create a firewall without any additional support required from Pat. I think it's sufficient. Of course that is just one man's opinion.

Also see this from rc.inet2:
Code:
# If there is a firewall script, run it before enabling packet forwarding.
# See the HOWTOs on http://www.netfilter.org/ for documentation on
# setting up a firewall or NAT on Linux.  In some cases this might need to
# be moved past the section below dealing with IP packet forwarding.
Perhaps a note in Slackware-HOWTO or similar would officially document the 'hidden' rc.firewall capability and then no one would have an excuse for not knowing about it already.
 
5 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-05-2012, 02:13 PM   #47
Alien Bob
Slackware Contributor
 
Registered: Sep 2005
Location: Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 8,559

Rep: Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105Reputation: 8105
Quote:
Originally Posted by T3slider View Post
Perhaps a note in Slackware-HOWTO or similar would officially document the 'hidden' rc.firewall capability and then no one would have an excuse for not knowing about it already.
Someone already pointed it out in an earlier post, but it was dismissed as being an arrogant comment by the next poster, while in fact it was a message which every Slacker should recognize:

Code:
If you need to set up your Linux machine as a router for other systems,
you'll want to set up the interfaces in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf, and
set up NAT support with something like this in /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall,
and then make rc.firewall executable.

# Delete and flush.  Default table is "filter".
# Others like "nat" must be explicitly stated.
iptables --flush
# Flush all the rules in filter and nat tables
iptables --table nat --flush
# Delete all chains that are not in default filter and nat table
iptables --delete-chain
iptables --table nat --delete-chain
# Set up IP FORWARDing and Masquerading
iptables --table nat --append POSTROUTING --out-interface eth0 -j MASQUERADE
iptables --append FORWARD --in-interface eth1 -j ACCEPT
echo "Enabling ip_forwarding..."
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

It's possible to expand (or reduce ;-) this script for just about any
firewall needed.  See "man iptables" for lots of information.
After a Slackware installation, when you log in as user root (at that time, the only user account) you are greeted with "you have mail". If you take the time to actually read that mail, you will find the above quote in the email entitled "Welcome to Linux (Slackware 13.37)!" (the number will change with every new release).
 
2 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-05-2012, 02:19 PM   #48
chess
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: 127.0.0.1
Distribution: Slackware and OpenBSD
Posts: 740

Rep: Reputation: 190Reputation: 190
Quote:
Originally Posted by T3slider View Post
Enabling a good, secure firewall *will* flood Pat with support requests asking why network services aren't working (why can't I ssh to my box???). Since the way to prevent those support requests is to get users to understand what they're doing, allowing users to implement their own firewalls via rc.firewall puts the responsibility on the user instead of the maintainer. I would much rather Pat spend his time juggling package versions and patches to try and get a good, stable, functional Slackware than worrying about writing firewall scripts and responding to e-mails from uninformed users, especially when there's a very good chance that I and anyone else looking for more than the bare minimum firewall will end up rewriting it anyway. Pumping out a stable distro and knowing which versions of software to include (for ~1000 packages) so that everything works well is beyond my capability and time constraints, but creating a firewall is well within my abilities. I would rather more time be spent on the former than the latter.
I agree and this is why a firewall script should not be included IMHO.
 
3 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-05-2012, 02:49 PM   #49
T3slider
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jul 2007
Distribution: Slackware64-14.1
Posts: 2,367

Rep: Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alien Bob View Post
Someone already pointed it out in an earlier post, but it was dismissed as being an arrogant comment by the next poster, while in fact it was a message which every Slacker should recognize:
...
After a Slackware installation, when you log in as user root (at that time, the only user account) you are greeted with "you have mail". If you take the time to actually read that mail, you will find the above quote in the email entitled "Welcome to Linux (Slackware 13.37)!" (the number will change with every new release).
Well there you go, no excuse. Been a while since I read that (and while I did read the entire thread my poor memory deleted allend's post from my brain).
 
