
Firewall Main Control
This section of the interface allows to control all the
traffic that comes in and goes out from the firewall machine. It
particularly allows to define the different groups of computers
(zones) your firewall will deal with, and the traffic allowed between
those zones.
In this introductory screen you can find the main
control commands for all those filtering and routing services. There
are four actions that can be taken on the whole
firewall:
- start: starts the firewall and all associated services
defined in this section;
- stop: stops the firewall. All communication channels will
be closed, completely isolating the machine from the outside. That
may be useful when you realize the machine is being compromised,
but then the administration interface won't be accesible anymore
but connecting physically from the firewall console.
- restart: stops the firewall (if it's running) and then starts
it again;
- clear: erases all the configuration made by the administrator
in the whole "firewall rules" section. Use with care! It then
reinstalls and activate the default (factory) configuration. Use
"start" or "restart" to come back to the custom
configuration.
Be particularly aware of the implication
when you use the "stop" or "clear" actions. When you have chosen the
desired action, click on the "Next" button to confirm
it.