![]() ![]() The program helps you create and manage rule sets and then translates them into configuration language of the chosen target firewall platform.įirewall Builder supports iptables (netfilter), ipfilter, pf, ipfw, Cisco ASA (FWSM, PIX) and Cisco routers extended access lists. This is because these rules are just generalization of the ideas and features found in all of those firewalls. Policy and NAT rules built in Firewall Builder look very familiar to anyone who ever worked with Firewall-1, PIX, iptables, PF and so on. In the end, the program takes care of translating the firewall model it presents to the user into configuration of the actual target firewall. For PF, the program always uses PF option that switches it to the non-default “first match” behavior. For PIX, the program can make it look like NAT is done after access control rules which is consistent with the behavior of iptables and PF (but this is optional). Since Firewall Builder works with an abstract firewall, all discrepancies go away and you always see consistent model regardless of the chosen target firewall platform. If a feature that it implements is not supported in some target firewall, it tries to emulate it (if possible) to make it look like the target really supports it. It has useful features found in all of the target platforms. Firewall Builder works with a firewall that is neither one of these, and yet at the same time it is all of them combined. In other words, Firewall Builder is not another iptables GUI, or PF GUI, or ipfilter GUI. ![]() To do this, Firewall Builder works with an abstract high level model of a firewall which incorporates features found in all target firewalls. The goal is to be able to generate configuration for many different firewalls from the same representation in the GUI. It enforces best practices in policy design and helps you deploy and activate generated policy on the firewall.įirewall Builder does not aim at just supporting one particular firewall platform. It is aware of the differences between various versions of iptables, PF and other platforms and chooses optimal syntax for each to utilize new features that constantly appear in these platforms as they evolve. Firewall Builder generates correct PIX translation rules, choosing between “nat”, “global” and “static” commands as appropriate, using the same definition of the NAT rules as it uses for iptables and PF. It can pick right iptables target for both policy and NAT (Network Address Translation) rules as well as properly use most popular iptables modules, all automatically. For example, it can decide which iptables chain is right for each generated iptables rule automatically, without your input. Unfortunately typos and more significant errors in firewall or router access list configurations lead to either service downtime or security problems, both expensive in terms of damage and time required to fix.įirewall Builder (also known as fwbuilder, ) is a universal firewall configuration and management tool that lets you define security policy on a higher level of abstraction and hides internal structure of the target firewall platform. This is where making changes get complicated and probability of human error increases. Things get significantly more difficult in the installations using different OS and platforms where the administrator needs to switch from netfilter/iptables to PF to Cisco routers and ASA to implement coordinated changes across multiple devices. To do the job right, they need to understand internal path of the packet inside Linux or BSD kernel and its interaction with different parts of packet filtering engine. Administrator who manages netfilter/iptables, PF or Cisco firewall all the time quickly becomes an expert in their platform of choice. Even though the configuration language can be complex and overwhelming with its multitude of features and options, this is not the most difficult problem in my opinion. Unfortunately, managing security policy manually with all of these remains non-trivial task for several reasons. All these are powerful implementations with rich feature set and good performance. ![]() They could use netfilter/iptables on Linux, PF, ipfilter, ipfw on OpenBSD and FreeBSD, Cisco ASA (PIX) and other commercial solutions. Systems administrators have a choice of modern Open Source and commercial firewall platforms at their disposal. This is the first article in the mini-series of two articles about Firewall Builder.
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