Are iptables kernel modules hidden from lsmod?

Question

When I do lsmod I don't see any kernel modules related to iptables despite I have iptables running.

Is it because iptables have been statically linked into the kernel, and I therefore don't need these lines any longer in my firewall scripts?

/sbin/insmod ip_tables
/sbin/insmod ip_conntrack
/sbin/insmod ip_conntrack_ftp
/sbin/insmod iptable_nat
/sbin/insmod ip_nat_ftp

Answer 1

It means that the iptables module is compiled statically into the kernel. Take a look at /path/to/the/kernel/source/.config, you will see something like this:

# grep -i iptables /usr/src/linux/.config
CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=y

instead of:

CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=m

for the loadable module.