I would like to secure my server and it seems that IPtables is one of the first steps. Unfortunately editing the rules in a terminal is a bit complicated and dangerous (those who ever did an iptables -F will know what I mean ;) ). Could you recommend any good graphical interfaces for managing my IPtables rules?
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7 Answers
Firestarter has always worked well in my opinion. It supports a robust GUI and supports all options of iptables.
sudo apt-get install firestarter
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14Firestarter is deemed abandoned software and has been removed from Ubuntu repositories as of 13.10 Saucy Salamander. For more info, help.ubuntu.com/community/Firestarter– SuhaibJan 22, 2014 at 4:30
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4Unfortunately firestarter is abandoned. help.ubuntu.com/community/Firestarter It seems that at present gufw, which is a GUI wrapper around ufw, which in turn is a CLI wrapper around iptables, is the closest thing. Jan 20, 2016 at 22:31
Try Firewall Builder.
sudo apt-get install fwbuilder
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+1 I like this, although it's somewhat more complex than Firestarter. It's targeted at multi-system administrators.– David ZJul 28, 2010 at 21:10
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Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be any less dead than Firestarter. Last update was in July 2013.– HubroJun 11, 2017 at 2:03
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+1 for being still in available with apt-get --- getting started tutorial found here youtube.com/watch?v=yoAhn6tdlw4– KickahaMar 25, 2019 at 13:00
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From what I see it only allows you to build a completely new network configuration from scratch, which is absolute rocket science. It cannot "import" the existing reality of your network configuration and allow you to make minimal changes to it. Nov 17, 2022 at 19:15
For most purposes, ufw (Uncomplicated FireWall) is an excellent way to build simple iptables firewalls. The rules produced are decent, though there may be features of iptables that you need that ufw doesn't cover.
sudo apt-get install ufw
It's a command line tool, but there is also gufw if you want a GUI version.
answered Aug 4, 2010 at 20:22
Iptables-Editor-Gui is a gui for iptables (requires ruby and ruby-gtk2)
Source: Linuxhacks.org
Disclosure: I am the owner of Linuxhacks.org
Firestarter's still in Raspbian Stretch at least. If you look at https://netfilter.org/ which is the effective homepage of iptables it's copyright 2014, the task hasn't changed. Iptables probably isn't changing. There is such a thing as maturity in software.
There are 233 repositories on Github mentioning Firestarter https://github.com/search?q=firestarter. What's in Raspbian Stretch is Firestarter 1.0.3 copyright 2005 by Thomas Junnonen. There are undoubtedly forks of the original Firestarter, I'm happy using the original.
I'd be wary of oversimplified software that may leave out useful features. I've been studying iptables for a day or so, I just wanted a "second opinion". I'll take what Firestarter comes up with and use it as a starting point. I'm impressed that it recognized my internet connection EasyTether and seems willing to build NAT stuff for wifi. I have an old DSL router I'll probably use for output, I just wasn't sure how to bridge from EasyTether to the router. Iptables can do it, if it's at all like OpenBSD's pf. Not a typical application, glad Firestarter wants to solve the problem. It's Gnome but nobody's perfect. Works fine in LXDE with some Gnome libs installed.
Firestarter homepage, found in help -> about http://www.fs-security.com/ Yeah, OK, it's maybe a little flaky. I can't get to his official download page. More importantly I can't see the iptables code it generates. It doesn't copy, it doesn't run, it considers the gateway I'm actively using to be offline.
I’m using Elastic Firewall …worked like a breeze so far!
Plus it works on multiple machines.
You can go with a free account with them or try one of the paid plans for enhanced power. either way, the thing does a pretty good job at very reasonable rates.
Unfortunately editing the rules in a terminal is a bit complicated and dangerous (those who ever did an iptables -F will know what I mean ;) )
I know what you mean, appending rules through the command line can be time consuming and prone to so many errors, so having a firewall manager to automate Linux iptables policies can save you a lot of time and nerves.
