Configuration Files Tom Eastep 2004-02-15 2001-2004 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. 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.
Files /etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf - used to set several 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/modules - directs the firewall to load kernel modules./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 (Shorewall 1.3.4 and later) - defines hosts accessible when Shorewall is stopped./etc/shorewall/tcrules - defines marking of packets for later use by traffic control/shaping or policy routing./etc/shorewall/tos - defines rules for setting the TOS field in packet headers./etc/shorewall/tunnels - defines IPSEC, GRE and IPIP tunnels 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 - define your own actions for rules in /etc/shorewall/rules (shorewall 1.4.9 and later)./etc/shorewall/actions.std - Actions defined by Shorewall. Included using the INCLUDE command by /etc/shorewall/actions./etc/shorewall/actions.* - Details of actions defined by Shorewall.
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
Line Continuation You may continue lines in the configuration files using the usual backslash (\) followed immediately by a new line character. Line Continuation ACCEPT net fw tcp \ smtp,www,pop3,imap #Services running on the firewall
INCLUDE Directive Beginning with Shorewall version 1.4.2, any file may contain INCLUDE directives. An INCLUDE directive consists of the word INCLUDE followed by a file name and causes the contents of the named file to be logically included into the file containing the INCLUDE. File names given in an INCLUDE directive are assumed to reside in /etc/shorewall or in an alternate configuration directory if one has been specified for the command. INCLUDE's may be nested to a level of 3 -- further nested INCLUDE directives are ignored with a warning message. 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 -----
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. Beginning with Shorewall 1.3.9, 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 ruleset. 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 much be fully qualified and include a minumum 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.
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 !.
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,norfc1918 Invalid: routefilter,     dhcp,     norfc1818 If you use line continuation to break a comma-separated list, the continuation line(s) must begin in column 1 (or there would be embedded white space) Entries in a comma-separated list may appear in any order.
Port Numbers/Service Names Unless otherwise specified, when giving a port number you can use either an integer or a service name from /etc/services.
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.
Using Shell Variables You may use the /etc/shorewall/params file to set shell variables that you can then use in some of 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 Using Shell Variables     /etc/shorewall/params NET_IF=eth0 NET_BCAST=130.252.100.255 NET_OPTIONS=routefilter,norfc1918     /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,norfc1918 Variables may be used anywhere in the other configuration files.
Using MAC Addresses Media Access Control (MAC) addresses can be used to specify packet source in several of the configuration files. 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 a NIC      [root@gateway root]# ifconfig eth0      eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 02:00:08:E3:FA:55      inet addr:206.124.146.176 Bcast:206.124.146.255 Mask:255.255.255.0      UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1      RX packets:2398102 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0      TX packets:3044698 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0      collisions:30394 txqueuelen:100      RX bytes:419871805 (400.4 Mb) TX bytes:1659782221 (1582.8 Mb)      Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1800 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.
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. This facility permits you to easily create a test or temporary configuration by copying the files that need modification from /etc/shorewall to a separate directory; modify those files in the separate directory; and specifying the separate directory in a shorewall start or shorewall restart command (e.g., shorewall -c /etc/testconfig restart ) The try command allows you to attempt to restart using an alternate configuration and if an error occurs to automatically restart the standard configuration.