Enabling Firewall for P2P Applications

From MEPIS Documentation Wiki

NOTE: Although this procedure was developed and tested using Guarddog, it can be extended to other iptable front-ends such as Firestarter and Gufw simply by disabling and enabling the specific front-end at the appropriate steps as described below.

1. Shut down all the p2p app completely. (make sure it's not still running in the background).
2. Open the Firewall GUI - Guard Dog (enter root password when prompted).
3. Disable the Firewall (go to the advanced tab, and click on the disable firewall option).
4. Go to the Protocols tab and ensure you have the Gnutella protocol enabled in the Internet and Local Zones.
5. Click the "Accept" button to save your changes, and then click OK to finish the Firewall GUI transaction.
6. Open the p2p gnutella based app (limewire, frostwire, gtk-gnutella, etc.). Now, it should only take from 3 to 10 seconds at most for your peer and hub connections to be functional. Enter a common media item to search for - and you should see dozens or hundreds of hits.
7. AFTER the p2p app is setup, and has connected per above, THEN go back to Guard Dog, goto the advanced tab and RE-ENABLE the firewall! Keep the p2p app open while you're doing this, and after the firewall is up and running again, retest the p2p search. All should now work normally.
   

Also, be sure to test the Firewall again using the ShieldsUP! test at www.grc.com to see if any ports are open. To start testing, click on the Services menu of the www.grc.com homepage and select ShieldsUP!. ShieldsUP! will probe each port on your computer to see if there is a response.

Related Mepis Wiki Links

• Firewall -- Guide to configuring a redundant firewall architecture.
• Guarddog -- Guarddog graphical iptables editing application.
• Firestarter -- Firestarter graphical iptables editing application.
• ufw -- Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) command line-based iptables editing application.
• Gufw -- Gufw graphical user interface to the command line interface, ufw, for editing iptables.
• Webmin -- Web based system administration tool that contains a module to configure the firewall and routing capabilities of the kernel. Very flexible and powerful but somewhat complex.
• Iptables -- Example of firewall configuration using iptables.

Other Related Resources

• Home Website for Netfilter/Iptables -- Detailed advanced documentation for Netfilter and Iptables.
• Homepage for Guarddog -- GUI interface for editing iptables.
• Online Manual for Guarddog -- Detailed advanced documentation for Guarddog.
• Homepage for Firestarter -- User-friendly GUI front-end for editing iptables.
• Online Manual for Firestarter -- Detailed advanced documentation for Firestarter.
• Homepage of Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) -- A command line interface for editing iptables.
• Wiki for Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) -- Ubuntu wiki documentation for ufw.
• Homepage of Gufw -- Gufw is a GUI interface...to the command line interface, ufw...for editing iptables.
• Documentation for Gufw -- Ubuntu documentation for Gufw.
• Kmyfirewall -- A KDE-based firewall tool designed to be relatively easy to use while providing full-featured control of iptables. Appears to no longer be in active development.