RHL 9 build-in firewall vc IPTables

[Sunmax]

Hi all,

This is my first post here, and I am a newbie to Linux. I did a lot of research on IPTables, and the more I read, the more I find it is very interesting. It is like a whole new world to me.

Currently, I am building a RHL 9 FW in this environment,

LAN <-> RHL 9 FW <-> 5-port switch <-> ADSL modem <-> Internet

After I install RHL 9, I notice this is a firewall setting undert System -> Security. Is this the firewall for the box itself (like the build-in FW in Windows XP), or I can use it for LAN FW as well? What setting I should put it on? High? Or Medium is good enough?

For IPTables, I found a lot of information online, which I started to feel overloading with all the sample scripts. I am wondering how you started to learn all those things. By playing around with different settings?

Thanks for your inputs!

[jasonlambert]

I learned by reading a book on firewalls and iptables published by redhat press.

The firewall options you talk about there i believe is for a host based firewall, its not really for the rest of your LAN.

Check the redhat online documentation which will proberly have a bit of info about the firewall GUI somewhere:
https://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/

Jason