# Configuration Files Tips and Hints

Tom
Eastep
2001-2010
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.

This article applies to Shorewall 4.3 and later. If you are running a version of Shorewall earlier than Shorewall 4.3.5 then please see the documentation for that release.

If you copy or edit your configuration files on a system running Microsoft Windows, you must run them through dos2unix before you use them with Shorewall.

## Introduction

This article offers hints about how to accomplish common tasks with Shorewall. The Introduction to Shorewall is required reading for being able to use this article effectively. For information about setting up your first Shorewall-based firewall, see the Quickstart Guides.

## Files

- `/etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf` - used to set global firewall parameters.

- `/etc/shorewall/params` - use this file to set shell variables that you will expand in other files.

- `/etc/shorewall/zones` - partition the firewall's view of the world into zones.

- `/etc/shorewall/policy` - establishes firewall high-level policy.

- `/etc/shorewall/interfaces` - describes the interfaces on the firewall system.

- `/etc/shorewall/hosts` - allows defining zones in terms of individual hosts and subnetworks.

- `/etc/shorewall/masq` - directs the firewall where to use many-to-one (dynamic) Network Address Translation (a.k.a. Masquerading) and Source Network Address Translation (SNAT).

- `/etc/shorewall/rules` - defines rules that are exceptions to the overall policies established in /etc/shorewall/policy.

- `/etc/shorewall/nat` - defines one-to-one NAT rules.

- `/etc/shorewall/proxyarp` - defines use of Proxy ARP.

- `/etc/shorewall/routestopped` - defines hosts accessible when Shorewall is stopped.

- `/etc/shorewall/tcrules` - The file has a rather unfortunate name because it is used to define marking of packets for later use by both traffic control/shaping and policy routing.

- `/etc/shorewall/tos` - defines rules for setting the TOS field in packet headers.

- `/etc/shorewall/tunnels` - defines tunnels (VPN) with end-points on the firewall system.

- `/etc/shorewall/blacklist` - lists blacklisted IP/subnet/MAC addresses.

- `/etc/shorewall/init` - commands that you wish to execute at the beginning of a shorewall start or shorewall restart.

- `/etc/shorewall/start` - commands that you wish to execute at the completion of a shorewall start or shorewall restart

- `/etc/shorewall/stop` - commands that you wish to execute at the beginning of a shorewall stop.

- `/etc/shorewall/stopped` - commands that you wish to execute at the completion of a shorewall stop.

- `/etc/shorewall/ecn` - disable Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN - RFC 3168) to remote hosts or networks.

- `/etc/shorewall/accounting` - define IP traffic accounting rules

- `/etc/shorewall/actions` and `/usr/share/shorewall/action.template` allow user-defined actions.

- `/etc/shorewall/providers` - defines an alternate routing table.

- `/etc/shorewall/route_rules` - Defines routing rules to be used in conjunction with the routing tables defined in `/etc/shorewall/providers`.

- `/etc/shorewall/tcdevices`, `/etc/shorewall/tcclasses`, `/etc/shorewall/tcfilters` - Define complex traffic shaping.

- `/etc/shorewall/tcrules` - Mark or classify traffic for traffic shaping or multiple providers.

- `/etc/shorewall/tcinterfaces` and `/etc/shorewall-tcpri` - Define simple traffic shaping.

- `/etc/shorewall/secmarks` - Added in Shorewall 4.4.13. Attach an SELinux context to selected packets.

- `/etc/shorewall/vardir` - Determines the directory where Shorewall maintains its state.

- `/usr/share/shorewall/actions.std` - Actions defined by Shorewall.

- `/usr/share/shorewall/action.*` - Details of actions defined by Shorewall.

- `/usr/share/shorewall/macro.*` - Details of macros defined by Shorewall.

- `/usr/share/shorewall/modules` - directs the firewall to load kernel modules.

- `/usr/share/modules` — Specifies the kernel modules to be loaded during shorewall start/restart.

- `/usr/share/helpers` — Added in Shorewall 4.4.7. Specifies the kernel modules to be loaded during shorewall start/restart when LOAD_HELPERS_ONLY=Yes in `shorewall.conf`.

If you need to change a file in /usr/share/shorewall/, copy it to `/etc/shorewall` and modify the copy

## Man Pages

Man pages are provided in section 5 for each of the Shorewall configuration files. The name of the page is formed by prefixing the file name with "shorewall-".

