firewall for ubuntu 11.04

A Firewall is a program (software) or a device which allows us to set different types of rules for a network i.e how the packets will be treated at different ports ..and it’s very widely used in protecting a computer from unauthorized/unwanted access through a network. Due to an exponential growth in computer related crimes, Firewall is a mandatory application for every computer users.

Ubuntu 11.04 – Natty Narwhal or any other Linux distros is very secure by default as they have built in firewalls running by default. So normal Ubuntu users do not need any firewall (Unlike the windows users do because Windows is insecure by default! , Comodo is an excellent firewall for Windows users) in order to protect themselves from crackers or hackers or cyber criminals.

Advanced or ‘geeky’ Ubuntu users may need (or they just want to do that for learning purposes) to set inbound and outbound traffic rules/policies manually for any ports (I mean virtual or software ports), In that case you just need to use UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall; a frontend of IPtables, which works as an interface to netfilter (Package Filtering System provided by Linux Kernel)) , which is installed by default on all Ubuntu versions, but by default it has only Command Line Interface. So in this post you will learn how to install a front end for UFW, Firewal Configuration (gufw), to manage and configure UFW easily in GUI mode. gufw is a simple (probably the best and fast) firewall configuration software that works! and got 5 star in Ubuntu Software Center ratings. You may need to enable (by check the square box) the universe repository in Synaptic Package Manager -> Settings ->Repositories -> Ubuntu Software .

how to install Firewall Configuration Application – gufw on Ubuntu 11.04

#1 : Open Ubuntu Software Center and search for ‘gufw’.

#2 : Then, click on install button in the search result, and enter your login password if required.

#3 : Now, wait for the installation to complete ..relax it will hardly take a minute..

#4 : That’s All..

Alternative Way – Install gufw from Command Line / Terminal

If you enjoy terminal on Ubuntu then the best way to install is to use terminal/shell (bash). Open terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and enter the command(s)  –

sudo apt-get install gufw