Old 07-05-2012, 04:52 PM   #50
ReaperX7
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jul 2011
Location: California
Distribution: Slackware64-15.0 Multilib
Posts: 6,554

Original Poster
Blog Entries: 15

Rep: Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097
Going off what Eric said, the HOWTO documentation could be added to to include more information into this perhaps. That being said couldn't a sample firewall script be provided like the sample Samba script?
 
Old 07-05-2012, 05:40 PM   #51
T3slider
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jul 2007
Distribution: Slackware64-14.1
Posts: 2,367

Rep: Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843
Quote:
Originally Posted by ReaperX7 View Post
That being said couldn't a sample firewall script be provided like the sample Samba script?
The sample Samba configuration file is included with Samba; it's just modified slightly in Slackware (adjusting the log/spool file locations).
 
Old 07-05-2012, 08:31 PM   #52
hitest
Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Canada
Distribution: Void, Slackware
Posts: 7,341

Rep: Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744Reputation: 3744
Quote:
Originally Posted by chess View Post
I agree and this is why a firewall script should not be included IMHO.
I like the idea of a firewall included at set-up, but, I am fine with the way things are now. It is an interesting suggestion.
 
Old 07-05-2012, 09:25 PM   #53
allend
LQ 5k Club
 
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Melbourne
Distribution: Slackware64-15.0
Posts: 6,357

Rep: Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739Reputation: 2739
Just for a jape, I followed the documentation trail. The initial email to root says 'man iptables' for lots of information. Then the manual page for iptables gives a link to http://www.netfilter.org. At that site you can click on Documentation-HOWTOs with a collection of links in a section Tutorials. One of these links, titled 'Comparison of iptables automation tools' has this quote. I have added the emphasis.
Quote:
iptables Configuration Tools

Now let's consider the tools that are supposed to help configure Linux iptables firewall. I will take a look at each tool, its features, flexibility and ease of use. Also I will comment on whether it does anything useful right out of the box (knowing that some unfortunate users will choose to just download it, run it and hope for the best, which, needless to say, is a completely wrong approach to applying security measures).
I agree that a firewall is a necessary component of securing network services, but where do you draw a line with automation tools? Do you also want to introduce tools to automate setting up services like SSH, NFS, Samba? I do not think that any competent system administrator would contemplate this.
 
Old 07-06-2012, 04:32 AM   #54
Slax-Dude
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2006
Location: Valadares, V.N.Gaia, Portugal
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 528

Rep: Reputation: 272Reputation: 272Reputation: 272
Quote:
Originally Posted by T3slider View Post
Creating a lilo.conf and an initrd are both required just to get the system to boot. They are not the same thing as a firewall. The other scripts included in the installer/pkgtool are simple configuration tools that unambiguously select one option out of a finite number of options. A firewall cannot be represented by such a simple script/configuration and is a fundamentally different concept. For example, timeconfig allows you to set your timezone. There is really only one 'correct' answer to select. This is *not* the case with a firewall.
OK, let me rephrase that:
httpd service is "preconfigured" and is not required to get the system to boot.
same with sshd.

They have "sane" defaults and that is all that is being asked for a firewall config.

As mentioned earlier, the admin is totally responsible for enabling sshd AND firewall, as they should be disabled by default and are not needed for the system to function... so I don't see why the flood of "why can't I ssh into my box???" would happen.
Even if it did, it would happen because something YOU did, not the system.
 
Old 07-06-2012, 05:00 AM   #55
tallship
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: On the Beaches of Super Sunny Southern San Clemente, California USA
Distribution: Slackware - duh!
Posts: 534
Blog Entries: 3

Rep: Reputation: 118Reputation: 118
Exclamation Yeah I don't know about that...

I've installed *Firestarter* and *FW Builder* too. FW Builder is nice, and simple, and about as complex as you need it to be too.

