NETGEAR WNR2000 user manual Understanding Your Firewall

NETGEAR Wireless-N Router User Manual

Understanding Your Firewall

Your Wireless-N Router Model WNR2000 contains a true firewall to protect your network from attacks and intrusions. A firewall is a device that protects one network from another while allowing communication between the two. Using a process called Stateful Packet Inspection, the firewall analyzes all inbound and outbound traffic to determine whether or not it will be allowed to pass through.

By default, the firewall allows any outbound traffic and prohibits any inbound traffic except for responses to your outbound traffic. However, you can modify the firewall’s rules to achieve the following behavior:

•Blocking sites. Block access from your network to certain Web locations based on Web addresses and Web address keywords. This feature is described in “Blocking Access to Internet Sites” on page 3-1.

•Blocking services. Block the use of certain Internet services by specific computers on your network. This feature is described in “Blocking Access to Internet Services” on page 3-3.

•Scheduled blocking. Block sites and services according to a daily schedule. This feature is described in “Scheduling Blocking” on page 3-5.

•Allow inbound access to your server. To allow inbound access to resources on your local network (for example, a Web server or remote desktop program), you can open the needed services by configuring port forwarding as described in “Allowing Inbound Connections to Your Network” on page 5-1.

•Allow certain games and applications to function correctly. Some games and applications need to allow additional inbound traffic in order to function. Port triggering can dynamically allow additional service connections, as described in “Configuring Port Triggering” on page 5-10. Another feature to solve application conflicts with the firewall is Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), described in “Using Universal Plug and Play” on page 5-14.

Safeguarding Your Network 2-23

v1.2, January 2009