13-34 User’s Reference Guide
Implied rules
With a given set of filter rules, there is an implied rule that may or may not be shown to the user. The implied rule tells the filter set what to do with a packet that does not match any of the filter rules. An example of implied rules is as follows:
Implied | Meaning |
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Y+Y+Y=N | If all filter rules are YES, the implied rule is NO. |
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N+N+N=Y | If all filter rules are NO, the implied rule is YES. |
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Y+N+Y=N | If a mix of YES and NO filters, the implied rule is NO. |
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Established connections
The TCP header contains one bit called the ACK bit (or TCP Ack bit). This ACK bit appears only with TCP, not UDP. The ACK bit is part of the TCP mechanism that guarantees the delivery of data. The ACK bit is set whenever one side of a connection has received data from the other side. Only the first TCP packet will not have the ACK bit set; once the TCP connection is in place, the remainder of the TCP packets with have the ACK bit set.
The ACK bit is helpful for firewall design and reduces the number of potential filter rules. A filter rule could be created just allowing incoming TCP packets with the ACK bit set, since these packets had to be originated from the local network.
Example IP filter set screen
This is an example of the Netopia IP filter set screen:
Change Filter | |
Enabled: | Yes |
Forward: | No |
Source IP Address: | 0.0.0.0 |
Source IP Address Mask: | 0.0.0.0 |
Dest. IP Address: | 0.0.0.0 |
Dest. IP Address Mask: | 0.0.0.0 |
Protocol Type: | TCP |
Source Port Compare... | No Compare |
Source Port ID: | 0 |
Dest. Port Compare... | Equal |
Dest. Port ID: | 2000 |
Established TCP Conns. Only: | No |
Return/Enter accepts * Tab toggles * ESC cancels.
Enter the IP specific information for this filter.
