LEAF is an open source project which provides
a Firewall/router on a floppy, CD or CF. Several LEAF
distributions including Bering and Bering-uClibc use Shorewall
as their Netfilter configuration tool.The information on this site applies only to 2.x releases of Shorewall. For older versions:
The current 2.4 Stable Release is 2.4.4 -- Here are the
release notes and here are the
known problems and
updates.
The current 2.5 Development Release is 2.5.6 -- Here are the
release notes and the preliminary documentation is here.
Copyright © 2001-2005 Thomas M. Eastep
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.
2005-09-17
Glossary
What is Shorewall?
Getting Started with
Shorewall
Looking for Information?
Running Shorewall on Mandrake® with a
two-interface setup?
License
Netfilter - the packet filter facility built into the 2.4 and later Linux kernels.
ipchains - the packet filter facility built into the 2.2 Linux kernels. Also the name of the utility program used to configure and control that facility. Netfilter can be used in ipchains compatibility mode.
iptables - the utility program used to configure and control Netfilter. The term 'iptables' is often used to refer to the combination of iptables+Netfilter (with Netfilter not in ipchains compatibility mode).
The Shoreline Firewall, more
commonly known as "Shorewall", is a high-level tool for
configuring Netfilter. You describe your firewall/gateway
requirements using entries in a set of configuration files.
Shorewall reads those configuration files and with the help of
the iptables utility, Shorewall configures Netfilter to match
your requirements. Shorewall can be used on a dedicated
firewall system, a multi-function gateway/router/server or on a
standalone GNU/Linux system. Shorewall does not use Netfilter's
ipchains compatibility mode and can thus take advantage of
Netfilter's connection state tracking capabilities.
Shorewall is not a daemon. Once Shorewall has configured
Netfilter, it's job is complete. After that, there is no
Shorewall code running although the /sbin/shorewall program
can be used at any time to monitor the Netfilter
firewall.
Shorewall is not the easiest to use of the available iptables configuration tools but I believe that it is the most flexible and powerful. So if you are looking for a simple point-and-click set-and-forget Linux firewall solution that requires a minimum of networking knowledge, I would encourage you to check out the following alternatives:
On the other hand, if you are
looking for a Linux firewall solution that can handle complex
and fast changing network environments then Shorewall is a
logical choice.
New to Shorewall? Start by selecting the QuickStart Guide that most closely matches your environment and follow the step by step instructions.
The Documentation Index is a good
place to start as is the Site Search in the frame above.
If so, the documentation on
this site will not apply directly to your setup. If you want to
use the documentation that you find here, you will want to
consider uninstalling what you have and installing a setup that
matches the documentation on this site. See the Two-interface QuickStart Guide for
details.
Update: I have been informed by Mandrake Development
that this problem has been corrected in Mandrake 10.0 Final
(the problem still exists in the 10.0 Community release).
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of Version 2 of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more detail.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
LEAF is an open source project which provides
a Firewall/router on a floppy, CD or CF. Several LEAF
distributions including Bering and Bering-uClibc use Shorewall
as their Netfilter configuration tool.
OpenWRT is a project which provides open source
firmware for Linksys WRT54G wireless routers. Two different
Shorewall packages are available for OpenWRT.
Shorewall is free
but if you try it and find it useful, please consider making a
donation to the Alzheimer's Association or to the Starlight Children's
Foundation.
Thank You