Example — To view the manual page for `/etc/shorewall/interfaces`:

    man shorewall-interfaces

The /etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf file is an exception -- the man page for that file is 'shorewall.conf':

    man shorewall.conf

## Comments

You may place comments in configuration files by making the first non-whitespace character a pound sign (#). You may also place comments at the end of any line, again by delimiting the comment from the rest of the line with a pound sign.

### Comments in a Configuration File

    # This is a comment
    ACCEPT  net     $FW      tcp     www     #This is an end-of-line comment

## Names

When you define an object in Shorewall (Zone, Logical Interface, ipsets, Actions, etc., you give it a name. Shorewall names start with a letter and consist of letters, digits or underscores ("_"). Except for Zone names, Shorewall does not impose a limit on name length.

When an ipset is referenced, the name must be preceded by a plus sign ("+").

The last character of an interface may also be a plus sign to indicate a wildcard name.

Physical interface names match names shown by 'ip link ls'; if the name includes an at sign ("@"), do not include that character or any character that follows. For example, "sit1@NONE" is referred to as simply 'sit1".

## Attach Comment to Netfilter Rules

If you kernel and iptables contain comment match support (see the output of `shorewall show capabilities`), then you can attach comments to Netfilter rules. This feature is available in the following files:

- `/etc/shorewall/accounting`

- `/etc/shorewall/masq`

- `/etc/shorewall/nat`

- `/etc/shorewall/notrack`

- `/etc/shorewall/rules`

- `/etc/shorewall/secmarks`

- `/etc/shorewall/tcrules`

- `/etc/shorewall/tunnels`

- Action definition files (`/etc/shorewall/action.*`)

- Macro definition files (/etc/shorewall/macro.*)

To attach a comment to one or more rules, insert a record above the rules that begins with the word COMMENT (must be in all caps). The remainder of the line is treated as a comment -- that comment will appear delimited by "/* ... */" in the output of the `shorewall[-lite] show` and `shorewall[-lite] dump` commands. The comment will be attached to each generated rule until another COMMENT line appears. To stop attaching comments to rules, simply insert a line that contains the single word COMMENT.

Example (`/etc/shorewall/rules`):

    COMMENT Stop NETBIOS noise

    REJECT          loc                             net                     tcp     137,445
    REJECT          loc                             net                     udp     137:139

    COMMENT Stop my idiotic work laptop from sending to the net with an HP source/dest IP address

    DROP            loc:!192.168.0.0/22             net

    COMMENT

Here's the corresponding output from `/sbin/shorewall-lite`:

    gateway:~ # shorewall-lite show loc2net
    Shorewall Lite 4.3.3 Chains loc2net at gateway - Mon Oct 16 15:04:52 PDT 2008

    Counters reset Mon Oct 16 14:52:17 PDT 2006

    Chain loc2net (1 references)
     pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination
        0     0 LOG        tcp  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0           tcp dpt:25 LOG flags 0 level 6 prefix `FW:loc2net:REJECT:'
        0     0 reject     tcp  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0           tcp dpt:25
        0     0 LOG        udp  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0           udp dpts:1025:1031 LOG flags 0 level 6 prefix `FW:loc2net:REJECT:'
        0     0 reject     udp  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0           udp dpts:1025:1031
        0     0 reject     tcp  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0           multiport dports 137,445 /* Stop NETBIOS noise */
        0     0 reject     udp  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0           udp dpts:137:139 /* Stop NETBIOS noise */
        0     0 DROP       all  --  *      *      !192.168.0.0/22       0.0.0.0/0           /* Stop my idiotic work laptop from sending to the net with an HP source/dest IP address */
        5   316 ACCEPT     all  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0
    gateway:~ #

COMMENT lines in macro files work somewhat differently from other files. COMMENT lines in macros are ignored if COMMENT support is not available or if there was a COMMENT in use when the top-level macro was invoked. This allows the following:

`/usr/share/shorewall/macro.SSH`:

    #ACTION SOURCE DEST  PROTO DEST    SOURCE  RATE  USER/
    #                          PORT(S) PORT(S) LIMIT GROUP
    COMMENT SSH
    PARAM   -      -     tcp   22

`/etc/shorewall/rules`:

    COMMENT Allow SSH from home
    SSH(ACCEPT)    net:$MYIP      $FW
    COMMENT

The comment line in macro.SSH will not override the COMMENT line in the rules file and the generated rule will show /* Allow SSH from home */ when displayed through the Shorewall show and dump commands.

