Help! What's going on in 2.4?

[Henrik Nordstrom]

David Krider wrote:

> This is good info! I am read the first HOWTO on the "unreliable docs," but I
> still find that I'm lacking info on the kernel module situation. I do indeed
> intent to NAT, so at least the FTP part of the puzzle has been fixed.
>
> There are MANY kernel modules in my RedHat 7.1
> /lib/modules/2.4.2-2/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ directory. Can anyone point
> me at a reference about what they all do and which ones are required for
> what?

Most of what you need to know is in the iptables man page.

The modules (for iptables) are:

ip_conntrack      netfilter connection tracking

ip_conntrack_*    connection tracking helpers

ip_nat_*          NAT helpers

ipt_[TARGET]      targets

ipt_[match]       matches

iptable_*         tables

Of all the modules, only the helper modules need to be loaded manually. The
other are loaded automatically by iptables when required by your ruleset.

For a short description/usage of a specific target, run
   iptables -j TARGET --help

For a short description/usage of a specific match, run
   iptables -m match --help

All modules are quite extensively described in the kernel documentation. See
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/Configure.help or the kernel netfilter
configuration menus.

--
Henrik Nordstrom
MARA Systems