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 3.x releases of Shorewall. For other versions:
The current Stable Version is 3.0.0 -- Here are the release notes and here are the known problems and updates..
The current Development Version is 3.1.0 -- so far, there has been
no code released.
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”.
2005-11-11
Glossary
What is Shorewall?
Getting Started with Shorewall
Looking for Information?
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.
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.
Proxmox
firewall is based on Shorewall and Debian Sarge. It has an automated
installer and a GUI.
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.