## "Blank" Columns

If you don't want to supply a value in a column but want to supply a value in a following column, simply enter '-' to make the column appear empty.

Example:

    #INTERFACE         BROADCAST            OPTIONS
    br0                -                    routeback

## Line Continuation

You may continue lines in the configuration files using the usual backslash (\) followed immediately by a new line character (Enter key).

### Line Continuation

    ACCEPT  net     $FW      tcp \↵
    smtp,www,pop3,imap  #Services running on the firewall

In certain cases, leading white space is ignored in continuation lines:

- The continued line ends with a colon (":")

- The continued line ends with a comma (",")

Example (`/etc/shorewall/rules`):

    #ACTION     SOURCE          DEST            PROTO           DEST
    #                                                           PORT(S)
    ACCEPT      net:\
                206.124.146.177,\
                206.124.146.178,\
                206.124.146.180\
                                dmz             tcp             873

The leading white space on the first through third continuation lines is ignored so the SOURCE column effectively contains "net:206.124.146.177,206.124.147.178,206.124.146.180". Because the third continuation line does not end with a comma or colon, the leading white space in the last line is not ignored.

## Addresses

In both Shorewall and Shorewall6, there are two basic types of addresses:

Host Address

  This address type refer to a single host.

  In IPv4, the format is i.j.k.l where i through l are decimal numbers between 1 and 255.

  In IPv6, the format is a:b:c:d:e:f:g:h where a through h consist of 1 to 4 hexidecimal digits (leading zeros may be omitted). a single series of 0 addresses may be omitted. For example 2001:227:e857:1:0:0:0:0:1 may be written 2001:227:e857:1::1.

Network Address

  A network address refers to 1 or more hosts and consists of a host address followed by a slash ("/") and a Variable Length Subnet Mask (VLSM). This is known as Classless Internet Domain Routing (CIDR) notation.

  The VLSM is a decimal number. For IPv4, it is in the range 0 through 32. For IPv6, the range is 0 through 128. The number represents the number of leading bits in the address that represent the network address; the remainder of the bits are a host address and are generally given as zero.

  Examples:

  IPv4: 192.168.1.0/24

  IPv6: 2001:227:e857:1:0:0:0:0:1/64

In the Shorewall documentation and manpages, we have tried to make it clear which type of address is accepted in each specific case.

For more information about addressing, see the Setup Guide.

## Specifying SOURCE and DEST

Entries in Shorewall configuration files often deal with the source (SOURCE) and destination (DEST) of connections and Shorewall implements a uniform way for specifying them.

A SOURCE or DEST consists of one to three parts separated by colons (":"):

1. ZONE — The name of a zone declared in `/etc/shorewall/zones` or `/etc/shorewall6/zones`. This part is only available in the rules file (`/etc/shorewall/rules` and `/etc/shorewall6/rules`).

2. INTERFACE — The name of an interface that matches an entry in `/etc/shorewall/interfaces` (`/etc/shorewall6/interfaces`).

3. ADDRESS LIST — A list of one or more addresses (host or network) or address ranges, separated by commas. In an IPv6 configuration, this list must be includef in square or angled brackets ("[...]" or "<...>"). The list may have exclusion.

Examples.

1. All hosts in the net zone — net

2. Subnet 192.168.1.0/29 in the loc zone — loc:192.168.1.0/29

3. All hosts in the net zone connecting through `ppp0` — net:ppp0

4. All hosts interfaced by `eth3` — eth3

5. Subnet 10.0.1.0/24 interfacing through ``eth2`` — eth2:10.0.1.0/24

6. Host 2002:ce7c:92b4:1:a00:27ff:feb1:46a9 in the loc zone — loc:[2002:ce7c:92b4:1:a00:27ff:feb1:46a9]

## INCLUDE Directive

Any configuration file may contain INCLUDE directives. An INCLUDE directive consists of the word INCLUDE followed by a path name and causes the contents of the named file to be logically included into the file containing the INCLUDE. Relative path names given in an INCLUDE directive are resolved using the current CONFIG_PATH setting (see shorewall.conf(5)).

INCLUDE's may be nested to a level of 3 -- further nested INCLUDE directives are ignored with a warning message.

If you are using Shorewall Lite , it is not advisable to use INCLUDE in the `params` file in an export directory. If you do that, you must ensure that the included file is also present on the firewall system's `/etc/shorewall-lite/` directory.

