Firestarter is a free

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 and open source

Open source

The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 personal firewall

Personal firewall

A personal firewall is an application which controls network traffic to and from a computer, permitting or denying communications based on a security policy. Typically it works as an application layer firewall....

 tool that uses the Netfilter (iptables/ipchains) system built into the Linux kernel

Linux kernel

The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....

. It has the ability to control both inbound and outbound connections. Firestarter provides a graphical interface for configuring firewall rules and settings. It also provides real-time monitoring of all network traffic for the system. Firestarter also provides facilities for port forwarding

Port forwarding

Port forwarding or port mapping is a name given to the combined technique of# translating the address and/or port number of a packet to a new destination# possibly accepting such packet in a packet filter...

, internet connection sharing and DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a network configuration protocol for hosts on Internet Protocol networks. Computers that are connected to IP networks must be configured before they can communicate with other hosts. The most essential information needed is an IP address, and a default...

 service.

See also

• Uncomplicated Firewall
  Uncomplicated Firewall
  Uncomplicated Firewall is a firewall that is designed to be easy to use. It uses a command line interface consisting of a small number of simple commands, and uses iptables for configuration.-GUI for Uncomplicated Firewall:...
  
  
• iptables
  Iptables
  iptables is a user space application program that allows a system administrator to configure the tables provided by the Linux kernel firewall and the chains and rules it stores...
  
  
• netfilter

External links

• Firestarter website
• http://firestarter.sourceforge.net/manual/ - Firestarter manual on SourceForge
  SourceForge
  SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
  
  
• http://techthrob.com/2009/03/02/setup-a-software-firewall-in-linux-using-firestarter/
• http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/products/?p=667