Firestarter isn't updated that much, took quite a bit of work to install on one machine and is sorely lacking in the documentation department - not to mention the fact that you have to install well over a dozen deps leaving you with an almost GNOME ready box.

Patrick gave his two cents when he said taht following new installations he echo's ALL: ALL into hosts.deny as a starting point on a new box.

There's also the welcome email to root, and the rather unintuitively located /etc/ppp/firewall-standalone which doesn't work if simply copied to /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall and then chmod'd - At the very least one would need to know that they have to change $EXTIF to something along the lines of 'eth0' or 'wlan0'.

There was another thread with a different sort of firewall about a year ago here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...script-884878/

Okay there's a lot of options. But then again, what kind of options are we really thinking about giving out?

A seasoned admin has his firewall scripts and mods them accordingly, experiments with new incarnations on sandboxes, and simply does a quick scp to /etc/rc.firewall and chmod's it 700.

A noob doesn't even know what an ICMP message is - it could take weeks for them to read through the instructions for what each port is for and for that matter, what a port is!

They might know what world of warcraft is (I know I don't), or minecraft (I don't know what that is either but I've built a couple of minecraft servers for my subscribers and it seems I'm hosting about 50 of them).

Heck, even asking a noob if they're going to be using eth0 or wlan0 is probably enough TMI to help them brick their machine - that they have to be asked whether they want sshd to start on boot is almost too much for many (as necessary a question as it is, it's not at all that obvious to us that this is a difficult question for most n00bs).

No. No firewall config included during installation - especially not dialogs for a Bash clone of Eric's EFG.

It's been pointed out in the threads above that we have FW Builder as an SBo, and that is good enough IMO as far as any sort of app is concerned.

We certainly don't want people asking themselves, "Gee. Firewall... I think I'm supposed to have one of those. I'll answer yes to that.", and then be presented in the middle of an install with a seemingly endless list of frightful questions that resemble a kernel makefile.

I do (Pat, if you're listening) think that the EFG should be mentioned in the welcome email with a link to it... Why?

  • Because it's safe - in order to fsck things up you have to be able to gen the script and actually install it as rc.firewall
  • Because it is an addtional learning tool that they can work with, read, glean wisdom from, and have something functional once they understand how to make it run.
  • Because including a firewall generator as part of the standard Slackware install is inviting n00bs to fire off bug reports to LQ saying that their slackboxware macheen is broaken.

A mention of FW Builder at SBo, SBo in general, and sbopkg are probably also good things to cover as well in the welcome email, continuing in this same philosophy - Slackware gives you UNIX while you, the SA, make it what you want and need, and here's some kewl places to look for those tools.

All in all a firewall is just one of the first things that you *might* need/want to do w/your system. Installing an IDS is just as important in a forward facing box, and talk of including a question during the installation dialog as to whether you want to configure one of those is just as problematic a proposal.

That having been said, I think it's a great idea to clone Eric's EFG as a Bash script which has an SBo at Slackbuilds.org

Now, as far as truly important things are concerned, I think the automatic coffee maker script really should be included as part of the standard Slackware installation process IMNSHO

I hope that helps!

Kindest regards,

.

Last edited by tallship; 07-06-2012 at 05:08 AM. Reason: maek pritty
 
2 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-06-2012, 05:37 AM   #56
Lexus45
Member
 
Registered: Jan 2010
Distribution: Debian, Centos, Ubuntu, Slackware
Posts: 361
Blog Entries: 3

Rep: Reputation: 48
But i really do like the idea of setting up everything by hand. I'm sure, Slackware is not that kind of Linux distribution which must have tools like ufw. The beauty of Slackware is being Unix-like, oldschool and so on.
In Slackware I advice you to use this script:
Code:
#!/bin/bash
firewall_start() {
    iptables -F
    iptables -t nat -F
    iptables -t mangle -F