If you only need the `params` file at compile time, you can set EXPORTPARAMS=No in `shorewall.conf`. That prevents the `params` file from being copied into the compiled script. With EXPORTPARAMS=No, it is perfectly okay to use INCLUDE in the `params` file.

### Use of INCLUDE

         shorewall/params.mgmt:

            MGMT_SERVERS=1.1.1.1,2.2.2.2,3.3.3.3
             TIME_SERVERS=4.4.4.4
             BACKUP_SERVERS=5.5.5.5

            ----- end params.mgmt -----

         shorewall/params:

            # Shorewall 1.3 /etc/shorewall/params
             [..]
             #######################################

             INCLUDE params.mgmt

           # params unique to this host here
           #LAST LINE - ADD YOUR ENTRIES ABOVE THIS ONE - DO NOT REMOVE

           ----- end params -----

         shorewall/rules.mgmt:

           ACCEPT net:$MGMT_SERVERS   $FW                  tcp    22
           ACCEPT $FW                 net:$TIME_SERVERS    udp    123
           ACCEPT $FW                 net:$BACKUP_SERVERS  tcp    22

          ----- end rules.mgmt -----

         shorewall/rules:

          # Shorewall version 1.3 - Rules File
           [..]
           #######################################

           INCLUDE rules.mgmt

           # rules unique to this host here
           #LAST LINE -- ADD YOUR ENTRIES BEFORE THIS ONE -- DO NOT REMOVE

         ----- end rules -----

You may include multiple files in one command using an embedded shell command.

Example (include all of the files ending in ".rules" in a directory:):

    gateway:/etc/shorewall # ls rules.d
    ALL.rules  DNAT.rules  FW.rules  NET.rules  REDIRECT.rules  VPN.rules
    gateway:/etc/shorewall #

/etc/shorewall/rules:

    SECTION NEW
    SHELL cat /etc/shorewall/rules.d/*.rules

## Using Shell Variables

You may use the `/etc/shorewall/params` file to set shell variables that you can then use in the other configuration files.

It is suggested that variable names begin with an upper case letter to distinguish them from variables used internally within the Shorewall programs

The following variable names must be avoided. Those in bold font must be avoided in all Shorewall versions; those in regular font must be avoided in versions prior to 4.4.8.

- Any option from shorewall.conf (5)
- COMMAND
- CONFDIR
- DEBUG
- ECHO_E
- ECHO_N
- EXPORT
- FAST
- FILEMODE
- HOSTNAME
- IPT_OPTIONS
- NOROUTES
- PREVIEW
- PRODUCT
- PROFILE
- PURGE
- RECOVERING
- RESTOREPATH
- RING_BELL
- SHAREDIR
- Any name beginning with SHOREWALL_ or SW_
- STOPPING
- TEST
- TIMESTAMP
- USE_VERBOSITY
- VARDIR
- VERBOSE
- VERBOSE_OFFSET
- VERSION

Example:

>         /etc/shorewall/params

>             NET_IF=eth0
>             NET_BCAST=130.252.100.255
>             NET_OPTIONS=routefilter,routefilter

>         /etc/shorewall/interfaces record:

>             net $NET_IF $NET_BCAST $NET_OPTIONS

>         The result will be the same as if the record had been written

>             net eth0 130.252.100.255 routefilter,routefilter

Variables may be used anywhere in the other configuration files.

If you use "$FW" on the right side of assignments in the `/etc/shorewall/params` file, you must also set the FW variable in that file.

Example:

    /etc/shorewall/zones:

            #ZONE        TYPE          OPTIONS
            fw           firewall

    /etc/shorewall/params:

            FW=fw
            BLARG=$FW:206.124.146.176

Because the `/etc/shorewall/params` file is simply sourced into the shell, you can place arbitrary shell code in the file and it will be executed each time that the file is read. Any code included should follow these guidelines:

1. The code should not have side effects, especially on other shorewall configuration files.

2. The code should be safe to execute multiple times without producing different results.

3. Should not depend on where the code is called from.

4. Should not assume anything about the state of Shorewall.

5. The names of any functions or variables declared should begin with an upper case letter.

6. The `/etc/shorewall/params` file is processed by the compiler at compile-time and by the compiled script at run-time. If you have set EXPORTPARAMS=No in `shorewall.conf`, then the ``params`` file is only processed by the compiler; it is not run by the compiled script.

