In this article you will find out how to save iptables firewall rules in Linux CentOS, Redhat, Debian and Ubuntu.
Iptables is a Linux application built for the purpose of allowing a system administrator to configure and maintain specific firewall tables/rules provided by the Linux kernel firewall module.
There are currently 3 different kernel modules build for the IPv4, IPv6 and ARP stack protocols (iptables is used for IPv4, ip6tables refferes to IPv6, arptables to Addres Resolution Protocol).
The most used and the one used in this tutorial is iptables. In order to execute iptables related commands you need root privileges or to be in the sudoers file in Debian/Ubuntu OSes.
So here’s how to save iptables and how to list existing ones:
The syntax used to check the iptables service status is:
service iptables status ##CentOS, Redhat sudo iptables -L -n -v ##Debian, Ubuntu
To start iptables:
service iptables start ##CentOS, Redhat sudo ufw enable ##Ubuntu
To list iptables rules:
iptables -L
Save iptables rules:
iptables-save #Debian sudo iptables-save #Ubuntu service iptables save #CentOS
On CentOS, for example, you would see an output like this:
To restore iptables rules:
~ # iptables-restore < /etc/sysconfig/iptables root@nyxware ~ #