# Setting default policies
iptables -P INPUT DROP
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD DROP

# All your iptables rules go here! Yes, right here.

}

firewall_stop() {
    iptables -F
    iptables -t nat -F
}
firewall_restart() {
    firewall_stop
    sleep 1
    firewall_start
}

case "$1" in
'start')
  firewall_start
  ;;
'stop')
  firewall_stop
  ;;
'restart')
  firewall_restart
  ;;
*)
echo "usage $0 start|stop|restart"
esac
Name it rc.firewall and put in in /etc/rc.d/ directory. Then make it executable (chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall)
It will start with the system automatically*. And you will be able to use these commands:
Code:
/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall start
Code:
/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall stop
Code:
/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall restart
... to start / stop / restart your firewall rules set manually.

*If you look through /etc/rc.d/rc.inet2, you will find there:
Code:
# If there is a firewall script, run it before enabling packet forwarding.
# See the HOWTOs on http://www.netfilter.org/ for documentation on
# setting up a firewall or NAT on Linux.  In some cases this might need to
# be moved past the section below dealing with IP packet forwarding.
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall ]; then
  /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall start
fi
This is how the work is done :-)

Last edited by Lexus45; 07-06-2012 at 05:42 AM.
 
3 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-06-2012, 03:41 PM   #57
T3slider
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jul 2007
Distribution: Slackware64-14.1
Posts: 2,367

Rep: Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843Reputation: 843
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slax-Dude View Post
OK, let me rephrase that:
httpd service is "preconfigured" and is not required to get the system to boot.
same with sshd.

They have "sane" defaults and that is all that is being asked for a firewall config.

As mentioned earlier, the admin is totally responsible for enabling sshd AND firewall, as they should be disabled by default and are not needed for the system to function... so I don't see why the flood of "why can't I ssh into my box???" would happen.
Even if it did, it would happen because something YOU did, not the system.
httpd.conf is shipped with apache. It is slightly modified to make it obey Slackware's directory setup and adds a few commented lines to make it easier to enable PHP support for noobs. The file itself, however, comes from apache. openssh's ssh_config and sshd_config files are shipped by default with ssh and are not Slackware-specific (and shipping with root logins enabled is hardly a sane default). In both httpd and ssh the only real modification is the inclusion of an rc.httpd and rc.sshd script to get them to start in Slackware's BSD-style SysV init system. Obviously rc.firewall is already setup for this. It is easy to warp facts to support your own ideas but once again, rc.firewall is showing remarkable consistency with regards to the rest of Slackware's settings. Perhaps if you could get upstream iptables to produce a default firewall configuration all would be fine.

Again, Pat/Slackware is not the creator of most 'sane' defaults -- it ships upstream defaults and modifies them only if they will cause trouble (if they won't start, or if they will spam the root directory). Since there is no upstream firewall script, and rc.firewall is already set to start if available, there is no need for modification.
 
Old 07-06-2012, 04:04 PM   #58
ReaperX7
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jul 2011
Location: California
Distribution: Slackware64-15.0 Multilib
Posts: 6,554

Original Poster
Blog Entries: 15

Rep: Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097Reputation: 2097
The one thing we do have as a problem as stated is the firewall script provided at /etc/ppp/firewall-standalone is not readily deploy-able even as a sample script. Having a sample script that can be universal to everyone out-of-the-box, even in the minimum, provided can be a great learning tool to have for those wanting to learn, for the rest of us who already have our pre-built scripts, do we need it? No. Can we edit the default out? Yes we can.

1. Are we asking to consider for a prebuilt Firewall to be included with Slackware ready to go out of the box?

No, we are asking for a sample script that can be edited, copied, and then made executable with universal defaults to anyone, regardless of skill level, can work with.

2. Are we asking to consider for an nCurses tool to be added into Slackware's setup?

ONLY if it can be skipped during installation if we so chose to.

3. Are we asking to consider for more packages for bloatware to the system?

No we aren't. In fact we are asking to AVOID having to add extra packages to the system like FWBuilder, FireStarter, etc. With sample scripts we don't need extra packages.

