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OKay I started delving into networking yesterday and just setup my ubuntu server so I am a complete noob.

I want to ask what are the input/out/forward chains in iptables? Say I want to open port 22 for ssh access, would I need to use all 3 of these? or just one of two of them?

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

thanks!

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2 Answers

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INPUT: packets coming from the network and going to your server.
OUTPUT: packets originating from your server and going to the network.
FORWARD: packets forwarded by your server, if/when it acts as a router between different networks.

In order to allow SSH access to your server, you have to accept the traffic in the INPUT chain.

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And, in fairness, you also need to allow the return-half packets to pass through the OUTPUT chain. – MadHatter Sep 4 '11 at 16:32
I see. So in the case if I want to set up a postgresql db server I would need to open up the INPUT and OUTPUT in the iptables as packets can come in and out? – bash- Sep 5 '11 at 5:20
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You only need the first rule.

  • INPUT: filters packets destined for your server
  • OUTPUT: filters packets originating from your server
  • FORWARD: filters packets to server accessible by another NIC
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