7. If you are using Shorewall Lite and if the `params` script needs to set shell variables based on the configuration of the firewall system, you can use this trick:

       EXT_IP=$(ssh root@firewall "/sbin/shorewall-lite call find_first_interface_address eth0")

   The `shorewall-lite call` command allows you to to call interactively any Shorewall function that you can call in an extension script.

Within your configuration files, only the $VAR and ${VAR} forms of variable expansion are supported. You may not use the more exotic forms supported by the shell (${VAR:=val}, ${VAR:-val}, ...)

## Embedded Shell and Perl

Earlier versions of Shorewall offered extension scripts to allow users to extend Shorewall's functionality. Extension scripts were designed to work under the limitations of the Bourne Shell. With the current Perl-based compiler, Embedded scripts offer a richer and more flexible extension capability.

While inline scripts may be written in either Shell or Perl, those written in Perl have a lot more power.

Embedded scripts can be either single-line or multi-line. Single line scripts take one of the following forms:

- PERL <perl script>

- SHELL <shell script>

Shell scripts run in a child shell process and their output is piped back to the compiler which processes that output as if it were embedded at the point of the script.

Example: The following entries in `/etc/shorewall/rules` are equivalent:

    SHELL for z in net loc dmz; do echo "ACCEPT $z fw tcp 22"; done

    ACCEPT net fw tcp 22
    ACCEPT loc fw tcp 22
    ACCEPT dmz fw tcp 22

Perl scripts run in the context of of the compiler process using Perl's eval() function. Perl scripts are implicitly prefixed by the following:

    package Shorewall::User;
    use Shorewall::Config qw/shorewall/;

To produce output that will be processed by the compiler as if it were embedded in the file at the point of the script, pass that output to the Shorewall::Config::shorewall() function. The Perl equivalent of the above SHELL script would be:

    PERL for ( qw/net loc dmz/ ) { shorewall "ACCEPT $_ fw tcp 22"; }

A couple of more points should be mentioned:

1. Compile-time extension scripts are also implicitly prefixed by "package Shorewall::User;".

2. A compile extension script is supported. That script is run early in the compilation process and allows users to load additional modules and to define data and functions for use in subsequent embedded scripts and extension scripts.

3. Manual Chains may be added in the compile extension script..

Multi-line scripts use one of the following forms:

    BEGIN SHELL
    <shell script>
    END [ SHELL ]

    BEGIN PERL [;]
    <perl script>
    END [ PERL ] [;]

Note: The '[' and ']' above are meta-characters which indicate that what they enclose is optional and may be omitted. So you may follow PERL with a semicolon ( ';') or you may omit the semicolon.

## Using DNS Names

I personally recommend strongly against using DNS names in Shorewall configuration files. If you use DNS names and you are called out of bed at 2:00AM because Shorewall won't start as a result of DNS problems then don't say that you were not forewarned.

Host addresses in Shorewall configuration files may be specified as either IP addresses or DNS Names.

DNS names in iptables rules aren't nearly as useful as they first appear. When a DNS name appears in a rule, the iptables utility resolves the name to one or more IP addresses and inserts those addresses into the rule. So changes in the DNS->IP address relationship that occur after the firewall has started have absolutely no effect on the firewall's rule set.

For some sites, using DNS names is very risky. Here's an example:

    teastep@ursa:~$ dig pop.gmail.com

    ; <<>> DiG 9.4.2-P1 <<>> pop.gmail.com
    ;; global options:  printcmd
    ;; Got answer:
    ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 1774
    ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 7, ADDITIONAL: 0

    ;; QUESTION SECTION:
    ;pop.gmail.com.               IN A

    ;; ANSWER SECTION:
    pop.gmail.com.          300   IN CNAME gmail-pop.l.google.com.
    gmail-pop.l.google.com. 300   IN A     209.85.201.109
    gmail-pop.l.google.com. 300   IN A     209.85.201.111

Note that the TTL is 300 -- 300 seconds is only 5 minutes. So five minutes later, the answer may change!

So this rule may work for five minutes then suddently stop working:

    #ACTION        SOURCE               DEST              PROTO             DEST
    #                                                                       PORT(S)
    POP(ACCEPT)     loc                  net:pop.gmail.com

If your firewall rules include DNS names then:

- If your `/etc/resolv.conf` is wrong then your firewall won't start.