4. Are we asking to consider for some extra documentation like a Firewall-HOWTO?

While a lot of information exists online, getting that information if you are offline is rather problematic especially when most of it is written in tech jargon, and not English when you aren't a tech speaking person new to Linux. Newbies (not nOObs) often need an easy to follow guide so they can learn. Slackware's already included HOWTOs are easy to follow, written in English, and are simple enough for anyone.

Besides, Slackware already teaches the best fundamentals of Linux compared to any other distribution outside of Linux From Scratch, so why not teach those willing to learn for themselves how to properly setup a basic universal firewall and provide a proper sample thereof for beginners to start with and expand from?

Last edited by ReaperX7; 07-06-2012 at 04:09 PM.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-06-2012, 04:30 PM   #59
Hannes Worst
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2008
Location: Tilburg, The Netherlands
Distribution: Void Linux, Slackware, Nixos
Posts: 179

Rep: Reputation: 122Reputation: 122
When I installed Slackware, the first time and every consecutive time, I used Slackbook. I would recommend everyone to do so. It's needed if you intend to use Slackware, that's what it's about, thorough reading. There's a good chapter about Iptables in the Slackbook. Maybe a reference to Alien Bob's generator will do. It's not a Slackware-installation matter, it's a Slackbook matter.

Last edited by Hannes Worst; 07-06-2012 at 04:37 PM.
 
Old 07-07-2012, 12:25 AM   #60
chess
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: 127.0.0.1
Distribution: Slackware and OpenBSD
Posts: 740

Rep: Reputation: 190Reputation: 190
Quote:
Originally Posted by ReaperX7 View Post
1. Are we asking to consider for a prebuilt Firewall to be included with Slackware ready to go out of the box?

No, we are asking for a sample script that can be edited, copied, and then made executable with universal defaults to anyone, regardless of skill level, can work with.
It seems to me that firewalls are very unique and particular to each network. I don't know if there are "universal defaults" besides a deny-all type of script. I still think any sample script is going to cause headaches for Pat because once people start uncommenting lines or modifying their setup, and then locking themselves out of their box, they're going to complain to Pat and take up valuable time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ReaperX7 View Post
While a lot of information exists online, getting that information if you are offline is rather problematic especially when most of it is written in tech jargon, and not English when you aren't a tech speaking person new to Linux. Newbies (not nOObs) often need an easy to follow guide so they can learn. Slackware's already included HOWTOs are easy to follow, written in English, and are simple enough for anyone.

Besides, Slackware already teaches the best fundamentals of Linux compared to any other distribution outside of Linux From Scratch, so why not teach those willing to learn for themselves how to properly setup a basic universal firewall and provide a proper sample thereof for beginners to start with and expand from?
Teaching people the fundamentals of Linux is very different from teaching people the fundamentals of iptables. I see Slackware as a building block -- a distribution intended to give people a solid foundation on which to learn themselves. Emphasis on the "themselves." The whole teaching a man to fish kind of thing.

Besides, this teaching thing is a slippery slope. You ask that Pat include a basic firewall to teach people some fundamentals. Is he supposed to teach them about NAT or port forwarding? Where does it end?

As stated by others far more eloquently than I, I would prefer Pat spend his limited time on creating this solid building block -- i.e. packaging, making sure all the nuts and bolts fit together, etc. -- than spending his time teaching people iptables.

But that's just me.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Easy Slackware Firewall? neilcpp Slackware 26 06-28-2013 09:28 PM
[SOLVED] Question about Eric Hameleers' firewall generator Switch7 Slackware 6 11-26-2009 07:06 AM
Want an easy password generator? Try this :) taskara Linux - General 4 07-24-2005 11:02 PM
Iptables Sample Firewall Generator mqe Linux - Security 2 06-20-2002 02:12 PM
firewall - iptables - generator mqe Linux - Networking 0 06-20-2002 03:09 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions > Slackware

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:53 PM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration