Installing And Using A Firewall In Ubuntu

Installing And Using A Firewall In Ubuntu

VitalBodies definitely likes to have a firewall up as we are online A LOT. Since using a firewall in Ubuntu we have had very few EVENTS but we have had a few. Most of the events that the firewall has recorded in the log are not an issue, but the ones that show up in RED, on the EVENTS tab, are the ones worth shutting down and reconnecting. VitalBodies uses Open Source FireStarter. Thank you FireStarter team!

HOW IT INSTALL THE FIREWALL:

Applications > Add/remove… >

Change SHOW to All Open Source Applications >

Type in firewall and wait a few seconds.

Choose the firewall for your desktop, VitalBodies uses Gnome so we chose Firestarter.

Enable Firestarter (or the firewall of your choice)

Finish the install.

FOR FIRESTARTER:

Start FireStarter:

Applications > Internet > FireStarter…

Here is the preferences VitalBodies sets:

Edit > Preferences: Minimize to tray on window close.

The others Preferences are optional and depend on your setup.

Setup Firestarter Firewall to start at login:

IN SHORT: You will be adding a line of text to a file that starts out read only and needs to end up read only.

Open Nautilus: (this is an ADVANCED tool and technique so be careful and use at your risk)

Copy the code below:

gksudo nautilus

Open the Terminal:

Applications > Accessories > Terminal

Paste in the code:

Edit > Paste

Push the Enter key on your keyboard and then enter your password and click Authenticate.

Nautilus should open. Surf to File System > etc > sudoers

Edit your /etc/sudoers:
Right click on the sudoers and change the properties > permissions from Owner Read only to Owner Read and write and click the close button.

Right click on the sudoers file in Nautilus again and choose Open with Text Editor (gedit).

Add this Line TO THE END:(change your_login_name to your real login name)

your_login_name ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/firestarter

Save the file and exit the file.

In Nautilus change sudoers back to read only.

Right click on the sudoers and change the properties > permissions from Owner Read and write to Owner Read only and click the close button. You can close Nautilus.

Sessions – Startup Applications Preferences:

IN SHORT: You will be adding a FireStarter as a startup program when you log on to Ubuntu.

System > Preferences > Sessions (Startup Applications Preferences):
Startup Programs Tab >

Click the Add Button and fill out the form:

Name: FireStarter Firewall

Command: sudo firestarter –start-hidden

Comment: Added by me: Start the Firewall at login

Click OK Click Close.

Next time you reboot the Firewall should start.

Note: One can get an error message saying the Firewall failed to start. This happens if the firewall loads before your connection to the internet is established. Just click Ok and once your connected the Firewall should automatically start running which is what we want…