- If your `/etc/nsswitch.conf` is wrong then your firewall won't start.

- If your Name Server(s) is(are) down then your firewall won't start.

- If your startup scripts try to start your firewall before starting your DNS server then your firewall won't start.

- Factors totally outside your control (your ISP's router is down for example), can prevent your firewall from starting.

- You must bring up your network interfaces prior to starting your firewall.

Each DNS name must be fully qualified and include a minimum of two periods (although one may be trailing). This restriction is imposed by Shorewall to insure backward compatibility with existing configuration files.

### Valid DNS Names

- mail.shorewall.net

- shorewall.net. (note the trailing period).

### Invalid DNS Names

- mail (not fully qualified)

- shorewall.net (only one period)

DNS names may not be used as:

- The server address in a DNAT rule (/etc/shorewall/rules file)

- In the ADDRESS column of an entry in /etc/shorewall/masq.

- In the `/etc/shorewall/nat` file.

These restrictions are imposed by Netfilter and not by Shorewall.

## Comma-separated Lists

Comma-separated lists are allowed in a number of contexts within the configuration files. A comma separated list:

- Must not have any embedded white space.

           Valid:   routefilter,dhcp,arpfilter
           Invalid: routefilter,     dhcp,     arpfilter

- If you use line continuation to break a comma-separated list, the comma must be the last thing on the continued line before '\' unless the continuation line has no leading white space.

- Entries in a comma-separated list may appear in any order.

## Complementing an Address or Subnet

Where specifying an IP address, a subnet or an interface, you can precede the item with ! to specify the complement of the item. For example, !192.168.1.4 means any host but 192.168.1.4. There must be no white space following the !.

## Exclusion Lists

Where a comma-separated list of addresses is accepted, an exclusion list may also be included. An exclusion list is a comma-separated list of addresses that begins with "!".

Example:

    !192.168.1.3,192.168.1.12,192.168.1.32/27

The above list refers to "All addresses except 192.168.1.3, 192.168.1.12 and 192.168.1.32-192.168.1.63.

Exclusion lists can also be added after a network address.

Example:

    192.168.1.0/24!192.168.1.3,192.168.1.12,192.168.1.32/27

The above list refers to "All addresses in 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.255 except 192.168.1.3, 192.168.1.12 and 192.168.1.32-192.168.1.63.

## IP Address Ranges

If you kernel and iptables have iprange match support, you may use IP address ranges in Shorewall configuration file entries; IP address ranges have the syntax <low IP address>-<high IP address>. Example: 192.168.1.5-192.168.1.12.

To see if your kernel and iptables have the required support, use the `shorewall show capabilities` command:

    >~ shorewall show capabilities
    ...
    Shorewall has detected the following iptables/netfilter capabilities:
       NAT: Available
       Packet Mangling: Available
       Multi-port Match: Available
       Connection Tracking Match: Available
       Packet Type Match: Not available
       Policy Match: Available
       Physdev Match: Available
       IP range Match: Available <--------------

## Protocol Number/Names and Port Numbers/Service Names

Unless otherwise specified, when giving a protocol number you can use either an integer or a protocol name from `/etc/protocols`. Similarly, when giving a port number you can use either an integer or a service name from `/etc/services`.

The rules compiler translates protocol names to protocol numbers and service names to port numbers itself.

Also, unless otherwise documented, a protocol number/name can be preceded by '!' to specify "All protocols except this one" (e.g., "!tcp").

## ICMP and ICMP6 Types and Codes

When dealing with ICMP, the DEST PORT specifies the type or type and code. You may specify the numeric type, the numeric type and code separated by a slash (e.g., 3/4) or you may use a type name.

Type names for IPv4 and their corresponding type or type/code are:

    echo-reply'                  => 0
    destination-unreachable      => 3
        network-unreachable      => 3/0
        host-unreachable         => 3/1
    protocol-unreachable         => 3/2
    port-unreachable             => 3/3
    fragmentation-needed         => 3/4
    source-route-failed          => 3/5
    network-unknown              => 3/6
    host-unknown                 => 3/7
    network-prohibited           => 3/9
    host-prohibited              => 3/10
    TOS-network-unreachable      => 3/11
    TOS-host-unreachable         => 3/12
    communication-prohibited     => 3/13
    host-precedence-violation    => 3/14
    precedence-cutoff            => 3/15
    source-quench                => 4
    redirect                     => 5
       network-redirect          => 5/0
       host-redirect             => 5/1
       TOS-network-redirect      => 5/2
       TOS-host-redirect         => 5/3
    echo-request                 => 8
    router-advertisement         => 9
    router-solicitation          => 10
    time-exceeded                => 11
       ttl-zero-during-transit   => 11/0
       ttl-zero-during-reassembly=> 11/1
    parameter-problem            => 12
       ip-header-bad             => 12/0
       required-option-missing   => 12/1
    timestamp-request            => 13
    timestamp-reply              => 14
    address-mask-request         => 17
    address-mask-reply           => 18

