I'm using slackware linux and iptables 1.2.2. When the module 'ip_conntrack' loads, I see this in my syslog: kernel: ip_conntrack (1024 buckets, 8192 max) What are these buckets, and would that maximum value have anything to do with things like outgoing nmap scans working fine for a few seconds, and then getting odd errors like "operation not permitted" because its filling that "max" valule?