Netfilter is a utility in Linux 2.4 (and later
releases) that facilitates Network Address Translation (NAT),
packet filtering,
and packet
mangling. NAT is the process of converting an Internet protocol (IP)
address into another IP
address. Packet filtering is the process of passing or blocking packets at a network interface
based on source and destination addresses, ports, or protocols. Packet mangling is
the ability to alter or modify packets before and/or after
routing.
Together, the netfilter and the iptables commands
constitute the successor to ipchains and ipfwadm in earlier versions of Linux. Netfilter and
iptables are often combined into the single expression netfilter/iptables as a way to refer to the
Linux subsystem for Network Address Translation, firewalling,
and advanced packet processing.
This was last updated in September 2005
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