Type names for IPv6 and their corresponding type or type/code are:

    destination-unreachable       => 1
       no-route'                  => 1/0
       communication-prohibited   => 1/1
       address-unreachable'       => 1/2
       port-unreachable'          => 1/3
    packet-too-big                =>  2
    time-exceeded'                =>  3
    ttl-exceeded'                 =>  3
       ttl-zero-during-transit    => 3/0
       ttl-zero-during-reassembly => 3/1
    parameter-problem             =>  4
       bad-header                 => 4/0
       unknown-header-type        => 4/1
       unknown-option             => 4/2
    echo-request                  => 128
    echo-reply                    => 129
    router-solicitation           => 133
    router-advertisement          => 134
    neighbour-solicitation        => 135
    neighbour-advertisement       => 136
    redirect                      => 137

## Port Ranges

If you need to specify a range of ports, the proper syntax is <low port number>:<high port number>. For example, if you want to forward the range of tcp ports 4000 through 4100 to local host 192.168.1.3, the entry in /etc/shorewall/rules is:

    #ACTION    SOURCE     DESTINATION     PROTO     DEST PORTS(S)
    DNAT       net        loc:192.168.1.3 tcp       4000:4100

If you omit the low port number, a value of zero is assumed; if you omit the high port number, a value of 65535 is assumed.

Also, unless otherwise documented, a port range can be preceded by '!' to specify "All ports except those in this range" (e.g., "!4000:4100").

## Port Lists

In most cases where a port or port range may appear, a comma-separated list of ports or port ranges may also be entered. Shorewall requires the Netfilter multiport match capability if ports lists are used (see the output of "shorewall show capabilities").

Also, unless otherwise documented, a port list can be preceded by '!' to specify "All ports except these" (e.g., "!80,443").

Prior to Shorewall 4.4.4, port lists appearing in the shorewall-routestopped (5) file may specify no more than 15 ports; port ranges appearing in a list count as two ports each.

## Using MAC Addresses

Media Access Control (MAC) addresses can be used to specify packet source in several of the configuration files. In order to control traffic to/from a host by its MAC address, the host must be on the same network as the firewall.

To use this feature, your kernel must have MAC Address Match support (CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MAC) included.

MAC addresses are 48 bits wide and each Ethernet Controller has a unique MAC address.

In GNU/Linux, MAC addresses are usually written as a series of 6 hex numbers separated by colons.

### MAC Address of an Ethernet Controller

         gateway:~ # ip link ls dev eth0
         4: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc htb qlen 1000
             link/ether 02:00:08:E3:FA:55 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
         gateway:~ #

Because Shorewall uses colons as a separator for address fields, Shorewall requires MAC addresses to be written in another way. In Shorewall, MAC addresses begin with a tilde (~) and consist of 6 hex numbers separated by hyphens. In Shorewall, the MAC address in the example above would be written ~02-00-08-E3-FA-55.

It is not necessary to use the special Shorewall notation in the `/etc/shorewall/maclist` file.

## Rate Limiting (Rate and Burst)

Shorewall supports rate limiting in a number of ways. When specifying a rate limit, both a rate and a burst value are given.

Example from shorewall.conf (5):

- LOGRATE=10/minute
- LOGBURST=5

For each logging rule, the first time the rule is reached, the packet will be logged; in fact, since the burst is 5, the first five packets will be logged. After this, it will be 6 seconds (1 minute divided by the rate of 10) before a message will be logged from the rule, regardless of how many packets reach it. Also, every 6 seconds which passes, one of the bursts will be regained; if no packets hit the rule for 30 seconds, the burst will be fully recharged; back where we started.

## Logical Interface Names

When dealing with a complex configuration, it is often awkward to use physical interface names in the Shorewall configuration.

- You need to remember which interface is which.

