Firewall protection settings – Define rules in the firewall (General, Protocols and ports, Addresses)

 

Defining rules in the firewall consists of setting a series of conditions that these must fulfill. On defining or creating a new rule, or editing one that already exists, you will find the following tabs:

 

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General

In this tab you must specify the rule name, the actions it should carry out and select the network adapter (network card through which your computer connects to a computer network) that must be used to apply the rule.

 

·      Rule name. Type or edit the name of the rule you are creating or editing.

·      Action. Expand the list to select the action that the rule must carry out: Deny communication, or Allow communication.

·      Network adapter. If you have several adapters (network cards through which your computer connects to a computer network) installed on your computer, expand the list and select the adapter to which the rule that you are creating or editing must be applied.

 

Protocols and ports

In this tab you must specify the protocols (sets of code and formats –a language- used by computers to communicate), communication ports (access points in a computer or means through which information is transferred –inbound/outbound – from the computer to the outside and vice-versa) and the data transfer direction (Inbound to/ outbound from the computer) affected by the rule that you are creating or editing.

 

·      Protocol. Expand the list and select one of the available protocols (sets of code and formats -a language- used by computers to communicate): All, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol - a protocol that organizes the groups into which data is broken up into when it is transferred between computers, in order to avoid errors), UDP (User Datagram Protocol (type of communication protocol that allows information to be transferred between computers, without controlling the dataflow), ICMP services (Internet Control Message Protocol (protocol that controls error message that are returned when information is transferred between computers), or IP type.

·      Communication direction. Select the direction in which data affected by this rule is transmitted: Inbound and Outbound, or Inbound or Outbound.

 

Depending on the Protocol (sets of code and formats (a language used by computers to communicate) you selected on the first list, the tab Protocols and ports will display additional content or not. If you selected All protocols, no additional option will be displayed. However, if you selected any other protocols (TCP, UDP, ICMP services, or IP type), the following situations might occur:

 

·      If you selected the protocol (sets of code and formats -a language- used by computers to communicate) TCP (Transmission Control Protocol - a protocol that organizes the groups into which data is broken up into when it is transferred between computers, in order to avoid errors) or UDP (User Datagram Protocol - type of communication protocol that allows information to be transferred between computers, without controlling the dataflow). You must select the ports (access points in a computer or means through which information is transferred -inbound/outbound- from the computer to the outside and vice-versa) to which the rule will be applied: Local ports (located in your computer) and Remote ports (located in other computers). In both cases, the options are the same: All, ftp data, ftp, telnet, smtp, tftp, gopher, finger, (WWW) http, kerberos, rtelnet, pop2, pop3, sftp, nntp, irc and https.

·      If you selected protocol ICMP Services (Internet Control Message Protocol - protocol that controls error message that are returned when information is transferred between computers). You must select every ICMP service on which the rule that you are creating or editing will be applied. To do it, simply check the corresponding checkboxes.

·      You can also select the IP type protocol

 

In the last two cases (ICMP Services and IP type), you can Enable all or Disable all by clicking the buttons that appear below the list (services in the case of ICMP and addresses in the case of IP Type).

 

Addresses

In this tab, you must specify remote IP addresses (other computers’ addresses, number or numeric code that uniquely identifies every computer in the network), affected by the rule you are creating or editing.

 

·      Any address. The rule will be applied to all of the IP addresses, which represent each computer, the computer works with.

·      Network card address (MAC). This indicates the network card (adapter) to which the rule defined in the firewall must be applied. Enter the address of the network card, a network adapter (MAC address - Ethernet network card identifier xx - xx - xx - xx - xx - xx type address) to which you want to apply the rule you are creating or editing.

·      IP addresses. Enter the IP addresses or number or numeric code that uniquely identifies every computer affected by the rule you are creating or editing. You can enter individual addresses or address ranges.

 

When you enter several individual IP addresses (numbers or numeric codes that uniquely identify every computer), separate them with a semicolon (;). If you want to specify an address range, separate them with a hyphen (-).

 

For example: 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.254, 172.1.1.1