- If you move the configuration to another firewall, the interface names might not be the same.

Beginning with Shorewall 4.4.4, you can use logical interface names which are mapped to the actual interface using the `physical` option in shorewall-interfaces (5).

Here is an example:

    #ZONE  INTERFACE  BROADCAST OPTIONS
    net    COM_IF     detect    dhcp,blacklist,tcpflags,optional,upnp,routefilter=0,nosmurfs,logmartians=0,physical=eth0
    net    EXT_IF     detect    dhcp,blacklist,tcpflags,optional,routefilter=0,nosmurfs,logmartians=0,proxyarp=1,physical=eth2
    loc    INT_IF     detect    dhcp,logmartians=1,routefilter=1,tcpflags,nets=172.20.1.0/24,physical=eth1
    dmz    VPS_IF     detect    logmartians=1,routefilter=0,routeback,physical=venet0
    loc    TUN_IF     detect    physical=tun+

In this example, COM_IF is a logical interface name that refers to Ethernet interface `eth0`, EXT_IF is a logical interface name that refers to Ethernet interface `eth2`, and so on.

Here are a couple of more files from the same configuration:

shorewall-masq (5):

    #INTERFACE SOURCE                    ADDRESS

    COMMENT Masquerade Local Network
    COM_IF     0.0.0.0/0
    EXT_IF     !206.124.146.0/24         206.124.146.179:persistent

shorewall-providers (5)

    #NAME   NUMBER   MARK    DUPLICATE  INTERFACE  GATEWAY         OPTIONS               COPY
    Avvanta 1        0x10000 main       EXT_IF     206.124.146.254 loose,fallback        INT_IF,VPS_IF,TUN_IF
    Comcast 2        0x20000 main       COM_IF     detect          balance               INT_IF,VPS_IF,TUN_IF

Note in particular that Shorewall translates TUN_IF to `tun*` in the COPY column.

## Zone and Chain Names

For a pair of zones, Shorewall creates two Netfilter chains; one for connections in each direction. The names of these chains are formed by separating the names of the two zones by either "2" or "-".

Example: Traffic from zone A to zone B would go through chain A2B (think "A to B") or "A-B".

The default separator is "2" but you can override that by setting ZONE_SEPARATOR="-" in shorewall.conf (5).

Zones themselves have names that begin with a letter and are composed of letters, numerals, and "_". The maximum length of a name is dependent on the setting of LOGFORMAT in shorewall.conf (5). See shorewall-zones (5) for details.

## Shorewall Configurations

Shorewall allows you to have configuration directories other than `/etc/shorewall`. The shorewall check, start and restart commands allow you to specify an alternate configuration directory and Shorewall will use the files in the alternate directory rather than the corresponding files in /etc/shorewall. The alternate directory need not contain a complete configuration; those files not in the alternate directory will be read from `/etc/shorewall`.

Shorewall requires that the file `/etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf` to always exist. Certain global settings are always obtained from that file. If you create alternative configuration directories, do not remove /etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf.

This facility permits you to easily create a test or temporary configuration by

1. copying the files that need modification from /etc/shorewall to a separate directory;

2. modify those files in the separate directory; and

3. specifying the separate directory in a `shorewall start` or `shorewall restart` command (e.g., `shorewall restart /etc/testconfig` )

## Saved Configurations

Shorewall allows you to save the currently-running configuration in a form that permits it to be re-installed quickly. When you save the configuration using the `shorewall save` command, the running configuration is saved in a file in the `/var/lib/shorewall` directory. The default name of that file is `/var/lib/shorewall/restore` but you can specify a different name as part of the command. For example, the command `shorewall save standard` will save the running configuration in `/var/lib/shorewall/standard`. A saved configuration is re-installed using the `shorewall restore` command. Again, that command normally will restore the configuration saved in `/var/lib/shorewall/restore` but as with the `save` command, you can specify a different file name in the command. For example, `shorewall restore standard` will re-install the configuration saved in `/var/lib/shorewall/standard`. By permitting you to save different configurations under different names, Shorewall provides a means for quickly switching between these different saved configurations.

As mentioned above, the default configuration is called 'restore' but like most things in Shorewall, that default can be changed. The default name is specified using the RESTOREFILE option in `/etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf`.

The default saved configuration is used by Shorewall in a number of ways besides in the `restore` command; to avoid surprises, I recommend that you read the Shorewall Operations documentation section about saved configurations before creating one.